Creating a film in 48 hours. An insane challenge? Not for cinema and audiovisual students ready to push the limits of their creativity. This is the unique experience offered by the 48H International Challenge, organized by the 3iS Bordeaux campus. A demanding competition where the art of storytelling meets the urgency of production, all under pressure, in less than two days.
The goal? To write, shoot, and edit an original short film, with a topic and constraints revealed at the very last minute.
An internationally recognized competition
This challenge brings together schools that are members of CILECT (the International Association of Film and Television Schools), a global network of leading institutions training students in cinema and audiovisual professions. In the 2025 edition, students from four different countries took part, sharing their passion for the seventh art and pushing their creative limits:
- Tomas Bata University: Czech Republic
- Institut des Arts de Diffusion: Belgium
- University of Westminster: England
- 3iS, International Institute of Image and Sound: France
The event was launched by the 3iS Bordeaux campus. Students from the school began the challenge on March 28. The energy was palpable, and excitement peaked when the challenge constraints were revealed. This unique moment offers students a valuable opportunity to step into the professional world of filmmaking.
A demanding yet stimulating framework
Producing a film in 48 hours requires strict organization and highly controlled time management. Teams, made up of 2 to 6 people, must deliver a film of no more than 2 minutes, credits included, at the exact submission deadline.
To make the exercise more challenging, several imposed elements were revealed at the start of the competition:
- A theme: “Oops, I didn’t mean to do that.”
- An object: a food processor
- A line of dialogue: “Where am I?”
These constraints, both playful and demanding, turn the challenge into a true immersion in real film production conditions. Every decision becomes critical, and there is no room for error.
Original works
Despite the time pressure, students show remarkable ingenuity to create engaging and impactful films. At each edition, the jury — composed of professionals from the film and audiovisual industries — discovers with admiration short films of great artistic richness.
Creativity without limits
The 2025 edition revealed a rich diversity of projects. While some films explored dark and introspective worlds, others chose humor or science fiction as their creative playground. What stands out is the teams’ ability to design bold visual universes. They successfully played with genres and delivered structured, original narratives that were often meaningful and consistently engaging.
The artistic choices were fully embraced, the screenplays impactful, and many projects addressed themes as varied as our relationship with technology, everyday life, and even ourselves.
Three winners
This year, the short film “Hotline”, directed by a team from 3iS, won the Jury Grand Prize. This powerful film skillfully plays with the codes of suspense, humor, and the closed-room genre, featuring precise direction and constant dramatic tension.
The Jury’s Special Prize was awarded to Tomas Bata University (Czech Republic) for its film “5G”, a burlesque fiction with inventive staging.
Finally, the Audience Award went to the Institut des Arts de Diffusion (Belgium) for their wild and creative short film “Skibidipoulet”, featuring two delightfully chaotic burglars.
Discover the winning short films:
An unmissable event
The 48H International Challenge is now an unmissable annual event. For participants, it is an unforgettable experience, sometimes formative, often revealing. For schools, it is a way to showcase their talent. And for the audience, it is an opportunity to discover the emerging voices of tomorrow’s cinema.
See you next year for a new edition, new challenges… and, who knows, new masterpieces.
