Toronto Film Challenge

25 teams started… 23 got in under the wire. One more was a couple minutes late. And the last one… is still unaccounted for. Either way, judging from the Twitters, the emails, and the conversations we had with the teams, everybody had a great time competing in the 24 Hour Toronto Film Challenge.

We kicked off at noon on Saturday, when every team grabbed a challenge pack containing a line of dialogue, a prop, a location, and a theme. They had 24 hours to write, shoot, edit, and submit a 4-6 minute film. Through technical difficulties, group personality conflicts, and in at least one case, an altercation with a prostitute, our competitors hammered out a film, and stayed up for 30 hours straight in some cases.

Special Props go out to Team #8 – S&H for being the first to submit. They got in shortly after 11am, and the other 22 teams who beat the deadline were in the following 45-50 minutes. Team #20 “Meal Ticket” was the closest to the wire, handing in their film one minute and 30 seconds before noon.

We hope you all had a great time, made a film you’re happy with, and learned something about yourself and your craft along the way! I look forward to seeing them all on the big screen…

Every film that was submitted will be screened at the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre on April 20th. Tickets will be available at the door for $10 each. Awards will be presented after.

As of 9pm tonight, registration is closed. We had several teams sign up on the final evening, and closed with 25 registered teams. Including DNP films, the group who won an entry in the Fall 48-Hour Challenge, we’re looking at 26 teams! Now we can look forward to the 24 Hour Toronto Film Challenge, starting at noon on Saturday.

An information email was sent out today, and that information is copied under the “About” tab above, or linked here.

Don’t forget! We’ll be screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre on April 20th. Tickets are included for competitors, and $10 for guests. All family and friends are welcome, but there are a limited number of tickets available!

We’d like to thank our sponsors at Alter Ego, RedLab, CinequipWhites, and Parachute Sound.

We are pleased to announce that the 24 Hour Toronto Film Challenge screenings will be held at the TIFF Bell Lighbox cinema at the corner of King and John St. The new centre is home to all things related to Canadian film and specifically, the Toronto International Film Festival.

Our screenings will take place on Wednesday, April 20th at 7pm. We will screen all the entries and award prizes for the top 3 picks, and Audience Choice. Tickets will be free for competitors, and $10 for guests.

The 24 Hour Challenge runs from April 9 to April 10. Registration is open.

The registration page for the 24-Hour Film Challenge is now open. You can also click on the link above, which will take you to the registration page. The rules for the competition are posted, and for the most part are very similar to the 48 Hour Challenge we held last fall.

The difference are… 8 people per team. Films are 4-6 minutes.

Everything else is much the same. Details (venues, schedules, etc.) are still being sorted, but we do know that the competition will run from April 9 to April 10, 2011. You’ll have 24 hours to make a short film that includes all the elements contained in your challenge pack.

Judges, prizes, venues, and other news will all be announced as it all gets confirmed. We had a great return in November, so I hope to see you all there in April!! Feel free to email questions to info a/ torontofilmchallenge dot… com.

Also… new posters for this event will be printed soon. Contact us if you want some to put up!!

If you attended the Awards Gala for the 48-Hour Toronto Film Challenge, then you may already know this. The Toronto Film Challenge will be running a 24-Hour event on the 9-10th of April, 2011. Competitors will have just 24 Hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film (4-6 minutes).

If you thought the 48 Hour Challenge was hard… this is a little insane.  Details will follow… but make sure you mark your calendars!!

Thanks to everybody who came to the London Tap House for our awards gala. Following a keynote address by Ryan Ward, we handed out nine awards to our worthy teams. And your winners are…

Best Editing – Stick it to the Man, Man! ($500 – Red Lab)

Best Sound –  A Life Fulfilled ($500 – CinequipWhite)

Best Director – The Sitdown ($500 Imagegear)

Best Actress – Allie Muzlaski, A Life Fulfilled (Headshots from SwitchFrame Media, Oakley sunglasses)

Best Actor – Ash Catherwood, Corpses (Headshots from SwitchFrame Media, Oakley sunglasses)

Best Cinematography – Bruce W Harper, Corpses ($500 CinequipWhite)

Best Writing – A Life Fulfilled (2 month subscription to Toronto Story Lab ~$300)

Best Picture – A Life Fulfilled (8 hours worth of post production from AlterEgo ~$10,000, team VIP tour of Steamwhistle)

Audience Choice Prize – Keith who is a Ghost (Free entry to TFC’s Spring 24 Hour Challenge, VIP Steamwhistle tour)

Thanks you all for participating, and attending. We look forward to the Spring 24-Hour Challenge, April 9-10, 2011.

The Toronto Film Challenge would like to thank all the teams for participating in the 48 Hour Challenge. Out of the 33 teams who started, 31 turned in a film. I hope you all had a great time, and we look forward to our next event!!

