48 Hours. 16 Films. One Hawke’s Bay: The Region Brings the Stories
The challenge was fast. The filmmaking was fierce. And Hawke’s Bay has once again shown what can happen when creative people get together and make something happen.
The cameras have stopped, the edits are locked and the films have hit the big screen.
The Vista Foundation 48HOURS heats have taken place in Hawke’s Bay, bringing together filmmakers, actors, crew, friends, whānau and supporters for two packed screenings at the Globe Theatrette in Napier.
And what a collection of films it was.
The premise of 48HOURS is deceptively simple: filmmakers are given a challenge and just 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and deliver a completed short film. There is no time for perfection. There is barely time for sleep. What there is time for is creativity, collaboration, problem-solving and a lot of filmmaking magic.
Across Hawke’s Bay, 16 teams took on the challenge, with eight films screened in each of the two heats on 20 August. Screen Hawke’s Bay was proud to work alongside the 48HOURS team, helping to MC the Hawke’s Bay heats and celebrate the incredible work of the teams who took part.
Heat One: Let the filmmaking begin
The first heat brought together eight teams and a wonderfully eclectic collection of films:
Over and Out
The Night of the Weapon: The Game
Once upon a Pixel
The Greatest Man Never Known
Interesting Film Company
Temper tantrum
Pakaru Pānui
The Hit List
KS Productions
Creepy Tim
Community College
Sara Sir Nieghm’s Catawampus Catastrophe
Golden Ratio
THE GRATE HIEST
The Russell Crew
Jackson
With ratings ranging from G through to M, there was plenty of variety on the programme — exactly what you hope for from a 48-hour filmmaking challenge.
Heat Two: Things got a little darker
The second heat brought another eight teams to the screen:
A is for
Sorry Not Sorry
Fleapit Charlatans
OUTPUT
Cherry’s Berrys
Scarlett
DEFY
HARD CASE
KAL
Swan Girl
lujoja
Careless Burns
Tub Time Studios
That Time I Got On a Gameshow and Found Out The Host Was Like a Demon Or Something
Sarcuckle Spöglorf
Mi Casa Su Casa
The two heats were deliberately structured with the first being mostly family-friendly, while the second included a number of films carrying content warnings.
That meant audiences could choose their night — although, as the 48HOURS team jokingly suggested, there was also the option of scanning the Audience Favourite voting poster on the way out if a particular film proved a little too dodgy!
One of the great things about 48HOURS is that it makes the collaborative nature of filmmaking incredibly visible.
Every one of those 16 films represents a group of people who gave their time, creativity and energy to make something happen.
There were actors, directors, producers, camera operators, editors, sound recordists, designers, make-up artists, production assistants and countless others behind the scenes.
There were locations to find, props to source, costumes to organise, food to feed hungry crews and probably more than a few moments where somebody asked:
“How are we going to get this done before the deadline?”
And somehow, they did.
That spirit of collaboration is something we want to see grow throughout Hawke’s Bay. Screen Hawke’s Bay is proud to support opportunities that bring our regional screen community together, create pathways into the industry and encourage more people to see filmmaking as something that can happen here.
So, what happens next?
The heats are not the end of the 48HOURS journey. The films now move into the regional judging process, with the strongest films progressing towards the Across Aotearoa Regional Final. The Across Aotearoa Regional Final will be held as an online premiere on Friday 18 September, streamed through the official 48HOURS YouTube channel. It will bring together the best films from the Across Aotearoa region for the next stage of the competition.
And then comes the big one.
The Grand National Final takes place in Wellington on Saturday 17 October, where the top 14 films from around the country, alongside three Sir Peter Jackson Wildcards, will compete to become the 2026 Grand Champion.
A huge congratulations to every team
Screen Hawke’s Bay would like to congratulate every filmmaker, actor, crew member, supporter, location owner, whānau member and friend who helped make this year’s Hawke’s Bay 48HOURS challenge happen.
Whether your film makes it through to the next round or not, you have achieved something worth celebrating.
You took an idea and turned it into a film. You created something in our region. And you became part of the growing story of filmmaking in Hawke’s Bay.
That is worth a round of applause.
Keep following the journey
Find out more about the Vista Foundation 48HOURS competition, regional finals and the national competition at: