Cinephiles packed Wildcat Chamber on Friday, April 4, enjoying popcorn, door prizes, and the premiere of nine original student short films submitted for the 2025 K-State 48-Hour Film Challenge.
The event kicked off the week prior on Friday, March 28. Teams were challenged to create a 2–6-minute film in the span of 48 hours that incorporated the following elements:
- Location: Closet or Storage Room
- Line of Dialogue: “If we leave now, we can pretend this never happened.”
- Prop: Rubber Duck
Judge Tana Akers (’16), a Topeka-based video editor and motion designer, advised teams to play to each member’s strengths and weaknesses and to build upon member’s ideas with a “yes, and” approach. Judges Clark Griffiths (’05), a St. Louis–based film and commercial colorist, and Desiree Schippers (English BA ’19), a Chicago-based writer and documentary filmmaker, both encouraged teams to have fun with the collaborative process and to tell compelling stories.
Teams creatively incorporated the required elements, from having a rubber duck be a hand grenade to having a hilarious panicked conversation in a closet during a house party and to telling a partner the line of dialogue after meeting a quirky realtor. We got to see a 180-degree horizontal shot and seamless transitions, hear clever and witty dialogue, and listen to electronic dance music and suspenseful nondiegetic scores.
Once again, students showed that K-Staters have impressive filmmaking talent!
The Teams at the Red Carpet
Quentin Tarantinbros
Logan Sheafer
The Creators
The Grand Corporal Army of His Excellency Zane Pierson-551st Parachute Battalion
Movie Mama
Chances Make Champions
And the Winners Are….
Outstanding Comedy:
The Rubber Ducky is a Hand Grenade by Logan Scheafer
Outstanding Use of Prop:
Unducky by The Grand Corporal Army of His Excellency Zane Pierson-551st Parachute Battalion
Outstanding Editing:
Watch Your Back by Chances Make Champions
Outstanding Drama:
Custody by The Creators
Outstanding Performance:
Watch Your Back by Chances Make Champions
Custody by The Creators
Audience Choice Award:
Unducky by The Grand Corporal Army of His Excellency Zane Pierson-551st Parachute Battalion
Best Picture, 2nd Place:
Custody by The Creators
Best Picture, 1st Place:
The Rubber Ducky is a Hand Grenade by Logan Scheafer
To see all entries from this year, as well as previous years’ entries, visit the K-State 48-Hour Film Challenge YouTube channel. And join us again at next year’s 48-Hour Film Challenge!
— Tom Sarmiento, Associate Professor of English / Interim Film Studies Certificate Coordinator
K-State English 