48hr Puppet Film Project

REGISTER TODAY TO RECEIVE UPDATE EMAILS, AND THE THEME/ACTION/OBJECT!

NOTE: There is NO physical address (even though this event-maker made us place one - nobody will be there) - make your films anywhere you can/want! Last year we had submissions worldwide, and we hope to again. Just complete your film by 6pm PST on April 7th.

What is asked of our participants? To create a short film with a run-time of less than five minutes with the following guidelines!

The film must be created between 6pm PST on April 5th and 6pm PST on April 7th

The film must include a chosen theme, action, and object. These will be pulled randomly and announced on April 5th at 6pm PST.

All films must be 5 minutes or under.

The film must be uploaded to a digital steaming site (YouTube, Vimeo (with downloading enabled), etc.) with the link submitted before 6pm PST on April 7th

You do not need to be in southern California - you can make and submit a film from ANYWHERE!

A FINAL SCREENING OF FILMS WILL TAKE PLACE ON APRIL 14TH!

Thank you so much for your consideration and time! We really hope this can be a special and community building event for everybody involved.

NEW - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!

CAN THE PUPPETS BE PRE-BUILT?

Yes! 

While it may be fun to create unique, one-of-a-kind puppets for these films… there is still a lot more work to do, and building puppets is something a human-driven film doesn’t have to contend with. We believe the focus should be on the story and the visual storytelling.

CAN I SUBMIT A PRE-FILMED SHORT?

Heck no!

Submitted films must be made specifically for the 48hr Puppet Film Project, be 5min or under, and include the theme, object, and action we provided.

WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE MY FILM READY BY THE END OF THE 48hrs?

We understand that sometimes it’s impossible to finish up a film in time, and that technology can sometimes fail us. While we find it unfair to allow disqualified films to win any of our awards, we will still consider your film for the final screening and feature it on our website films page.

WHEN WILL THE AWARDS BE ANNOUNCED?

The awards will be announced on Sunday, April 14th after the screenings, at both our West Coast (The Secret Rose Theater) and East Coast (Henson Annex) locations.

WHEN WILL I GET MY JUDGE RESPONSES?

Your judge responses will come in over the week after the final screening (April 14th) and awards. Each person will receive both “what was liked” and “things to work on.” We believe this event can hopefully help future puppet filmmakers learn and grow, and want to support that.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

WHY PUPPETS?

What purpose does puppetry have in your film that justifies the use of puppetry over a human-led film? Puppets are more difficult to use in stage performance and filmmaking, yet they also hold unique opportunities and abilities within their storytelling.

From caricature to abstract to found objects, try and find a way that puppetry adds to the story and helps make it unique in a way that no human could.