Paradise 48 Film Festival is an adrenaline-filled weekend in which teams have write, shoot, edit, and score an original short film. The fun weekend begins on Friday evening at 8PM and ends on Sunday at 8PM. After an intense week of judging, filmmakers will be able to view their films on the big screen, and prizes will be awarded for the best films in multiple categories!

You will have to choose a genre at random, shoot your film using the required 4 elements, and complete your film in 48 hours.

All teams must be registered to enter the competition. Registration occurs in three states: early registration, general registration, and late registration. Registration fees range from $125 – $145 depending on your time of registration. 

Yes, a team can withdraw from the competition. If a team has to withdraw, refunds will be paid on the following schedule:

• Notify the P48FF more than 30 days prior to your competition weekend, receive a full refund minus a $25 administrative fee.

• Notify the P48FF  7-30 days prior to your competition weekend, receive a full refund minus a $35 administrative fee.

• No refunds less than 7 days prior to Kickoff event.

Absolutely NOT! That is cheating, and considering that each film has to have the three required elements, it will be difficult to accomplish. If any team is caught cheating, they will be disqualified from the competition.

Copyrighted material cannot be used without written permission. Also, you may not use material, which is defamatory, obscene or otherwise unsuitable, nor pass off any such material as your own original work. 

No. We encourage teams of any size to enter! 

Yes, you’re allowed. We just hope you can make the schedule work out!

You can organize your actors, secure your equipment and locations. You may not do any creative work before the start of the competition.

All films must be a minimum of 4 minutes and a maximum of 7 minutes.

No. Your film may be 7 minutes long plus 1 minute of credits.

Stock film and video footage is prohibited, except as part of a special effects filter. However, if you have the rights to them, then stock photos are permitted. In other words, you may use photos not taken during the 48 hour time period. Note that photos cannot be used in sequence to create the illusion of motion.

Nope. We give you full creative freedom over your film.  You can create whatever effects you need in your film. 

You may use special effects that involve any of the allowed elements that you have rights to: still photographs, footage shot during the 48 hours, or footage rendered during the 48 hours. You may also use stock footage if it is part of a post-production effect or on a background screen or television and the stock footage is placed over or under footage that is shot within the 48 hours. Stock footage of people or other performers is not allowed.

You should create and upload your film in one of the following file formats: avi, mpg, mov, asf, mpeg, xvid, mkv, mp4, wmv, webm, ogv. 

A release form needs to be provided. Include information that shows your rights to the music or materials, such as a license, a purchase receipt, or a statement by the author.