Halifax filmmakers race against the clock

By: Mariana Luz and Mia Phillips

On Oct. 24, a lineup of short films from 18 teams premiered at the Halifax Central Library — each one written, filmed and edited in just one weekend.

For the past nine years, filmmakers in Atlantic Canada have competed in the 48 Hour Film Project, an international event that takes place throughout the year in various cities, challenging local filmmakers to make a short film in two days. 

Blerina Berberi, the event’s Atlantic Canada producer, said introducing the competition to the region was not initially a popular idea. 

“The headquarters in Washington were very concerned that it’s a very small population compared to Toronto, which has 117 films in one weekend,” she said. 

If completing the film in the short time frame wasn’t enough of a challenge, each film is required to incorporate a character, line of dialogue and a prop. Film genres, including dance film, dark comedy and workplace film, were randomly selected and assigned to each team.

The festival’s filmmaking rules also allowed participants to use artificial intelligence to produce scripts, music, special effects and footage. 

At the end of the premiere, local judges voted on the best short film, though the winner has not been announced as of Nov. 5. The winner will compete at Filmapalooza — an international film festival in Lisbon, Portugal — where top films have a chance to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

Leanne Milne and Nathan Godfrey, members of the team Death Horse, said incorporating an unfamiliar genre was the hardest part of the competition. 

“This is the first time we’ve actually done something that isn’t comedy, so we’ll see how this goes,” said Milne. “We come up with things as we go … and so many times someone had to say, ‘No that’s too funny,’ and we had to bring it back [to drama].”

The team has submitted short films to the competition for the past three years.

“We come to the screening, and we watch all the other filmmakers. Seeing what they did in 48 hours, it just makes it way more interesting … rather than just watching a bunch of polished pieces,” says Godfrey

While making their film The Family Business, August Van Meekeren, a Halifax-based actor and playwright, and Jake Wilke, a Dalhousie University alum, used the weekend to celebrate Van Meekeren’s birthday. 

“It was a really lovely time filming because it’s not just a time to create something really cool in a short span of time … but also to share [Van Meekeren’s] day and create something lovely,” said Wilke.

Shooting the film and collaborating with the other members of the team was Van Meekeren’s favourite part of the competition. 

“I had a storyboard that was just nine panels on my iPad that I had drawn up really quickly, and I was like ‘I kind of want it to look like this,’” Van Meekeren said. 

“We’re all giving these ideas, and it led to a lot of great creative choices and really fun moments that I don’t think were in the script at all.”

The film competition is open to anyone interested in participating.

“My goal is to encourage filmmaking for everyone,” said Berberi. “This is an opportunity for amateur filmmakers, or any passionate film person, to make their own film. In the end, you win, you don’t win, it doesn’t matter. The film is yours.”