Flash Film Festival organizers prep with pre-event meeting next month
Following the success of its first Flash Film Festival this past summer, Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture recently announced a second opportunity for local filmmakers to participate in this cinematic challenge.
Flash Film Festival 2.0 is a competitive event where both amateur and professional groups race to complete a six-minute short film in just 48 hours.
But there’s a catch: each team must create their film based on a series of randomly drawn suggestions. These will include a film topic, prop, and line of dialogue that must be featured at some point within the film.
The required prop, or a picture of it, must be seen on screen and the required line of dialogue must be used verbatim, whether it be spoken, sung, or written. To qualify as an official entry, each group’s film must be about the subject it selects and feature a minimum of two actors along with the required elements. All films must run within the official time limit of six minutes or less and be shot entirely within the designated 48-hour period. Filmmakers may pre-assemble their team of actors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, grips, editors, musicians, and techs, however all production must wait until after the topics and assignments have been drawn at the appointed Flash Film kickoff event.
This year, a mandatory pre-event meeting and information session will be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 27 at the Sutter Theater Center for the Arts in Yuba City. This will be the opportunity for teams to have their questions answered, learn more about the festival, and sign up. Each participating team must then have a representative present at the official kickoff event at 6 p.m. on March 10. There, the groups will receive the subject of their film along with the other required elements in a random drawing. All qualified entries in the festival will be shown on March 25 starting at 4 p.m. at the Sutter Theater Center, located at 754 Plumas St. in Yuba City.
Films will be judged based on engaging and interesting stories, camera technique, understandable audio, thoughtful lighting, editing transitions, and use of music to create mood. Cash prizes are $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $200 for third place. For more information about this event, and other Yuba Sutter Arts 2023 programs, call 530-742-ARTS or email david@yubasutterarts.org.