Take 36

ANYONE! Young, old, amateur, professional, literally anyone! We want to hear stories from all different walks of life. Start building your team now!

As many as you like, as long as you are able to social distance when possible and follow other necessary CDC health and safety guidelines in regards to covid-19. (Team prizes, such as festival movie passes, may be limited.)

36 hours. Your film MUST be submitted to our dropoff point by the 36-hour cutoff (not a second later) or you will be disqualified.

You can make any kind of film you want! Comedy, drama, horror, musical, animation, stop motion, thriller,  love story, sci-fi space epic. Whatever speaks to you! Whatever story you want to tell!

Use whatever you have at your disposal! Get creative and have fun. Always wanted to shoot a short on an iPhone? Do it! Want to test out that new camera? This is a great opportunity for that!

6 minutes max. Not including any title cards necessary. It can be shorter if you like, as long as you can tell a great story!

Nothing. Don’t do that. The whole point of the competition is to create your entire film in 36 hours. That means you have to conceive, write, cast, film, edit, score, and complete your film in the 36-hour time limit.

There will be forms and instructions for music releases, location releases and talent releases so it is all legit. You CAN, however, put your team together, scout possible locations you have access to, and test equipment and cameras, just don’t try to write or work on your final film.

We will provide every team with some criteria/ elements that must be featured in order to succeed. These elements will be very clearly stated and understood on Friday night to avoid any confusion. Beyond that, it is recommended to be as creative as possible when incorporating your elements.

These elements are provided, not only for fun but also to ensure you play by the rules and compete honestly by creating everything in the 36 hour period. If you fail to include any of your elements, you will be less likely to win top prizes.

Anything pornographic, excessively vulgar, or overly violent for the sake of violence (Gratuitous violence). We understand you are artists, and we don’t want to squash that! However, we have all ages competing in this competition and attending the showcase, so be aware of what you are shooting and who you would feel comfortable showing it to!

Starting at 7 am on Sunday, we task our team of programmers to watch all of the entries. They will rigorously judge and critique the films and whittle them down to the best ones. They will also be viewed by our special guest filmmaker judges and scored and critiqued accordingly, in preparation for the film screening showcase. This kind of festival programming feedback is an excellent way to gain honest knowledge of what worked and what didn’t.

If your film is picked as one of the best, it will screen in a live event at The Orpheum in Downtown Wichita, KS! A panel of filmmakers will give a short live critique after the films have screened. Awards will be given out at the end of the evening honoring the BEST OF THE BEST!

The showcase is our chance to show off your hard work and talents to our super supportive community! If your film is picked, it will screen LIVE in front of real live people, like your friends and family and community! Prizes and awards will follow the screenings!

Watch the showcase and find out! I know it will be super nerve-racking waiting to see if you screen but that’s the fun of it! Plus you get a chance to see what your peers came up with and support everyone else’s artistic endeavors and hard work!

Feel free to email the team at info@tallgrassfilm.org