Registration Open for 3rd Edition of 72 Hour Film Challenge in Rio

By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Registration for those interested in participating in the third edition of the 72HORAS Rio Festival de Filmes will remain open until April 30th, at 6PM. The 72HORAS Rio Festival de Filmes is a free and open to the public festival that challenges teams to create a six-minute short film in seventy-two hours.

This edition of the festival will take place from May 7th through 26th in Rio de Janeiro`s Zona Portuária (Port Zone), Centro (Downtown Region), and the neighborhoods of Lapa and Glória with the seventy-two hour production period beginning on May 26 and May 29th.

On Thursday, May 26th participants will meet at Museu de Arte do Rio at 6PM and at that time will told a phrase, an object and a “creative cut” that must be included in their films to ensure that all productions are made as part of the festival.

During the following seventy-two hour production period, competing teams must write/script, shoot and edit their films, which can be documentary, fiction and/or animation. Teams must then return to Museu de Arte do Rio by 6PM on Sunday, May 29th with their completed films.

The finished films will be screened in the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), the Museu do Amanhã and the Centro Cultural Light from June 10th through the 19th. The best of the completed films, will then be screened and compete during the 72 hours RIO Award Ceremony, a red-carpet event to held on Saturday, June 25th at 7PM at Cine Odeon in the Cinelandia neighborhood.

The 72HORAS Rio Festival de Filmes festival was created by Cristiano Vicente and New Zealand expatriate Nicole Freeman, a filmmaker who moved to Rio de Janeiro`s Zona Portuária in 2012.

“I was talking to Cristiano Vicente, the co-producer of the festival about how this region is full of material to make a film about and enough material to tell a different story each day,” Freeman told The Rio Times before the second edition of the festival.

“I told him about a festival that we have in New Zealand that challenges people to make a film in 48 hours. He jumped, liked the idea and said … Let’s do it! Thus, 72HORAS RIO was born.”

This year the festival will once again focus on Rio de Janeiro’s Port Zone, a rapidly changing community that has seen numerous renovations, structural projects, new developments and an increase in the popularity of its cultural scene during recent years. The focus this year will also be shared with Centro (the city’s historic downtown) and the neighborhoods of Lapa and Glória.

During the debut edition of the festival 507 participants produced 39 films and during the second edition, 1,400 participants produced 83 films.

Registration for the festival is free and can be completed on the 72HORAS RIO website. Additionally, see the site for more information about this year’s festival and see the video for the 2015 edition’s award ceremony here, on Vimeo.