Sunday, June 21, 2009

Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project Names the Top 15; Awards June 24 at Florida Theatre


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Jacksonville, Fla.– The heat wave got even hotter when Producer Mac McDonald announced the films that will show at the June 24 Awards Screening and Ceremony. This Wednesday’s awards will be the culmination of the 2009 Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project, scheduled to return in spring 2010. Tonight, nearly 200 filmmakers and fans gathered to hear if their film made it in, but they’ll have to wait a few more days to find out who actually won. Here are the top 15 in random order. The list includes film title, team name and team leader.

1. “Sketchy” – Hutch’s Heroes Part Deux (Keith Hutchison)
2. “Echoes of Elizabeth” – X4 Productions (Glen Vandermolen)
3. “The Forgiven” – Sixth Floor Museum (Mark O’Brien)
4. “Under” – Somebody Call An Ambulance Productions (Paul Melian)
5. “Static Lullaby” – AI Jax Team Red (Nadia Ramoutar)
6. “The Last Soul” – Jacksonville.com’s 14B448 (Tracy Collins)
7. “P.S. I Love U” – Team Distracted (Joseph Murphy)
8. “Romance” – Pick Me! (Marc Boese)
9. “Cars, Tows, Who Knows” – Chicken (Justin Suttles)
10. “The Unwelcome” – Wyldestone Films (Shain Gillete)
11. “There Is No Glass” – Dream Crushers (Marion Scott)
12. “In Every Lie” – AI Jax Team White (Chris Stagl)
13. “Disposable” – KCP Lite Productions (Anthony Kilburn)
14. “The Room” – Mugwump Moving Pictures (Samuel Smid)
15. “Hey, What Are Buds For?” – PB&J Productions (Parker Benedict)


“There were some real surprises,” says McDonald. “We had first-year participants nudging out some of the most recognized teams from past years. When it came to audience voting, we had to count one of the nights three times because there were only two votes separating the winner from the runner-up.”

As for the quality of the films, there was some outstanding work that Jacksonville should be very proud of. Three of the top 15 films were made by students and two of this year’s breakout stars turned out to be a regular guy with one arm and a lovelorn puppet. And then there was Sketchy, a character brought to life by local actor Kenny Logsdon --- whose significant other and their daughter were on a competing team that didn’t make the finals --- made such an impact on audiences that many say they’re coming back Wednesday just to see it again. The short film is a mockumentary about a guy obsessed with drawing chalk outlines like the ones used at crime scenes.

“I was impressed with the level of creativity,” says first-year Assistant Producer Masarra Sandage. “All three nights I had audience members telling me how hard it was to pick their favorites.”

There’s a close race in the judges’ scores too, but McDonald wasn’t sharing any of those secrets even though he has the official results. You’ll have to be there Wednesday night, he quipped, when hopeful competitors tried to pump him for information.

Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project Awards Screening & Ceremony
Wednesday, June 24
7 p.m. @ Florida Theatre

128 E. Forsyth Street,
Jacksonville, Fla. 32202 (doors open at 6)
Tickets only $10 (plus handling)

The required elements for all of this year’s films were as follows:
Character: Peter or Penny Dupree, Car Salesperson
Prop: Disposable camera
Line of Dialogue: "What did you do that for?"

Now appearing for its third consecutive year, the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project is presented by PRI Productions; other 2009 sponsors include Digital Video Arts and Comcast Spotlight. Keep up with all the happenings at www.48hourfilm.com/jacksonville.

About the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project

Presented by PRI Productions and produced for its third year by Mac McDonald, the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project is a wild and sleepless weekend during which teams make a movie — write, shoot, edit and score it — in just 48 hours. At the Friday night kickoff, teams get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre; 48 hours later the movie must be complete with the required elements. The Jacksonville films show at the Florida Theatre, where the audience and judges will determine the “Best in Jacksonville 2009.” In 2008, some 30,000 filmmakers made films in 70 cities around the world. Contact the Jacksonville team at Jacksonville@48hourfilm.com or 904-622-6800.

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