Short Subjects Bring Long Fun At Little Rock's 48 Hour Film Festival

A shot of the screen at 48 Hour Film Festival on Aug. 30
at the Argenta Community Theatre in downtown
North Little Rock.

Would-be filmmakers in Little Rock recently got the chance again to prove their creative mettle by trying to produce a 7-minute movie that was entertaining or made some kind of sense.

I've heard about this contest for years from Fort Smith, but only recently got the chance to attend.  It's one of the things our recent move to the Rock has made possible. Before I proceed further in describing that experience, I want to declare loudly and clearly that my brother-in-law Michael Armstrong along with his friends Jim Patterson and Brad McLelland entered the competition with "Fire Engine Red." I'll return to that, but let's move on.

There were about 30 entries altogether and they were screened for the public over three nights. Judges and folks like me got a chance to see all of them. (Actually, the Jenny saw all of them. I went on the last night). Ten finalists, voted the best by the audience, made it to a final screening Aug. 30. Prizes were awarded in several categories — Best Film, Best Music, Best Use of a Prop. Every movie had to include some kind of melon, the line "What have we here?" and a singer character named Tommy or Tammy Shuttles.

Some rose to the challenge and some did not. Hey, I'll cut anyone some slack though for just trying. The deadline is tight to say the least. Although it will be another year before there's another such contest, I would recommend attending all or some of the nights. It's fun. If you encounter some less than stellar material from time to time — well, hey, it'll be over in 7 minutes. You get to hear short talks with each filmmaker, most of which are entertaining too, and learn exactly what they were up against besides a short production timeline.

My favorite was FER because it broke form. Instead of hipster cynicism, it rebellious went for genuine sentiment and poignancy. "La Petite Morte" was the winner, narrowly beating out FER for the top prize. It is very, very good. Everyone said the music in it would get in my head. "Ha!" I said. "That will not happen." It didn't ... until Saturday morning. They should call it "La Petite More, More More."

What were the movies like? The genres ranged from time travel to holiday to romance. A few were incoherent, at least to me. Others were tight little gems. Many were funny, and even many of the sub-par ones were entertaining on some level. Check it out in 2013. You'll be supporting local artists and enjoying some movies you definitely will not see anywhere else.

Rating: Little Rock 48 Hour Film Festival — A.

Watch "Fire Engine Red" here.