The Vista Foundation 48Hours is presented by The Vista Foundation, in association with Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga / New Zealand Film Commission.
Landing the splatter genre, it is an incredible national win from the Kirikiriroa/Hamilton Region, with a new-comer team called Nuggets and their film Chicken. This team is made up of mostly first-time competitors and they burst onto the screen with some inventive camera work, performance energy and embrace their genre to take the audience on an incredible ride.
Nuggets was the first drama film that this group has ever made. An astounding achievement to take home the top prize, be handpicked as a Sir Peter Jackson wildcard and win the Viva La Dirt League Comedy Award!
“It really had a classic 48Hours vibe, we were laughing the whole way through, the fight scene was amazing and intense and there was lots of blood! It was incredible.” Alan Morrison, Viva La Dirt League.
Key team members: Arohanui Watene, Tyla Tuala, Nopera Watene, Valerie Lui.
-----------
Grand National Runner Up 2024 - Supported by WingNut Films
Sweets by Disqualified Tim. (Wellington team) - LINK
A man catches a train to buy sweets in a landscape created using just images of him.
A monster film made entirely of Tim’s body using an A.I programme called ComfyUi, a custom trained image generator. Tim is a long-time Wellington-based competitor who is known for his innovation and incredible sets. This year he stripped it back (literally) using no costumes, no sets and competing solo. He creates a simple tale of a traveller in the search for sweets set in an intriguing world made of A.I generated body parts. Disqualified Tim also takes home the best production design award and the L’affare incredibly strange award.
Key team member: Tim Hamilton
-----------
Grand National Second Runner Up
Loose End by Great Lake Film Society. (Taupō team) - LINK
A man loses his grip on his lifeline and follows a new path.
Team: Great Lake Film Society / Film: Loose End
Another Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard, Loose End is a fish-out-of-water short set in a surreal sci-fi world, where the rules are simple - stay attached to your string, but what happens when there's a loose end. This stylistic and comedic short was made with a team of Taupō locals all contributing to the script, design, acting, and production.
“Being able to come together with all of the teams, seeing their films on the big screen, and celebrating what we’ve all come up with together is a privilege.” Cameron Walton.
Key team members: Joel Corbett, Denise Edmonds, Angela Alexander, Cameron Walton, Kerence Stephen, Dervla Murtogh, Sarah Waller, Curtis Painter, Roy Bowers.
-----------
Quotes:
Nuggets: "So grateful just to be here, we entered the competition as newbs pretty much, just having fun as friends. So to even be here and share this space with you all is such a privilege"
- Valerie Lui
"I just want to say a big thank you to Sir Peter Jackson for even considering that our film would be worthy for Grand Finals and this competition, so thank you so much! And also want to say a big thank you to all of the sponsors, oh my gosh, that's an amazing investment into beautiful talent like yourselves and just grateful for that. Behind the scenes of the 48Hours film competition, working so hard back there to give us all this opportunity to do what we love right?"
"The team would also like to thank the panel of national judges for the competition, and the whole competition itself".
“The bts of the journey was crazy! Last minute run around, as well as getting lost on the way home, limited space on camera, getting a black eye, a 30 min slot for the beautiful sunset God blessed us with, and only having our actress until Saturday 6pm. Hectic and fun!”
- Arohanui Watene
"There are so many beautiful filmmakers here and for a lot of our team it was our first time making a VF48Hours film. It's just overwhelming to see what a big and amazing community this is, so I want to also mihi to Ruth and Ness for creating this, two other wahine who are leading the way with this competition".
"Also, in Tāmaki, I think almost all of the nominees for best director were wahine as well, or non men, so just want to acknowledge all of the other directors and filmmakers in the room".
"I recognise what you are saying about a director leading the vision, but I think it can't be done without everyone on the team, so I really want to acknowledge all of my team, Milon, Damien, Renaye, Elijah, Isiah, Jazz and Serena".
"The idea of the film came from Renaye, she was really keen for us to make something that references something that the governments are doing in terms of taking away the rights of tangata whenua and other communities with repealing section 7aa. I think it's timely this week with the report released into the Royal Commissions abuse in state care and all the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who have been affected by abuse at the hands of the state. So I think as filmmakers we have a responsibility to use craft and storytelling to hopefully make some kind of difference".
- Julie Zhu
"This year, I proved that any individual can create a winning film with nothing but their skin and a camera. Literally. My film consists exclusively of images of my skin, with no other help or input. What a career highlight. What a battle. I’m over the moon!"
