It all starts with an idea, a thought, a message that you want to portray, something you want to say. The idea gradually develops over the weeks and/or months until the filmmaker showdown is only a few days away and you realize your idea isn't nearly as planned out as you thought.
The mad rush to get everything organized begins, especially for those who don't live in Whistler. The rules: the films must be completed in 72 hours within a 100 km radius of Whistler. The rewards: the winning team receives a $15,000 prize package, including $6000 in cash in addition to being featured on MTV's website and being screened at various film festivals throughout Canada. After 3 days with barely any sleep (or no sleep for some),
large doses of caffeine and taurine, and super intense focus for extended periods of time, 50 filmmaking teams have written, filmed, and edited a 3-5 minute film. Everyone from small production companies, to groups of friends, to individuals and teams produced a short film. Only 10 films were selected as finalists to be shown this past tuesday at the conference center in front of a crowd of 2000 people.
Each year the popularity of this event seems to grow with it being sold out 5 days in advance this year. The energy of this event is comparable to the largest of ski movie premiers with the crowd cheering and screaming throughout the show. It is this energy that filmmakers want to be the object of and the reason so much suffering over the 3 day period is endured. To be a finalist, and to have the power to move 2000 people to cheer for your film is a very powerful and addictive feeling. The level of creativity was very high with most of the films going the comedy route and the films' styles varying from large productions with multiple actors and complex scenes to simple one location, 2 person shoots, to simple shots with heavy animation. In the end, it was Robyn Taylor's film
titled 'Arbitrarily Pear' that took best in show. Filmed in one location in a house with just 2 actors...and two Alpaca's, and a bunch of random objects that interact with each other, including an oversized pear and a ladder, his film was extremely creative, flawlessly shot, and one of few that didn't have anything to do with Whistler.
The Finalists
1. Allan Crawford - Slade the Mermaid
2. Denny Dias - Red Revenge
3. Adam Besse - Dirty Dirty Sweet
4. Danielle Lewis - The News
5. Elizabeth Thompson - Smash Blast Fast
6. Jonny Fleet - 4
7. Christian Sander - Bigger Than Us
8. Jimmy Vegas - Le Glove
9. Andrew Huculiak - Sandman
10. Robyn Taylor - Arbitrarily Pear
