The 48 Hour Film Project

Zhang Li, a disgruntled security bag checker at the Xizhimen subway station, sits on a broken-down three-wheeled bike. Staring out angrily at the stream of passersby, he singles out a tired-looking businessman and shrieks, “Hei, gemen’r – chui yi ge!”

In the 48 Hour Film Project (48HPF), this is what you have to go on: a character, a prop and a line. The rest is up to you. Film crews will be given these tools on Friday, June 19; over the next 48 hours, they’ll write, film and edit a 5-7 minute movie.

“You can have a great idea of the story you want to do but then you get thrown a curve ball. The way it’s set up stops you from coming in with any preplanned story,” says organizer Anthony Goodman.

The project began in Washington, D.C. in 2001, and has since grown into an international cult sensation. Last year, 30,000 filmmakers in 70 cities across the world took part. Film crews varied in size from a single person setting up a camera and then running around to be “on-camera” to teams of over a hundred.

China makes its fair share of short films. Though many of them fall into the “cheesy horror and cheesy kung-fu” categories, the nation is still on even footing with the budding international short film scene. “I don’t think any country has a monopoly on the best short movies,” says China 48HPF producer Peter Sallade. “I will say Germany has a monopoly on the really screwed-up ones. They just feel the need to incorporate vampires into everything.”

Spoofs aside, there are plenty of creative shorts coming out of China. “I saw one that was particularly good,” says Sallade. “It was a live-action animation. They built a large transformer out of wood, with moving parts, and transformed it.” Even local band New Pants has made a short film called “Peking Monster,” a sci-fi about monsters and superpowers (www.56.com/u93/v_MTQ0NzI3Mzg.html).

2009 is the first year Beijing has joined in the 48 Hour Film Project. “It’s a great way for Chinese films to get abroad,” notes Sallade. The films will be put to an audience vote when they are screened, and the winners will be sent to the final international competition in Washington.”

“It’s great because there’s so much possibility,” Sallade adds. “You can make anything happen, and then 48 hours later, bam – there it is.”

To participate, go to www.48hourfilm.com/beijing and register before Jun 14. Completed films will be screened at Yan Club Art Center in 798 on Jun 26-28. To view an archive of past films, visit ww2.48.tv/bin/index.cfm.