"I started this competition with a string of disqualifications a decade ago, earning the unfortunate name “Disqualified Tim”. There is no heartbreak quite like it.
Since then I have tried redemption by winning many other film competitions in small countries like France, America and China.. but it didn’t work. The culture of competitive filmmaking is so much worse off internationally. I learned we don’t get disqualified here because we suck. We get disqualified because this competition is great.
2nd place means I am one step closer to shedding the traumatic disqualified brand. I can look at ten years of entries and see my common failures (weak scripts) and highest achievements (production design). It has been a bloody uphill struggle for 2nd place but I am almost free of this curse."
- Tim Hamilton
"Fran Walsh and I have been asked to judge the wildcards for 20 odd years, and we get very very attached to our wildcard selects, and occasionally some years, our wildcard select actually wins the Grand Final. One of the very first times we judged it, there was a young guy who would submit a film every year and the next year we recognised his name, and there was another film the next year, and this guy never gave up. And his name was Taika. So that's just to say that this VF48Hours film competition, even though it's a lot of fun and it's just something that's open to everyone, it can have consequences."
"The standard this year was absolutely superb, and I've just got to say congratulations to all of the teams. The ones we saw were very very good. It was exciting, it was entertaining."
"Congratulations to Nopera, Aroha, Tyla and Valerie, team Nuggets, your movie Chicken is the winner. And I've just got to say that Chicken was our top pick for the wildcards and it's been judged the winner. So that's fantastic, we're very very proud of that. So well done team nuggets and thank you for competing and I hope that all of you compete again next year because the talent that we saw was really really amazing."
- Sir Peter Jackson
-----------
The Vista Foundation 48Hours is a cornerstone of the New Zealand film industry, running for 21 years and offering an exhilarating platform for both emerging and established filmmakers. The annual competition is NZ's largest guerrilla filmmaking event. Teams from all corners of New Zealand are tasked with writing, shooting, and editing a short film within a 48-hour window on 17th to 19th May, 2024.
In 2024, we had 570 teams register for the competition and 499 eligible films submitted. Nationwide there were 162 School teams and 86 Tertiary Teams involved, with 30 teams giving the solo/duo a go!
Wellington had 181 teams this year and has seen year on year growth in competitors since 2021. This year the region had the highest turnout of teams in the country, surpassing Auckland at 171 and cracking a new record for the capital!
There were 33 online and in-person heats screenings across the country gathering together filmmakers from each region. We had 68 volunteer judges who dedicated their time and their industry experience to the competition.
The 2024 National Judging Panel includes Sir Peter Jackson, Dame Gaylene Preston, Elijah Wood,
Mette-Marie Kongsved, Viva La Dirt League, Jess Hong, Jon Kroll, James Ashcroft, Damon Fepulea’i, Desray Armstrong, Jill McNab, Emma Slade, Brian and Julie Cadzow, Abba-Rose Vaiaoga-Ioasa and Stallone Vaiaoga-Ioasa.
“2024 has been a huge year for the competition, after taking a gap-year we came back with a bang! The films created keep getting better, we are immensely proud of the films people can create in 48 Hours, and we are happy to provide a platform for them”
-----------
2024 Vista Foundation 48Hours Award Winners:
Dame Gaylene Preston and Wift Best Female / Gender Diverse Director
Julie Zhu - Sad Jackie - Monster State (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Ant Timpson's Best Solo/Duo Award
Twotors - Front Yard (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington)
Viva La Dirt League Comedy Award
Nuggets - Chicken (Kirikiriroa / Hamilton)
OPPO48 Award
Wooah - Under My Skin (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best Director
Julie Zhu - Monster State - Sad Jackie (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best School
Evil Cutlery - We Scream (Onslow College) (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington)
Best Performer
Jordan Mooney & Stephen Lovatt - chips cheese cats etc - Tender (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best Script
Thicker than Water - Jovial Entertainment (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best Cinematography supported by Rubber Monkey
Man Hand - Glowtime (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best Production Design
Disqualified Tim - Sweets (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington)
Best Animation
Awkward Animations - The secret life of a sloth (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best Editing
Videoshop - Nightlight (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington)
Best Sound Design
Dead of the Day - The Good Bits (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Best Original Score/Song
Pixel Pixies - Lover's Got the Runs (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington)
Incredibly Strange supported by L'affare (Tie-break)
chips cheese cats etc - Tender (Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland)
Disqualified Tim - Sweets (Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington)
NZ Film-Makers Collective Best Disqualified Film
Mahi Dogs - Redbelt (Melbourne)
Grand Finalists