KHCPL’s 48-Hour Film Contest underway this weekend

This article is brought to you by Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union. Help us stock the shelves for neighbors in need! From September 8–28, 2025, both Solidarity locations will be collecting non-perishable food items for the Kokomo Rescue Mission’s Fall Food Drive. You can bring your donations anytime during regular business hours. Every can counts! Drop off at 201 E. Southway Blvd. or 214 N. Dixon Road

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People are scrambling through downtown Kokomo today, cameras in hand. Some of them are spouting strange dialogue and perhaps are acting strangely. Still others are rushing around with lighting rigs or microphones as the city’s center becomes a makeshift movie production lot.

The Kokomo Howard County Public Library’s annual 48-Hour Film Contest is underway, and a dozen competitors are traipsing through downtown to complete their works within the tight timeframe. Now in its fifth year, the contest gives the community a creative outlet to explore their cinematic skills.

According to contest organizer and KHCPL’s Digital Den administrator Ben Rutz, the teams have until 8 p.m. on Sun., Aug. 31, to complete their films and submit them for judging. They began the contest on Friday evening, Aug. 29, by gathering at Sun King in the 500 block of North Buckeye Street to obtain their contest stipulations.

The teams are responsible for creating their own material, Rutz explained, though when it comes to sound effects and music, the filmmakers can license those features. These must be disclosed in the film credits. And each film can run between three and 10 minutes in length.

“As long as you're within that window, you are still eligible for the awards,” said Rutz.

Once the rules were explained, each team approached the contest table in the order that they registered and selected a sealed envelope. Inside, they found the genre they have to produce. Rutz explained that the envelopes selected initially contained standard genres, such as romance, drama, or action.

However, Rutz had a second selection of envelopes – the challenge genres. Included were genres such as western, noir, historical, and documentary. The teams could take a risk and grab one of those envelopes instead.

One of the hallmarks of the KHCPL 48-Film Contest is the required inclusion of a unique line of dialogue. This year, Rutz told the filmmakers that they have top include the line, “For those who come after.” The teams also selected a required location at random, which forced them to include a downtown location in the filming.

“It has to have plot relevance,” explained Rutz. “It can’t be like a shot of the storefront or a picture it for no reason.”

As if these requirements weren’t enough of a challenge, Rutz unveiled another stipulation to the filmmakers’ list.

“Since it's our fifth year, we're adding a prize wheel; an extra random element,” said Rutz. “You're going to spin the wheel, and whatever you land on is another thing you have to add to your film.”

Possible outcomes from the wheel included an extra prop that has to be included in the film, an additional line of dialogue, an additional location to include in the filming, or even an additional genre which must be blended with the genre already assigned.

For instance, one team went for a tougher genre at the start and drew “Western.” The wheel added the “Thriller” genre to their production. Other teams had to include a giant pencil or a furry, black spider into their films.

Once the selection process was completed, the teams scurried away to develop their scripts, gather their actors and begin the filming, frantically producing a work before the 48-hour window closes.

Rutz enticed the contestants by disclosing that some new, secret awards have been included in the contest this year, though he gave no further details.

He also explained how the completed film can be submitted, either electronically over a file-sharing server or on a portable drive that can be dropped off in the downtown library parking lot beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Once the entries have been submitted, the judges will go to work reviewing each entry for awards. And on Fri., Sept. 5, the films will be screened at Sun King’s Depot. The screening will begin at 7 p.m.