Filmmakers, friends and family gathered for a screening and awards ceremony for 48 Hour Film Race participants.

In collaboration with the Student Media Depot, University of Kentucky Libraries hosted the ceremony in the William T. Young Library’s auditorium on Friday, March 29.

The screening was comprised of short films from 10 teams who each produced their work within a 48-hour time constraint.

“We had all of our student filmmakers meet in the media depot downstairs, they broke into their teams, and we randomly selected film elements, and that all included line of dialogue, character, prop, genre and a film technique,” said Lisette De la Cruz, the host of the contest and UK Libraries digital content and promotions specialist.

Kennedy Baldon, a sophomore media arts and studies student who played a main character in the winning film “The Clique,” said he is really proud of how it (the film) all turned out.

“It was pretty tedious in those 48 hours, but the finished product was really amazing and I’m really excited for people to see it and leave them on the edge of their seats,” Baldon said. 

“The Clique” was directed by Kameron Mullins, a junior majoring in marketing with a minor in media arts and studies.

He said he was most proud of the cinematic aspect of the film, specifically crediting Digital Producer Nzeba (Zae) Kalala for the B-roll work.

Mullins said his favorite part about the 48 hours in general was the trust his team had in each other.

“That trust that we all had in each other to make this whole film work was just beautiful,” Mullins said. “It was honestly breathtaking. It was a surreal thing being a director on a set that actually felt like a set. It didnt feel like we were shooting with just friends.”

The film follows a visibly insolent investigator who is strangled and hit over the head by a masked individual.

The investigator is murdered on a medical-style table in front of a viewing window filled by other masked individuals. 

Through suggestive dialogue, the film reveals he was killed by a coworker introduced at the beginning of the film.

Kate Clark, a sophomore media arts and studies student, participated in the contest for the first time alongside Team Spielberg who created “The Retreat.”

“The Retreat” followed social media influencers who went on a nature retreat without their phones when one of their fellow influencers was found dead in the woods.

The film revealed how one of the influencers was the culprit of the murder. This was discovered by another influencer who promised their silence for social media promotion.

“I think I’m most proud of (how) we had really hard criteria, we had to do a whodunnit. And so I’m really proud of our screenwriter and the story that we were able to come up with in such a short amount of time,” Clark said. 

After the screening, the audience was able to vote for the audience choice award via a provided QR code. 

De la Cruz announced the top three winners and the audience choice award.

The winners are as follows:

• 1st place: “The Clique” by Team Nolan
• 2nd place: “Social Influence” by Wes ‘N Willard
• 3rd place: “Losing Sleep” by Cold Rain
• Audience choice: “The Clique” by Team Nolan

The winners and additional participants were able to choose from a variety of prizes: bluetooth headphones, hard drive, Kodak film camera, lapel mics, vlogging kit, ring light and USB microphone.

Each team was also provided with a page of feedback from the judges.

De la Cruz said her favorite part about the night is allowing students to express themselves.

“It’s a lot of fun when you’re just hanging out with your friends and making a film over the weekend. That’s really all to me what it is,” De la Cruz said.