Calling Gisborne filmmakers for 48Hours film challenge

Students from Gisborne's Rāngai filmmaking school on location in Gray's Bush scenic reserve on Back Ormond Rd. Rangai has two teams registered for the 48Hours filmmaking competition.

Gizzy filmmakers get ready for Aotearoa’s wildest weekend of filmmaking – Vista Foundation 48Hours is back for 2025.

Seven teams have already registered from Gisborne, which is now grouped in the “Across Aotearoa” section with other regional centres and international entrants.

“It is not too late to register. We often get a lot of teams signing up in the last few days,“ 48Hours national operations manager Ness Patea said.

Fran Carney, from the Hawke’s Bay office, will be on site for the screening of the Tūranganui-a-Kiwa/Gisborne heat movies at the Odeon Multiplex on Saturday, September 13.

The Vista Foundation 48Hours is Aotearoa’s “biggest and boldest guerrilla filmmaking competition”, where teams across the motu have just one weekend to dream up, shoot and polish a short film.

The rules are simple: no filming before the 7pm Friday start. From there, it’s 48 hours of caffeine, camera rolls and creative magic.

Each team is given a genre and a handful of surprise elements, a line, a prop, maybe a curious camera move, and off they go to make storytelling magic against the clock.

Films are screened in local heats soon after with the best moving on to the regional and national finals.

“There are prizes but the real win is to join a nationwide community of storytellers, all giving it a go together,” Patea said.

Now in its 22nd competition year, the competition has led to more than 10,000 short films being created.

It is described in a press release as “a wild and wonderful catalogue of cinematic grit and glory”.

“The kaupapa is to nurture creativity, grow long-term collaboration and build space for filmmakers to take risks and be bold,” Patea said.

Gisborne filmmaking school Rāngai has two teams registered, and a further “wildcard” team is preparing for the event.

Presented by the Vista Foundation, in association with Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga / New Zealand Film Commission, and backed by WingNut Films, The 48Hours is “a launchpad, a playground and a rite of passage for filmmakers at every level”.

Registration can be done on the 48Hours website.