Hockomock Film Sprint Registration Opens Next Week

Submitted to Easton Patch:

The Hockomock Film Sprint is the ultimate filmmaking challenge for cinephiles, award winner, aspiring filmmakers, and the curious. As a 48 hour filmmaking competition, the Film Sprint offers a unique opportunity. Someone may have made a film, which is a challenge in and of itself. But can they do it in 48 hours? Teams write into the wee hours of the morning, cajole their friends to act in their film, work on 3 hours of sleep, edit in a final frenzy an hour before the deadline, and become true guerrilla filmmakers. 

Last year, the Film Sprint was founded as the ECAT Film Sprint, virtually the same competition, but one for Easton, Massachusetts. The competition was sponsored by (and still is) by Easton Community Access Television, Easton's public access station. Five teams entered and completed the challenge. The event culminated in an hour and a half long television program broadcast live on Easton Community Access Television the night the competition concluded. The five films were broadcast along with live performances by two local bands: Teenage Reverb and Love Triangle. The result was insanely great. 

This year the competition has expanded. As the name change shows, the Film Sprint is looking for teams from all of the Hockomock League towns: Attleboro, Canton, Foxboro, Franklin, Wrentham, Mansfield, North Attleborough, Sharon, Easton, and Stoughton. The competition offers a fantastic opportunity for aspiring filmmakers or truly anyone with an interest in film to have fun with their friends and make a film. In the spirit of growing the competition, the Film Sprint also now has a $200 grand prize, which will be awarded by a panel of three judges. 

Ten teams are allowed to enter the competition on a first-come first-serve basis. Registration opens up on May 20 and ends June 15. To register, teams must email hockfilmsprint@gmail.com with the following: Team Name, Names of Team Members, and the Team's Town of Origin. There is an entry fee of $5 per team member (minimum of 3 people per team) to be paid at the meeting to kick off the Film Sprint. 

On June 22 at 6:00 PM, the competition begins. At a meeting an hour beforehand at Easton Community Access Television, teams will randomly select a genre, which they must adhere to, and a quote from a famous film, which must be spoken, sung, or written during the film. A location from the team's town of origin must also be incorporated in the film. The teams will then have 48 hours to write, shoot, and edit their films. On June 24 at 8:00 PM, the completed films will be screened at Easton Community Access Television. At the screening, the panel of three judges will award the $200 grand prize to the best film. A television program will be produced as well this year with the completed films and performances by local bands interspersed. The program will be available on the Hockomock Film Sprint YouTube page at 8:00 PM the following day and will be broadcast on Easton Community Access Television.
For more information, visit the Hockomock Film Sprint website.