The second-ever Welcome Diner Film Festival will screen locally-made short films on Wednesday, August 13 and Thursday, August 14 at the RoRo eatery. But, before that can happen, the festival needs teams of local filmmakers and actors to work fast and furious under pressure for the 48-hour film challenge. If entries from this year are anything like last year's, it's going to be an odd and surreal ride through the goofy minds of some of Phoenix's up-and-coming creatives.
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For the 2013 Welcome Diner Film Festival, six teams made three-minute films in just two days using a specific prop, line of dialogue, and a genre. While all of those elements were the same, the resulting movies, which you can watch via the Welcome Diner YouTube channel, were all pretty different, though entertaining and weird to say the least.
If that sounds like fun to you, get your video camera and a group of friends ready because the challenge starts again on Friday, August 8, at 5:30 p.m. at Welcome Diner. Teams will put in the $50 entry fee and find out what the challenge's guidelines will be this year. A portion of each team's entry fee will go to benefit the Garfield Community Garden.
From there, it's up to the filmmakers to include the necessary elements and make something worth watching by Sunday, August 10, at 5:30 p.m. All of the movies made during the challenge will then screen on both festival nights at the Welcome Diner Film Fest. The list of WDFF judges for this year's competition is a very RoRo-centric list of folks including Aaron Johnson of Lawn Gnome, Nicole Underwood of Roosevelt Row, John Sagasta of Jobot, and Kris Gade of the Garfield Community Garden.
While the 2013 winners took home $240, the 2014 winners stand to take home more cash because WD Manager Wayne Coats expects about twice as many entries this year. After all, RSVP attendance for the screenings alone has caused them to make it a two-night event.
The winners for the 48-hour challenge will be announced after the screening on August 14 and will win a downtown prize pack with over $100 worth of swag from local businesses as well as the cash prize.
For more information on the 48-hour challenge or the two-night screening event, visit the Welcome Diner Film Festival event page on Facebook. Both the August 13 and 14 screenings begin at 8:30 p.m. and are free to attend.
