Winners announced in CREATE’s 48-hour film challenge

By Patrick Lynn

CREATE Portage County has announced the winners of its fourth annual film challenge.

The 48-hour film “Still Rendering” challenge, held April 22-24, gave this year’s 13 teams of actors, videographers, sound engineers, and editors two days to produce a short film.

The winning team, “Error 404: Team Name Not Found,” took home the $1,500 prize. But the contest doesn’t really focus on the prize.

“We have talented videographers, actors, editors, and storytellers in the community. Pair them with the media studies program at UWSP and filmmakers learning at other educational institutions, and we have a perfect environment to grow the filmmaking talent in North Central Wisconsin,” said Chris Klesmith, Project Activator at CREATE. “Still Rendering provides a fun, interactive experience for our community members and cultivates relationships between these rising professionals.”

Still Rendering was launched in 2019 by CREATE and has grown each year with the support of Point
Brewery. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to go virtual in 2020, but Klesmith said that allowed teams from as far aware as New York to participate.

Point Brewery and CREATE will co-host a live screening of Still Rendering’s top submissions at Point Brewery’s Patio on October 6, 2022, Klesmith said.

Brian Elza, a marketing specialist at Point Brewery, said the company is excited to help showcase the filmmakers’ talent.

“We can’t wait to see which filmmakers are inspired to sign up for the challenge next year,” he said.

All the submissions from 2020 through 2022 can be found in playlists on CREATE’s YouTube channel.