Sunday, March 8-----On the weekend of March 13, filmmaking teams from around the world will gather for the 8th Annual Filmapalooza, which will take place at the Miami International Film Festival. The guest filmmakers are winners of the 48 Hour Film Project (48FHP), timed filmmaking competitions in their cities and are in competition to be named the Best Film of the 2008 48 Hour Film Project. The honor comes with a $5,000 cash prize.

The winning films, selected from more than 2,500 entries, will screen along with winning films from the National Film Challenge, the Panasonic HD Showdown and the International Film Shootout. At the final screening and awards ceremony, six winners will be announced and cash prizes plus a Panasonic HPX17 Camera will be awarded.

The 48 Hour Film Project is the world’s largest extreme film competition, with a tour that goes to 70 cities on four continents, including Athens, Mumbai, Paris, and Sydney. In the 48HFP, participating teams are given a genre, a character, prop, and a line of dialogue that they must work into their film. Teams are responsible for putting together a cast and crew as well as securing equipment, locations and costumes. And then they have 48 hours to complete a seven-minute film. For more information, visit the website: www.48hourfilm.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Miami FF Spotlight Editor