Due to the uncertainty surrounding the longevity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the availability of venues for mass public films screenings in early June 2020, i48 is adapting this year to an “on-line only” version. We’re cautiously optimistic that “stay at home” orders will be relaxed by late May 2020 such that teams can venture into the greater world to make their films. But we’re far less certain that we’ll have theatres to screen movies, or that folks will yet be in the mood to gather in
large groups…

So here’s how it will work:

On Friday, May 29, 2020, all registered teams will receive an information packet via e-mail with the genre of their film, the character and line of dialogue. The packet will identify a prop which will be readily available in everyone’s home.

By 6:00 p.m. on May 31, 2020, all teams will submit their finished films to i48 via WeTransfer. All eligible films will be made available to our judging panel via private links. The judges will watch the films individually from the safety of their own homes and notify i48 of their top picks by Friday, June 5, 2020.

On Saturday, June 6, 2020 i48 will livestream (times TBD) all the completed films so the teams, their friends and families can enjoy the finished movies. At a time TBD in the evening of June 6, 2020, Andrew Ellis and Josie Pusl will livestream an “Awards Ceremony” to announce the winners of Best Film, Second Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound/Music in both the Open and Novice Divisions and the Sun Valley Film Festival Favorite.

All awards will receive trophies as usual and Best/Second Best Films in both divisions will receive cash prizes. We will make arrangements with the winning teams to get the trophies and checks to them. Since i48 depends in large part on ticket sales to finance the cash prizes, the cash prize amounts will be reduced this year.

We are going to postpone the Sun Valley Film Festival Student Led film award until 2021.

Due to the changes this year and because we know that money is a little tight these days, the entry fee for this year’s competition will be $10. For those teams that have already submitted a registration, i48 will be in touch with you to see if you are still interested in participating. If you are not, you will receive a full refund. If you would like still join us for this year’s “pandemic” version of i48, we will refund all but $10 of your submitted fee.

If you have any questions, please contact us at andrew@idaho48.org and/or josie@idaho48.org.