72 Hour Film Challenge movies hit the silver screen

A capacity crowd was treated to the results of Northampton’s first-ever 72 Hour Film Challenge at a special awards ceremony.

The University of Northampton contest, which was open to students, graduates and the general public, challenged entrants to write, shoot and edit an entire short film within just 72 hours.

Films by the eight crews that entered were shown at the inaugural ceremony, which was held at the NN Café in the heart of Northampton’s cultural hub, on Wednesday 11 May.

Scroll down to watch our news report and some of the films

Award judge Russell Heyworth, who teaches Film and Video at Northampton College, said: “It was amazing to see how people came up with ways to get around the time constraints and to see how creative they can be.

“The standard was absolutely phenomenal – what they’ve managed to achieve in such a short period of time was incredible, they must have used every minute of those 72 hours.”

First year Media Production and Moving Image student, Adam Seal, who was part of the team which produced Cherries – which won Best Screenplay – said: “Taking part in the 72 Hour Film Challenge was a challenge in itself, but throughout we had so much fun as a group.

“As first year students, being able to compete against the third years was thrilling. We really showed our dedication to our work by being nominated for every category on the awards night, and we were so happy that we were able to win Best Screenplay. Bring on next year.”

Watch the report of the awards evening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0at8d8jK1M

Watch The Lure (contains mild swearing)

Watch Cherries (contains disturbing scenes/threat)

Watch GEN2601

The evening’s winners were:

Best Visual FX – GEN 2601
Best Sound – The Lure
Best Screenplay – Cherries
Best Editing – The Lure
Best Cinematography – GEN2601
Best Film – GEN2601
People’s Choice – The Lure