24 Hour Challenge 2012

Recap
The 2nd Annual 24 Hour Short Film Challenge took place October 6-7, 2012 and drew 37 teams from across Arizona. In just 1 day or 24 hours, teams delivered a variety of entertaining films that ranged from laugh-out-loud comedies to serious thrillers and made this a festival to remember!

"This year's challenge brought a mixture of A3F veterans and some new talent," said Jae Staats, A3F Director and Founder. "It was great to see familiar faces but was also refreshing to welcome first-time teams to the festival and the audience was blown away by the results!"

This year's guidelines asked the filmmakers to create 1-5 minute films using the Theme, Hidden Agenda, a Line of Dialogue, "Let's get this over with." and a Box as the Prop where one or more characters had to open or close a box. These guidelines proved a worthy test for the filmmakers in incorporating them into their films.

"I am always amazed at how creative the teams get with their films," explained Jason Francois, a judge and Assistant A3F Director. "This festival just proves to me time and time again that there is a lot of talent out there and the A3F provides an opportunity to showcase these filmmakers."

The challenge kicked off at noon on Saturday, October 6 and teams then turned their films in 24 hours later at Zoes Kitchen. "We knew the filmmakers would be beyond tired so we threw a party for them at Zoes," explained Jae. "We had a local musician, a massage therapist, free chocolate cake and drinks and did everything we could to energize our sleepless filmmakers." Some even came in their pajamas!

Surprisingly, most teams turned their films in with several minutes to spare. "For a 24 Hour Challenge, I was impressed that most of the teams made the noon drop-off time and some were even early," recalled Jason with a smile. With 34 teams making the deadline, the judges had their hands full in reviewing and scoring the films.

The Top 20 films were shown on October 18 at AMC Arizona Center 24 Theatres. With a sold-out crowd of 300 film-goers in attendance, the atmosphere was electric. The supportive audience cheered their way through the 20 films and even gave a standing ovation to Gracie Dufresne a young girl who took home an acting award.

"The A3F really does a fantastic job -- attending to every detail with such extraordinary energy and care. It could not have been run more professionally. I also think its great how you go to such effort to make everyone there feel appreciated and excited about their film or their role in a particular film. " -- Chris Raboin, leader of team Nine Buddhas Productions and winner of two awards for his film Crosswinds.

"Can't wait till Feb! The Goons are here to stay. ." -- Edson Florez, leader of team The Goons.

The night's festivities concluded with the official After Party at 1130 The Restaurant where everyone relaxed, mingled and congratulated each other after another successful Almost Famous Film Festival.

Top 20 Films
Watch the Top 20 Films on our A3F Vimeo page. Photos from 2012 festival.

Results
Please download these pdf files to see the 2012 Results and Official Teams.