Las Vegas 48 Hour Film Project set for April 8-10 with winner to screen at Cannes

March 21, 2011 - PRLog -- Many movies and film careers have been "made" at the Cannes International Film Festival in France. The 12-day event, founded in 1946, is a non-public festival, attended by filmmakers, actors, as well as movers and shakers of the industry. From the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Michael Bay, Peter Jackson, and Tim Burton, to Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, Keira Knightley, and Brad Pitt, anybody that is somebody in Hollywood attends Cannes.

So for Las Vegas' independent filmmakers, what's the key to getting a film shown there? Answer: Win the 2011 Las Vegas 48 Hour Film Project. This year's winning film is guaranteed to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.

"Yes, it's true," said Derek Stonebarger, the producer of the Las Vegas 48 Hour Film Project. "This is a super opportunity for Las Vegas. There's so much talent here. We have an independent film community that is doing really great things. In a small way, this is Cannes acknowledging that."

Team registration is currently open for the Las Vegas 48 Hour Film Project, which takes places April 8-10. Filmmakers from all over the valley will compete to see who can make the best short film in two days.

Participating teams will gather at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show inside the Las Vegas Convention Center the evening of April 8 for the kickoff. Teams will be given a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue that they must work into their short film, which must be less than 7 minutes long.

Forty-eight sleep deprived hours later, the teams must drop their completed films off at theatre7 in the arts district before 7:30 p.m. to be eligible for prizes. Whole Foods Market will be giving out wholesome and nutritious free food and refreshments to participants at the dropoff event.

The premiere screenings of the shorts will then happen the following week, April 13 and 14 at Century 16 inside the Suncoast. A best of "Awards" screening of the winning films will be April 27 at the same venue.

The final films will be judged by industry professionals the likes of; Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly Film Critic, Matt Keleman, Las Vegas Citylife Film Critic, Chad Clinton Freeman, Pollygrind.com Festival Director and other industry professionals; based on artistic merit (ie: story, creativity, entertainment value), technical merit an adherence to the assignment.

"We're always eager to see the creative work that the project inspires, and Las Vegas has a proven track record of creating some amazing films." said Mark Ruppert, the creator and co-executive producer of the international event that saw nearly 40,000 filmmakers make 3,000 films in 80 cities on five continents last year.

Teams are responsible for putting together a cast and crew, and getting equipment and anything else necessary to make their project.

"But any team, regardless of skill level, is eligible to participate in  the competition," Stonebarger said. "This is a crazy, super fun event. It's anybody's to win. If you're creative, organized, fast and have the means to shoot and edit you have a chance to jumpstart your career. You have a chance to screen at Cannes. How cool is that?"

To help people build their teams, Stonebarger has organized three free mixers for interested team leaders, actors, writers, producers, editors, directors and miscellaneous crew.

The first mixer will be March 31 at 6 p.m. inside Torino's Bar & Grill. It will feature $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon and food specials until 9 p.m.

April 3 will be the second mixer. It will be at The Beat Coffeehouse & Records at 11 a.m. The non-alcoholic mixer will offer coffee and food specials until 2 p.m.

LJ's Bar & Grill will be the final meet-up on April 6 at 6 p.m. It will feature $1 Pabst Blue Ribbon and $1 food special until 11 p.m.

Additionally, past films, including award winners, will screen at theatre7 April 8-9 at 7 p.m. These screenings are free to the public.

The Premiere and Awards screenings are also open to the public, tickets can be purchased in advanced.

For more information, to buy tickets or to register a team, go to http://www.48hourfilm.com/lasvegas.

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