48 Hour Film Project

By Anthony Pilloud
Contributing Writer

The Fargo Theatre recently hosted the annual Fargo 48 Hour Film Project, a cinema competition for independent, local filmmakers. The rules were simple: contestants are given a character name, a prop, a line of dialogue, a genre and one weekend to write, shoot and direct that film. The short films then premiered on June 29th at the Fargo Theatre and awards were given by the panel of judges – Greg Carlson of Concordia College, Tom Brandau from MSUM, Scott Brusven for the Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, and Justin Schaak from Above-the-Line Entertainment.

This year’s character was Joseph or Joanne Wilmers (a photographer), the prop was simply some cheese, and the line of dialogue was “why are you looking at me this way”.
“There was a whole lot of doubt” says veteran-competitor Tony Grosz, director of “12 Months.” “We tried to push ourselves as a much as possible.” Grosz’s film tells the story of a bully-student relationship that eventually comes to a climax. “[My films] tend to be an experiment in growing. I encourage anyone in the Fargo area to just grab a camera … and start shooting, and have fun”.

13-year-old Cameron MacKenzie, playing “Joseph’s Sister” in her second acting contribution to the 48 Hour Film Project in “Shutter Happy,” expressed her excitement about the event. “It’s super fun, because you don’t sleep at all, you drink sixteen Red Bulls all at once and stay up all night getting to know people.” MacKenzie was recognized with the Best Supporting Actress award.

Filmmaker Devon Solwold and his team from Midnight Productions won four awards this year – The Fargo Spirit Award (passed on by last competition’s winner, Tony Grosz) for Solwold himself, Best Costumes for Kristi Washburn, Best Supporting Actor for Carter Martinson and Best Ensemble Acting.

This is truly a crowning achievement for Solwold and his team considering they were the youngest competitor’s in this year’s festival, with Solwold directing at age twelve. “We went for the wild card and we got [the] silent film [genre], which was really great for us,” says Solwold. “I’m ready for anything because I love movie making.”

“Gyroscope,” this year’s Best Film, Best Actor and Best Writing/Screenplay Award winner, directed by Joseph Kramer, is a neo-noir set the backdrop of a metaphoric gyroscope. “We wanted to approach the 48 Hour Film Festival this year with a small concept. We didn’t want to go big … so I told my writer, Nick Collins, ‘two actors, three at most, one location, and let’s just go for it.’” This was Kramer’s third time competing in the festival, but his first time directing. This year’s festival was spearheaded by Joseph Moses, a first time city producer who managed to assist in bringing the festival back to full fruition after a lull from not being done last year. “I wanted to make the participants really happy, everyone I think should be given an opportunity to show their talent, to display their creativity, and I want them to come back years from now.” Moses has made films in the past and was a one-time participant of the festival itself.

The complete list of winners is as follows (award followed by filmmaking team):

::Best Use of Character: Unknown Caller by Pig & Squirrel Productions
::Best Use of Prop: Unknown Caller by Pig & Squirrel Productions
::Best Use of Line of Dialogue: Big Break by The Future
::Best Use of Genre: Looped by SuperPhalanges
::Best Costumes: Kristi Washburn for One in the Same
::Best Special Effects: Seth Stoltenow for Shutter Happy
::Best Sound Design: Twelve Months by A Mile Closer
::Best Musical Score: Nathan Bowser for Looped
::Best Cinematography: Wolf Nerpel for Pictures
::Best Editing: Pictures by Team Donko of Punchstania
::Best Writing/Screenplay: Gyroscope by Team Wilhelm Scream
::Best Supporting Actress: Cameron MacKenzie as Joseph’s Sister in Shutter Happy
::Best Supporting Actor: Carter Martinson as Cop in One in the Same
::Best Actress: Caroline Stommes as Caroline in Sea of Trees
::Best Actor: Nicholas Lee-Demetrius Korakidas as Detective Joseph Wilmers in Gyroscope
::Best Ensemble Acting: One in the Same by Midnight Productions
::Best Direction: Dustin Riccio for Sea of Trees
::Audience Award: One in the Same by Midnight Productions
::Second Runner Up Best Film: Sea of Trees produced by The Spaghetti People
::Runner Up Best Film: Pictures produced by Team Donko of Punchstania
::Best Film: Gyroscope produced by Team Wilhelm Scream

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)