Excitement was in the air as the screening of the Annual 48 hour Film Challenge projects took place at the Olympus Theatres at 7:00PM, with 7 teams vying for the winner takes all $4800 cash prize.

The 48 hr challenge was first done in 2013 and since then has formed an integral part of the annual Barbados Visual Media Festival. As the name suggests, the challenge takes place over 48 hrs. Teams signed up the week prior to the challenge and then met at 6pm on 6th October for a one hour briefing where they are given rules to govern the challenge, including items that must be included in the film to ensure that it is shot within the stipulated 48 hr period.

The theme for this year’s challenge was “Picking up the pieces“, and the required elements included filming at a statue or bust of one of Barbados’s national heroes, using a blue pen and ensuring that a character said the words: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

The films were scripted, shot, edited and handed in by 7:00 PM on Sunday October 8th, 2017. 8 teams submitted films: B and S, Project D, IV Films, Nomadic Visuals, Diamondback, Bokeh, Mother M and The Creative Collective, however 2 of them missed the 7:00 pm deadline and were therefore not eligible for the prize. Their films were still screened to showcase the hard work they had done and all of the films were well received by the audience who were impressed by the level of work done in such a short space of time.

The Festival continues through to Sunday night with family fare, “Abiola” a feature length film on Friday night about the life of a young girl recently transferred to a new school. The concept originally was a popular local television series. Saturday night features “Hall” the much anticipated documentary on the life of Winston Hall while Sunday night will be the Visual Media Awards (VIMAS) to reward filmmakers in categories such as best cinematography, best actor and actress, best editing and more.

For more information on the festival, please visit our facebook page: Barbados Visual Media Festival.