A father and daughter switch places a la “Freaky Friday;” a woman tries to make enough money for film school by driving for Uber on Lower Wacker Drive; and Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and meets him in Duffy’s Tavern. Those were some of the narratives of the 7-minute films submitted to this year’s 48-hour film festival.
The Forest Park Arts Alliance’s fourth annual 48-hour film festival attracted the most attendees and entries yet. Nearly 200 people gathered in the lower level of St. Bernardine Catholic Church on March 21 to watch 11 films that were shot and edited by locals in just two days. The films were created by teams with a variety of experience and included over a dozen different genres and plots.
The Forest Park Review submitted a film for the first time. “Sticky Fingers” follows a tired and poor investigative reporter, played by me, as she tries to figure out who’s stealing the village’s supply of Nerds Gummy Clusters. You can watch our submission here.
Each team got different genres to pick from. We could choose for our film to be a suspense or romance, or both genres. All teams had to use a soccer ball in their movie and include the line, “You sure do look hungry, how about a banana?”
While “Sticky Fingers” didn’t receive any official accolades from the evening, I enjoyed creating it the weekend before. It was a welcome excuse to walk around Madison Street on a snowy Saturday and access some of my very limited acting experience that I haven’t exercised since college.
I was thrilled by the quality of the video, shot and edited by one of our freelancers, Risé Sanders-Weir, who also helped produce “Sticky Fingers.” Jill Wagner, who manages circulation and reader engagement for the Review, directed our film and appeared as a bartender at Robert’s Westside. Emma Cullnan, marketing and advertising associate at the Review, starred as the film’s antagonist, Gertie, and helped write the script. Lourdes Nicholls, our senior media strategist, also starred in the movie, along with Stella Brown, reporter for the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark, who helped edit scenes together.
After the 11 entries were shown to a room full of viewers, a panel of three Arts Alliance judges named Thomstead Productions’ “Missing Squeaky” as its favorite submission. Combining the genres of horror and an off-Broadway production, the film followed a dog in pursuit of his missing toy. Children recorded the voices of the two dogs, the only characters featured in the film and composed the music for their singing asides. “Missing Squeaky,” rightfully so, also won the people’s choice award of the evening.
The Arts Alliance board voted for “Au Pied de Cochon” as their favorite film. The drama/action followed the story of Pete the Feet, a famous soccer player who was kidnapped by a woman so she could make a meal with his feet. Both my parents attended the film festival with me, and my dad voted for this film as his favorite, instead of mine. I probably would’ve voted for this one too, had I not participated in the event.
If you’ve been on the fence about joining a team, or simply attending, the film festival, I would strongly encourage you to do so next year. The first thing my mom commented on once we arrived was the impressive amount of energy in the room. And I was impressed by how great all the films were, even if they didn’t make total sense or have a definitive climax and resolution. It was fun to sit back, relax and see how rampant creativity is running in the brains of your Forest Park neighbors.