Have you ever sat down and watched a movie and said….”I can do that!”?

Well, that’s exactly what hundreds of Columbus-area residents do each year during the annual 48 Hour Film Project. Filmmaking teams gather all around the city and in a mere 48 hours, they do just that.

Each year the 48 Hour Film Project, the world’s largest film-making competition, visits nearly 90 cities challenging teams to complete an entire film from writing, casting, filming, editing and submitting in a mere 48 hours. The challenge will be hitting Columbus, Ohio from August 13 to August 15th, 2010.

This year, Columbus will be one of a record 87 cities worldwide competing in the 48 Hour Film Project. Here is the Columbus 48HFP Page.

Filmmaking teams of all levels begin at 7PM on a Friday and deliver a finished 4 to 7 minute film by 7:30PM Sunday. Each team is assigned a genre, character, prop, and line of dialogue that they must work into their film. They are responsible for putting together a cast and crew and getting equipment and anything else necessary to make a film/video in just a weekend. Any team, regardless of skill level, is eligible to participate in this competition.

“We challenge the filmmakers not only with the tight deadline, but with the last minute assignment of a film genre and required elements such as a prop and a line of dialogue,” said Mark Ruppert, co-executive producer of the 48 Hour Film Project. “We’re always eager to see the creative work that the project inspires.”

The 48 Hour Film Project is the oldest and largest timed film competition in the world.  The Project’s mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers. The tight 48-hour deadline puts the focus squarely on the filmmaking, emphasizing creativity and teamwork and “doing” instead of “talking.” The emphasis is also on building communities of local creative people – - facilitating making new connections, showcasing skills and celebrating what creativity and teamwork can accomplish in just one weekend.

Think you might be interested in joining the filmmaking fun? Check out the details below and visit the Columbus 48HFP page for more info.

Interested in becoming the next Spielberg or Streep but don’t have a team? The Columbus site (Columbus 48HFP Page) has info on a fun meetup on Wednesday, July 28th from 7 to 10 pm at the Park Street Patio for people looking for teams and teams looking for help. Can’t make that meet-up? There is also a link to list yourself for teams that are looking for members and help. Don’t be left out….check it out!

Here is how it all works:

Sign-Up
Teams sign-up at the 48HFP website and pay a $155 registration fee (early bird special of $135 until midnight July 19th).

KickOff
THE COMPETITION STARTS HERE:
8/13/2010 6:00pm (Teams Leave at 7pm)
Movie Big Shots Studio, 753 Harmon Avenue, Columbus
Teams meet here and they will be given a genre, a character, a prop and a line of dialogue that they must work into their film.

48 Hours of Film Making Bliss
Teams meet and plan the events of the next 48 hours to produce their film. Write, cast, film, edit, compose and put in a format to turn in.

The Turn-In
THE COMPETITION ENDS HERE (TEAMS SUBMIT THE FILM THEY’VE CREATED):
8/15/2010 7:30
Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High Street, Columbus
*Films submitted even one minute late will be disqualified.

Public Screenings
All submitted films will be screened for the public at The Gateway Film Center at 1550 N. High Street on August 18 and 19 at 6:30pm and 8:30pm.

Judging
A panel of experts will judge the films and the top films will screen again at a later date. The winning film from Columbus will be in the running for top honors at an International Film Event called Filmapalooza, the 48 Hour Film Project’s annual awards. The top 12 international 48HFP films will screen at the Cannes Short Film Corner in 2011.

And the Winners Are
The Columbus Best Film is awarded a trophy, is screened at the 48HFP Filmapalooza, and receives a $1,000 camera and gear rental from OhioHDVideo to use in their next production. The Filmapalooza Grand Prize winner receives $3000 cash, filmmaking equipment, and the Grand Prize Trophy.

Last year Columbus had 36 films submitted. The overall total films submitted in all cities was an impressive 3,000 films in 76 cities.

So, what are you waiting for?  If you’ve ever sat in a theater and thought: “I could make a better movie!“ — NOW is the time to go for it!

Who knows? Your next stop just may be the red carpet.

For More Information Please Contact:

Columbus 48HFP City Producer
KC ALLEN :: columbus@48hourfilm.com
419-434-0916 or 419-722-0824

Columbus 48HFP Associate City Producer
AMBER MIKESELL :: ammikesell@yahoo.com

www.48hourfilm.com

Theater for a good cause? Count me in.

SNAP! Performance Productions is local volunteer group of singers, dancers, and actors who use their talents to raise money and awareness for Columbus charities. Over the past seven years, SNAP! has been an artistic outlet in the community to over 350 Columbus residents. This year, SNAP!’s beneficiary charity is Recreation Unlimited which is based in Ashley, Ohio and provides sport, recreational and educational programs to individuals with physical disabilities.

Next week, SNAP! Columbus will be performing their original show, Hugh Versus the Black & White, at The Lincoln Theater May 6th-8th. The storyline, song selection, vocal arrangements, choreography, set, staging, narration, and lighting design were all created over the course of 7 months and were created entirely by the cast. Hugh Versus the Black & White tells the story of a young woman separated from her true love and her quest to bring him back into her life.

