The Bay of Plenty film community is buzzing following an exciting finals night of stand-out short films created by 20 local teams for the Vista Foundation 48Hours competition.

The competition which had over 500 teams from around NZ taking part this year, has been holding regional heats and finals, with the grand final to select a national winner coming up on July 27 in Wellington.

At the BOP 48Hours’ finals on Friday, June 14, ‘City Winner’ Taupō’s Great Lake Film Society scooped up a stunning collection of regional awards with their film ‘Loose End’, including Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Script, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Sound Design, Best Use of Genre, and Best Performer. They also won three of the four Best Use of Elements – a warning, a traveler or neighbour, and a match cut.

Great Lakes Film Society

‘Loose End’ tells the story of a world in which each person’s life is bound to their own single red string. One unfortunate office worker finds himself untethered from his lifeline, hopping between multiple diverging and crisscrossing strings.

Cameron Walton, who won Best Performer for his role in ‘Loose End’ by Great Lakes Film Society. Photo: Supplied.

A team of 16 Taupō locals contributed to the script design, acting and production of ‘Loose End’ to create a touching and hilarious film with just two lines of spoken dialogue and plenty of visual humour.

Taupō-Nui-a-Tia teacher Cameron Walton, who won Best Performer for his role in ‘Loose End’, enjoyed the creative experience.

Cameron Walton, who won Best Performer for his role in ‘Loose End’ by Great Lakes Film Society. Photo: Supplied.

“It’s a celebration of all those who have passion and love for film,” says Cameron.

“The best parts of this competition is you start with nothing and end up making something amazing. This competition is a celebration of all those who have passion and love for film but are often unseen.

“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.

“We are jealous of so many of their crazy ideas. We are inspired and honoured to be doing this crazy comp with all of the BOP.”

2024 Letterboxd Post Shoot Poster Competition

Great Lake Film Society are also one of the 10 national winners of the 2024 Letterboxd Post Shoot Poster Competition, where teams were invited to submit their film poster following the weekend of filming. Each winner received a one-year Patron Letterboxd subscription along with $150 worth of cinema vouchers.

Poster for 'Loose End' film by Great Lakes Film Society. Image: Supplied.

BOP Runner Up

Runner Up for the Bay of Plenty finals is Tauranga-based team Eddie Page Productions with their film ‘Petrified’ which featured living statues and won the Best Production Design and Best Original Score/Song awards.

Teams are given a genre as well as various elements to incorporate into their five-minute movies which must be filmed, edited and submitted within two days.

Eddie Page Productions with their film ‘Petrified’ had to make a film with 'Monster' genre. Photo: Supplied.

The ten genres were Musical or Possession Movie, The Odd Couple Movie, The Real Time Movie, The Fantasy Movie, The Monster Movie, The Animal Adventure Movie, The Splatter Movie, The Fish out of Water Movie, The Crime Movie, and The Lovers on the Run Movie.

The four required elements were a warning, a Traveller or a neighbour, a match cut, and an exit.

TheUltimateSuspendedFlat9Chord won the Incredibly Strange award for their film ‘Retrovertigo’. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford.

Other BOP regional winners

Other regional winners at the BOP city finals held at United Cinemas at Bayfair on Friday were Ellie Rode who won Best Young Performer in the Sena Pictures film ‘Silent Line’;  Brittany Baker from Loner Productions who won the Dame Gaylene Preston and WIFT Best Female/Gender Diverse Filmmaker award; TSŌ team which won Best School for their film ‘Run With Me’; TheUltimateSuspendedFlat9Chord which won the Incredibly Strange award for their film ‘Retrovertigo’; and Temporary Estate which won ‘Best use of Element 4: An exit’ for their film ‘Calliope’.

Eddie Page Productions outside Priority One in Grey Street, Tauranga making their film ‘Petrified’. Photo: Supplied.

Another Taupō team, first-timers Whack Crizard, won the best animation gong for their film 'The Cheesening’.

‘The Cheesening’ follows two friends as they seek the help of a wizard skilled in cheese magic in order to save their fromage-possessed mate. With a striking visual style and deadpan Kiwi humour, ‘The Cheesening’ provided an eye-catching and whimsical point of difference among the films submitted.

Emiel Van Wilsem Vos from Whack Crizard was very proud of their team's six nominations and Best Animation award win.

“We are looking forward to entering again next year and bringing more "A-Game",” says Emiel.

“Now that we know how the competition runs, we will get better every year.”

Grand national final on July 27

There are seven regional finals with the very best films being chosen for the Grand Final Event at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, on July 27.

The Great Lakes Film Society team who filmed 'Loose End' won the BOP City Finals of Vista 48Hours. Photo: Supplied.

Despite winning the Best Film award for Bay of Plenty, there is no guarantee that the Great Lake Film Society ‘Loose End’ movie will make the Grand Final event.

Film director Joel Corbett says winning is a nice-to-have but isn’t the aim.

“This year the calibre of films is almost beyond comprehension. We never, never make our films to win awards. We make them out of the love for creating and the incredible fun we have during the process.”

In April, 2024 Vista Foundation 48Hours also ran the OPPO48 challenge where teams competed for $5000 by making a one-minute film in five hours.  Judged by comedian and short video content creator Tom Sainsbury, the winner of the eight OPPO48 finalists, which includes Great Lake Film Society’s ‘Dis’, will have their film screened at the Grand Final.   

Great Lake Film Society's film 'Dis'.