By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitkans with a creative streak have a chance to try their hand at filmmaking over the next two weeks in a revival of the town’s 48-Hour Film Festival.
The rules aren’t complicated, but may require some serious brainstorming for budding Steven Spielbergs: every film submitted for judging must include three “prompts,” provided by the judges in advance.
After receiving the prompts, filmmakers will have two days to submit their film.
While filmmaking is often a very technical art form, Rob Poulson, organizer of the Sitka Film Society-sponsored event, emphasized the accessibility of this film festival for anyone who wants to try it.
“We have a very low bar for participation, so definitely people shouldn’t be concerned like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve never made a film before,’ or think too much about what kind of equipment they have,” Poulson said from his home in the Czech Republic. “If they have a mobile phone, they’re ready to go. And there’s a lot of flexibility… Even (if you) just have a little bit of an inkling or a little bit of interest, give it a try and have some fun.”
Once entered, a participant will be given a character, a prop and a line of dialogue that must be included in a film that is 2 to 7 minutes long. As part of the challenge, these required elements aren’t disclosed until a contestant starts their 48-hour project.
“First of all,” Poulson said, “it’s just to see other people’s creativity. The spirit of the 48-Hour Film Festival is purely amateur. There’s zero budget, using most of all creativity and not so much relying on any fancy equipment. And because of the time pressure, it really adds to that element of having to really dig deep to come up with ideas and to work fast.”
The time crunch imposed by the 48-hour filming window, as well as the required prop, line and character, are intended to produce some imaginative submissions.
“It’s exciting to see how they’re using their creativity within this time limit to come up with something new,” Poulson said. “And then I guess another element that I’m really excited about is just the whole fact of sharing, that we’ll be able to have people with a common interest and a passion for film getting together, having some fun, and hopefully a number of laughs as well, looking at what everyone came up with. So a little bit of socializing after the last two years of social isolation.”
Poulson, who was born and raised in Sitka, will be back with his wife and two children over the Fourth of July, ready to exercise his interest in making “films,” actually videos that he makes and edits into final form.
“My involvement is fairly new,” he said. “I’m a big film fan, and with my son we have made a lot of short films over the past several years... In Sitka there was a 48-hour film festival that they organized and that was done by Van Hanson. And we saw it happening that time in Sitka when we were visiting, and said, ‘Aww, that’s so cool,’” Poulson recalled. “We’d love to be a part of that too… We will be coming to Sitka here shortly to be an active participant in the whole event.”
Hanson organized Sitka’s first 48-hour film festival about a decade ago as a high school senior project, and continued the festival for several years before relocating to Oregon.
“It really just comes from our desire… to show films,” Hanson told the Sentinel. “The senior project was the reason I started it, but we were making films in high school, me, my friends. And so it was really just an excuse to make films.”
He stressed the informal and amateur nature of the short films.
“It was even before all this internet and stuff,” he said. “So you just kind of heard about, you know, the 48-hour film festival or underground film festivals for amateurs. And so we had no experience with film festivals, we had no idea what we were doing, we just knew we wanted to make silly films and play them.”
Poulson also traces his interest back to his school days.
“I’m strictly a hobbyist, but I do like the performing arts, so I guess my whole history and passion starts even right there in Sitka at Raven Radio,” he said. “So when I was 12 years old, some friends and I had a half-hour radio show where we had our own little short plays that we would write and produce and put on the air. And I guess that was the bug that bit me.”
The film festival is open to entries until July 10. Poulson hopes to see about 10 entries, and three are in the works so far.
“Right now we’re still seeing people warming up to the idea, so our promotion so far has been pretty low key and it’s only really gearing up just now,” he said. “So right now we have three people. One is completed and then we have two more in process,” Poulson said. “And actually, to tell you the truth, I’m planning to participate myself. I don’t yet have my three assigned items. So I will be submitting my film under the same conditions as everybody else. And we do expect... closer to our deadline of July 10, we’re going to see an uptick in the number of people participating.”
Completed films will be shown at 5:30 p.m. on July 13 at the Coliseum Theater on Lincoln Street. Also on screen that evening will be “A Beautiful Place,” about the impacts of climate change on a town near Nome, and “Cruise Boom,” which delves into the impacts of the cruise industry in Sitka. While entry into the contest itself is free, the final screening costs $9 for general entry and $5 for students. More information is available online at https://sway.office.com/Iu1FTIWDB8Mq3E9r?ref=Link or on the Sitka Film Society Facebook page.