Unlike a musical, Hugh is told entirely through song – singers, dancers, or both. While there is a narrator that helps push the plot along, none of the lead characters have speaking parts. The numbers this year range from rock songs (“Renegade” by Styx) to blues (“Home” by Marc Broussard) to pop (“Two is Better Than One” featuring Taylor Swift) to jazz (“El Tango de Roxanne” from Moulin Rouge).

The show runs May 6-8 with nightly performances at 8pm and a 2pm matinee Sunday, May 8. Tickets are $21 and can be purchased online here.

WIN TICKETS FROM GREATEST CITY OF ALL:
Post a comment and tell us what your favorite Columbus charity is. For a bonus entry, post a link to this article on Twitter and leave an additional comment with a link to your tweet. We’ll pick a winner on Tuesday, May 4th.

With original scenes mixed with quotes from the key performers and songs from the concert itself, Back to the Garden takes you back to the summer of 1969; a turbulent, magical place and time where, for just a moment, half a million people came together in peace, for the love of music.

Please note: Information for the calendar of events is gathered from multiple community sources. Experience Columbus is not responsible for the accuracy and content of information. Times, dates and locations are subject to change.

CAPA Celebrates Black History Month with Dreamgirls, Porgy & Bess, Ailey II, Dance Africa, and A Song for Coretta.

DREAMGIRLS – The musical sensation live on stage

Direct from the world famous Apollo Theater in New York City, a brand new, sensational stage production of DREAMGIRLS comes to Columbus! Full of onstage joy and backstage drama, DREAMGIRLS tells the rags-to-riches story of a 1960s Motown girl group, and the triumphs and tribulations that come with fame and fortune.

The Broadway Across America Series is presented by Fifth Third Bank, CAPA, and WSYX-TV ABC 6.

eCAPA Special Offer: Get up to 35% off the regular ticket price of the Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday performances when you use the password SONG* To order, call (614) 469-0939, visit the CAPA Ticket Office at the Ohio Theatre, or Online.

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess comes to Columbus!

A groundbreaking opera by George and Ira Gershwin, this national tour of Porgy and Bess weaves a tale of prejudice, love, and tragedy. Incorporating a wealth of blues and jazz into the classical art of opera, Gershwin considered Porgy and Bess his finest work, with songs such as “Summertime” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”

Sponsored by Univar and David and Mo Meuse. Presented in association with the King Arts Complex.

eCAPA Special Offer: Get tickets for any performance of Porgy and Bess at 50% off regular ticket price when you use the password CLARA.* To order, call (614) 469-0939, visit the CAPA Ticket Office at the Ohio Theatre, or Online.

Celebrate Dance with Ailley II

Ailey II’s exceptional modern ballet dance company merges the spirit and energy of the country’s best young talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding choreographers. The dancers are the most gifted of their generation, translating strength, agility, and grace of body and soul into stirring, powerful performances.

Sponsored by David and Mo Meuse. Presented in association with the King Arts Complex.

To order tickets: Call (614) 469-0939, visit the CAPA Ticket Office at the Ohio Theatre, or Online.

Celecrate Dance with Dance Africa

Dance Africa
Saturday, February 20 7 PM
King Arts Complex Pythian Theatre
Presented by The King Arts Complex in association with CAPA

Dance Africa embodies tradition, but also a spirit of change and growth reaching back into the past and forward into the future, embracing the links between cultures across the African Diaspora, always bearing the message, “Peace, love, and respect for everybody!”

Sponsored by AEP, Arts Midwest, National Performance Network, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

To Order Tickets: Call (614) 469-0939, visit the CAPA Ticket Office at the Ohio Theatre, or Online

Honor the legacy of Coretta Scott King with
A Song for Coretta

Friday, March 5-Sunday, March 7
Lincoln Theatre
Produced by The Ohio State University Department of Theatre

Inspired by the long line of mourners at Ebenezer Baptist Church paying their respects to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, this play introduces five fictional African-American women, aged 17 to 57, who find laughter and hope while waiting in the rain to say good-bye. Experience the impact Mrs. King had on the lives of these women, and the connections they build with one another through her memory and legacy.

Sponsored by David and Mo Meuse. Presented by CAPA and The Ohio State University Department of Theatre, in association with The King Arts Complex.
To Order Tickets: Call (614) 469-0939, visit the CAPA Ticket Office at the Ohio Theatre, or Online.

Available Light Theater is adding two shows to its remaining run of Daniel Elihu Kramer’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The world-premiere of this telling of Pride & Prejudice stays true to the popular love story, but its narrative is interrupted and helped along by a number of modern voices, many of whom come to us from blogs, chat rooms, and YouTube. In this fast-paced, two-act show, sometimes it’s not necessary to play out an entire scene; sometimes the Wikipedia version will do just fine.

Matt Slaybaugh, the theater’s creative director, attributes the demand in part to the reviews, including Dispatch critic Michael Grossberg’s rave review on the cover of the Columbus Dispatch Weekender proclaiming, “I can’t think of another new work staged in Columbus in my 24-plus years as a Dispatch critic that has displayed so much promise or polish.”

