[Editor's Note: See the bottom of this post for details on tonight's screening.]
This weekend, you may have noticed something a little out of the ordinary during your Saturday afternoon crawl through Ybor in search of a hangover cure. No, not the swarm of people in green hazard vests selling cold water for $1 on the side of the road. (They're always there.) I'm talking about the film crews.
From the moment these closeted creative types sprinted out of the beer garden at Gasper's Grotto on Friday evening, they were in a mad rush to piece together the best possible cinematic short in the confines 48 hours. They were given a genre, a character, one line of dialogue and a prop. From there, they have absolute creative freedom to do with them as they wish.
The 48 Hour Film Project is an international event spanning 87 cities around the globe. Semi-finalists will compete for the honorary top spots at Filmapalooza and $3,000.00. The top 12 films will then play at Cannes this year. For a filmmaker of any caliber, this is serious shit.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2010.