Student filmmakers and movie buffs packed Lecture Hall on Saturday afternoon as the Film 48 competition drew to a close. The filmmakers finally saw the fruits of their labor as all of the films were screened for an audience prior to the Award Ceremony.

Film 48 is a new contest collaboratively created by the Binghamton Film Initiative (BFI) and BTV. In it, teams of student filmmakers had to write, shoot, edit and submit an original short film within a 48-hour period. The film teams consist of, at most, 10 students from any academic discipline on campus, not just cinema or theater majors. The short films must each be between three and six minutes long, excluding credits.

To ensure that all of the films were original and made within the contest period of 48 hours, the teams were assigned a random genre at the Kickoff Event last Friday, right before the start of the competition. All film teams were also assigned a line of dialogue, a character name and a prop that they all had to use in their short films. That way, the teams wouldn’t be able to write or start filming before the time period began.

According to Michael Hickey, BTV president and a senior double-majoring in computer science and history, the goal of Film 48 is to give student filmmakers an opportunity to make films, regardless of their major.

“We want more films to be made, more student filmmakers and actors working together,” Hickey said. “That’s sort of BFI’s mission and we encourage that strongly at BTV as well. We are hoping this can become a yearly thing where people can come together and make films.”

At the Premiere Event and Award Ceremony, all of the 10 eligible films were screened to the audience, as well as two additional films that were submitted, but were not eligible for the competition due to length. The films spanned a wide variety of genres, from common ones like comedy and mystery, to less conventional genres, like silent film and road movies. All of the films were received warmly by the audience, who were happy to congratulate the teams for their hard work and achievements. All of the eligible films can be seen on BTV’s YouTube page.

After the screenings, awards were distributed to the winners. A panel of judges consisting of Binghamton University faculty members determined the winners for best editing, cinematography, screenplay, acting ensemble, director and picture. The judged portion of the Award Ceremony was swept by the film “Lucid.” The science fiction film picked up every single honor awarded by the judge panel including the best picture award.

Audience members awarded the Fan Favorite Award to the suspense-thriller film, “Deadly Keys.” The second- and third-place winners for best picture went to “Deadly Keys” and the mystery film “Tommy,” respectively.

Tyler Downey, a senior double-majoring in theater and English, directed “Lucid.” He said making “Lucid” went more smoothly than he thought it would go.

“It was actually less bumpy then I thought it would be,” Downey said. “It was really pleasant. I had worked with all of my cast and crew on different theater projects, and we are all friends, too.”

BFI co-founder Jared Biunno said that Film 48 was successful enough to return next semester and become a biannual event.

“I’m blown away,” Biunno said. “Words cannot explain how thrilled I am with the level of participation and the amount of enthusiasm. People have been dedicated to filmmaking, and that’s really all BFI wants. This is one of the first times since I had been a freshman, at this University in the cinema department, that I have noticed there is an emergence of a filmmaking community at this University. First-time students are coming together and really collaborating and joining together in filmmaking.”