The new shows are January 29 and 30 at 8PM in the Riffe Center’s Studio Two Theatre. Reservations for the new dates opened today and there are seats still available this Thursday–Sunday, January 21-24. You can purchase tickets here.

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have THE 39 STEPS, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance!

In THE 39 STEPS, a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she’s a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called “The 39 Steps” is hot on the man’s trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale! A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, THE 39 STEPS amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure!

Man, That’s Cold!—Noir Film Festival Mondays, January 4—February 1, 6:30 pm (except January 18) Grandview Heights Public Library

Welcome to another freezing winter in “Noirville”, and we’re not talking about the temperature, pal. This is a town filled with cold?blooded backstabbers and cold?hearted lovers. A town without pity, where tears turn into ice cubes. Join Library staffer Chris Boerger for a collection of classic crime dramas from the 1940s & 1950s, or catch a fever. You’re in “Noirville” now, baby. Time to bundle up.

• January 4: The Asphalt Jungle (1950) A jewel heist gone wrong. Starring Sterling Hayden, with a then?unknown Marilyn Monroe. Directed by John Huston. Nominated for four Oscars.
• January 11: The Killers (1946) An investigator unravels the mystery of a small?town murder. Burt Lancaster’s film debut, with Ava Gardner. Based on an Ernest Hemingway story.
• January 18: “Scram. We’re taking a week off.”
• January 25: Ace in the Hole (1951) An unscrupulous reporter spins a story out of control. Starring Kirk Douglas. Written, produced & directed by Billy Wilder.
• February 1: Touch of Evil (1958) Honeymooners battle police corruption in a Mexican town. Written, directed & starring Orson Welles, with Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh.

Whether you are ready or not, the week of Christmas is at our heels.  Yes, it’s hard to believe Christmas is just about a week away!

If you are not yet in the holiday spirit, below is a list of events going on in downtown Columbus this weekend that just might help put you in the holiday mood. And if you are already are in holiday mode, these events will get you even more excited!

A compelling story and a lively score, from rap to salsa, sets the stage for the 2008 Tony Award Winning Best Musical, In The Heights, which opened last night at the Ohio Theatre.

The Broadway musical is set in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in northern Mahattan with a largely latino population. Hard-working bodega owner Usnavi (Kyle Beltran) sets the tone of the show from the beginning with his clever rap “In The Heights,” which introduces all the main characters and sets up the culture of the community:








In the heights
I’ve got today
And today’s all we got
So we cannot stop
This is our block

Other central characters include straight-”A” student Nina (Arielle Jacobs), who drops out of college after losing her scholarship; Nina’s parents, owners of a cab company, Camila (Natalie Toro) and Kevin (Daniel Bolero); Benny (Rogelio Douglas Jr.), who works at the cab company; salon-worker and focus of Usnavi’s affection, Vanessa (Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer); Usnavi’s younger spirited cousin, Sonny (Shaun Taylor-Corbett); and Usnavi’s lovable abuela (Elise Santora.)

Through financial turmoil, a black-out (“We’re trapped on Gilligan’s ghetto Island”), and the loss of one of their own, the residents of Washington Heights come together and charm the audience.

I absolutely LOVED this show. My musical-adverse fiancee came with me and he really liked the show, too – that’s saying a lot. The vibrant characters, the Latin melodies and the overarching themes of love, family and culture combine to make a show that’s easy to get wrapped up in. It’s laugh out loud hilarious at points and still heartwarming and emotional. I’ll admit, I teared up a little towards the end.

My only major issue with Heights: the ensemble characters. Their purpose was… lacking. There were two musical numbers that I felt were enhanced by having extra characters on stage for – otherwise, they’re sporadic appearances and stilted choreography was distracting and a bit annoying.

Tickets range from $20-67 and are available at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and by phone – (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000.

Guest post by Adam Clark of GroovyDoodle Photography

Shadowbox Cabaret brings Holiday Hoopla back for another holiday season. Now in its 18th year, the show is better than ever and combines past favorites like “The Santa Babies” and “Dasher Returns” with brand new material.

The opening night was solid with a packed house. There were lots of hilarious moments, my favorite being “The Firstest Christmas” with Amy Lay reprising her familiar role as the hilarious child narrator. I spent nearly the entire 10 minutes of the skit in non-stop laughter along with the packed crowd. They had to pause multiple times so the laughter of the audience would die down enough to hear the actors continue. A close second was “Figgy Pudding” with July Klein as the choir director of a feisty group who, much to her dismay, won’t sing the song as instructed.

The only flop of the night was “Crazy Charlie – Merry Christmas Bitches.” Once the novelty of the introduction wore off, the rest of the skit seemed forced and the ending fell flat.

Overall, the Shadowbox cast was incredible and Holiday Hooplah XVIII is a must see this year.

Shadowbox Holiday Hoopla
Click here for more pictures

The show will run Wednesday through Sunday until January 2. Tickets range from $20-$30 and can be purchased online here. Shadowbox Cabaret is located inside Easton Town Center.

Will you be checking out the hoopla this holiday season? Have you been to a past hoopla? Let us know in the comments.