The Submissions:

1. Important Pictures – My Little Eye
2. Comatose Conscience – Don’t Drink the Water
3. Image Artists – Recurrence
4. Creative Meat – My Wand
5. DNP Films – Keith Who Is a Ghost
6. The Quicktimes – Two-Timing
7. The Battery Eaters – A Life Fulfilled
8. Elements Creative – Ghosts That Walk
9. Harrison Fjord – The Sitdown
10. Cancelproof – Corpses
11. Favours for Friends – Kinsmen
12. Earth, Wind, Fire +7 – Blur
13. Reel Wolf – Stick it to the Man, Man!
14. Roadhouse International – Carl
16. Murphy-Nolte Productions – Glowschtick
17. French Connection – Giving Joey the Finger
18. Small Hadron Colliders – Solilokyrie
19. Karonan – The Stain
20. The Other Team – Safety in Numbers
21. The Short Shorts – The Rise and Fall of Peechz N; Kreem
22. Focus Pocus Productions – All in a Day’s Work
23. Next Level Productions – 1995
24. Potpourri – Refracted Reality
25.The Previous Monkey – Voodoo Cow
26. Twin Cinema – White Sands
27. The Geriatric Film Club and Activity Centre – Bus Stop
29. WWF Productions – Frank’s Fortunes
30. Makeshift Collective – 30 Seconds
31. Creo – There and Back: A Hobo’s Tale
32. Canada Dan – Wrap it Up
33. League of Extraodinary Filmmakers – Horning: Behind the Blow

If you’re curious who is judging your films, meet the four people who have the final say!

	Nicole Arbour aka: “The World’s Sexiest Comedian,” is a rareanomaly in the world of entertainment, making waves in every facet of the industry, all at once. The Comedian, Recording Artist, Actor, Writer, Producer, Choreographer, and Model’s diverse career has seen her do everything from sharing the Molson Concert Tour lineup with bands such as Oasis and Finger Eleven, to being a member of the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak; and writing as well as starring in successful and award winning “out of the box” advertising campaigns for clients such as Virgin, Nike, AXE, and Molson.
	Already one of Canada’s most popular TV personalities when he began with ET Canada in September 2005, Rick Campanelli’s on-air career started after winning the 1994 MuchMusic Temp contest. In the fall of 2005, after nearly 10 loyal years at MuchMusic, Rick joined the revered Entertainment Tonight brand with the launch of ET Canada on Global. Rick’s hobbies include on-line poker, working with the various charities and spending time with his son, Noah.
	David Friend is an entertainment business reporter for The Canadian Press newswire and contributor to Hollywood trade publication Variety. He has mined Canada’s entertainment beat for more than a decade covering the Toronto International Film Festival, the sale of Alliance Atlantis and Canwest’s bankruptcy proceedings. On the lighter side of the entertainment beat he also was co-host of The Canadian Press’ Celebrity Dish gossip video for two years, and interviewed actors, directors and musicians for the now defunct website Entertainment Online.
	Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ryan Ward began acting in his late teens and has appeared in various productions in Toronto, Winnipeg, throughout Canada and the US. Stage credits include: Evil Dead the Musical (Off B’way, Toronto, Montreal – Original Cast Album, *Dora Nomination – Best Actor in a Musical), The Nick Drake Project (Picture Box Theatre), Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco, Fusion (DNA Theatre). Ryan is also a film director, his debut feature Son of the Sunshine has screened at film festivals worldwide, premiering at Slamdance Film Festival (*Rising Star Award for Best Actor – Edmonton Film Fest, *Best Actor & Best Director – Wild Rose Film Fest, *Audience Award Best Feature – Malibu Film Fest, *Audience Choice Award – Thunder Bay Film Fest, *Best Feature – Film North). Ryan is a Ryerson Theatre School graduate.

Thank you to all who attended the screenings last night! It was a great crowd, and I think everybody loved the atmosphere as you watched your creations on the screen. Thanks for being patient through some technical glitches, as well!! Anyway, for those who stayed until the end, this is old news. But if you had to cut out before the screenings wrapped up at11:30… Your TOP 10 films are:

• 3 .Image Artists – Recurrance
• 5. DNP Films – Keith Who is a Ghost
• 7. Battery Eaters – A Life Fulfilled
• 9. Harrison Fjord – The Sitdown
• 10. Cancelproof – Corpses
• 11. Favours for Friends – Kinsmen
• 13. Reel Wolf – Stick it to the Man, Man!
• 17. French Connection – Giving Joey the Finger
• 29. WWF Productions – Frank’s Fortunes
• 31. Creo – There and Back: A Hobo’s Tale

We’re working on getting them all up on YouTube, and will announce when that’s done. We’re getting a weird copyright error on some, which we’re working on.  Anyway, thank you so much for your participation, and we’ll see you at the Gala for the awards on November 27, 2010!!

33 teams started. 22 finished before 8:00 pm. Many more rolled in during the next hour or two. Tomorrow night, all of the films submitted before 10pm will be screened. That’ll make 31 Films.

We will do this in two sessions. Groups 1-16 will be screened from 7:00 to roughly 9:15. The second session, Groups 17-33, will show starting at 9:30.

Remember! There is an Audience Choice award up for grabs. Friends and Family are welcome for $10/each. Each person will receive a ballot as they enter, and will be asked to submit it on their way out.

Hope to see you all there!!