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At our glittering celebration of cinema at The Civic, Auckland, we are thrilled to present the 2018 Grand National Champion Award to Chillybox (Auckland) for PepTok, a Technological Thriller about a woman living with an earpiece device that gives her pep talks throughout her day – this talented team also winning Best Director - Thomas Sainsbury and Best Performer - Kate Simmonds.

“Super tidy, gorgeously well shot, compact, beautifully acted, stylised film.” Grand Final Judge - Aidee Walker

“Your social media thread comes to life in this believable and surreal tech thriller - PepTok.”  National Operations - Vanessa Patea

HP48Hours Founder, Ant Timpson, gives a specialty award each year with 2018 celebrating the Best Solo/Duo - honouring the courageous teams that enter with only one or two people in their team. This award goes to hard-core Wellington animation team Squint Eastwood for ZA by Sam Harris featuring Arjun Hazard. This team entered as an out of town team from London. ZA is a cautionary tale for foodies, about a pizza that is so good, it opens up a portal to hell.

“Each year the solo/duo teams push themselves to the utter limits, using every skill set they have and losing precious brain cells from the lack of sleep. I’m stoked to put up $1000 to support this sub-group of extreme filmmakers!” - Ant Timpson

Wellington team Temple of Nut takes home the awards for Best Script, Best Editor, and Best Ultra Film  - given to veteran teams (5 years+) who opt in for an extra challenge. This year, Ultra teams had to feature children or animals as the main character(s). Master stars Hewison’s adorable dog Winchester whose family is consumed by a Monster.

To acknowledge, encourage and support more female directors into the competition, Gaylene Preston and WIFT are proud to have award Best Female Director to Alison Titulaer (Bay of Plenty/Coromandel) for her film Manawa Bay with a $1000 cash prize.

“The director shows real ability in eliciting a nuanced performance from a well cast actor. Then paces the film around that performance so that small psychological details make a compelling whole, with sympathetic cinematography shining through. Everyone does good work which is the sign of a strong vision in the directors chair.”  Gaylene Preston

We had 163 school teams enter the competition and the competition is tough. We are acknowledging our best school team with a $1000 national prize and this year it goes to Wellington High Year 12 team for their film, Slept in, set in post-apocalyptic Wellington on the last day on earth.

Judged by 18 national and international judges, 17 awards and NZ$100k prizes of cash and services/product are up for grabs and the judges were impressed and inspired:

“What a delight this was to be a part of, such magical movies, and a good reminder that people making anything in more than 48-hours have no excuse to make anything less interesting and passionate and thoughtful and fun than what your filmmakers did.” - Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (International Judge)

And the winners are:

Grand National Champion - PepTok by Chillybox (Auckland)
Grand National Runner-up - Hero by Blood and Bone (Christchurch)
Grand National 2nd Runner-up - Red Touch Yellow by PickleThugs (Auckland)

Ant Timpson's Best Solo/Duo Award - Squint Eastwood (London/Wellington) - ZA by Sam Harris featuring Arjun Hazard
Best Ultra - Temple of Nut (Wellington) - Master by Dean Hewison & Richard Falkner
The Gaylene Preston and WIFT Best Female Director Award Tinker Tailor (Bay of Plenty) - Manawa Bay by Alison Titulaer
Best Director - Chillybox (Auckland) - PepTok by Thomas Sainsbury
Best School Team - Wellington High Year 12 (Wellington) - Slept in
Best Performer - Chillybox (Auckland) - Kate Simmonds for PepTok
Best Script - Temple of Nut (Wellington) - Dean Hewison & Richard Falkner for Master
Best Cinematography - R&R (Auckland) - Daniela Conforte for Marks
Best Production Design - Super Furious Ninja Dragon (Dunedin) - Steve Woller for Office Fighter
Best Animation/VFX - I Love Loops (Auckland)- Recess(es)
Best Editing - Temple of Nut (Wellington) - Dean Hewison for Master
Best Sound Design - Super Furious Ninja Dragon (Dunedin) - Nick McGrath for Office Fighter
Best Original Score/Song - Through the Lens Films (Taranaki)- Hannah Collinson & Melanie Bishop for The story of a decade

Best Use Of Puddle - Raw Washed Arabica (Wellington) - Compress
Best Use Of Door Slam- Kratos (Gisborne)- The Great Great Mistake
Best Use Of Shadow or Silhouette- Cinetrance (Wellington) - Glitch
Best Use Of Genre - Watson and Cricket Productions (Dunedin) - Lizard Does Earth (Monster Movie)

“I’m always amazed by what the teams come up with and this year’s films are insanely good! You have a hard time believing that they have been made in 48-hours. Many of these films could easily have a life beyond the competition, like 2017 winner Cool Story Bro, which is featuring in the NZIFF this year.” - Vanessa Patea, HP48Hours National Operations

Our congratulations and admiration to all 558 teams who registered from 7 regions across Aotearoa for another epic HP48Hours of furious filmmaking. We salute you!

See you for another round of furious filmmaking in April/May 2019!

Other Grand National Champion Finalists:

• Chess Club - Small Fish, Big City - Fish-Out-of-Water (ULTRA)
• Distant Rumble Productions - Attention Seekers - High School Movie
• H34 - Add to Story - The High School Movie
• Halcyon Entertainment - La Coquille - Anti-RomCom (ULTRA)
• Jovial Entertainment - Daddy’s Little Angel - Splatstick (ULTRA)
• Michaels Baes - Sneeze - The Technological Thriller
• Poutine Wolf - Utka - The Wish Movie (ULTRA, SOLO/DUO)
• TBALC - The Spares - The Fish-Out-of-Water Movie (ULTRA)
• Team Stock Standard, Lost - The Technological Thriller
• Temple of Nut - Master - The Monster Movie (ULTRA, SOLO/DUO)
• The Moffits - Apple Smash - The Fish-Out-of-Water Movie (ULTRA)
• Three Willy - Passing Lane - The Back from the Dead Movie
• Raw Washed Arabica - Compress - The High School Movie
• Squint Eastwood - ZA - The Monster Movie (ULTRA, SOLO/DUO)
• Super Furious Ninja Dragon - Office Fighter - The Splatstick Movie

#HP48

Do you need more info?

GRAND WINNER VIDEO: Chillybox (Auckland) Peptok https://vimeo.com/278294532 
ALL FINALIST VIDEOS: https://vimeo.com/48hours

HP48Hours Grand Finals Trailer (43secs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkwpDybQ-hg
Finalists: https://www.48hours.co.nz/city-info/grand-finalists-and-nominees/
2018 Genres & Elements: https://www.48hours.co.nz/rules/2018-genres-and-elements/
Judges: https://www.48hours.co.nz/city-info/grand-national-finals-event/
Prizes: https://www.48hours.co.nz/about/prizes

HP48Hours 2018 - the numbers:
Total Registered Teams - 558
Amount of People Involved - 4102+
School Teams - 163
Out of Town Teams - 86
Solo/Duo Teams - 32
Ultra Teams - 35
Disqualified Teams or MIA - 63