WSSF 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown

Words by Jeff Schmuck

On Tuesday night at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler, BC, one of the most entertaining non-skiing portions of the event took place, the 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown.

The event, now in its ninth year, sees a multitude of creative and eccentric filmmakers come out of the Whistler woodwork for their chance at the $10,000 first place prize. The rules are simple, yet tedious. Produce, shoot and edit a short film in 72 hours, use a green apple as a prop, everything must be filmed within 100 kilometers of Whistler, don't steal music, and don't hurt anyone.

Nearly 50 teams entered in the competition before it was narrowed down to the final nine, which were shown on Tuesday night in front of a 1,000-person crowd at the gorgeous Telus Conference Center in the heart of Whistler Village.

Within the finalists were offerings from Whistler filmmaker Robjn Taylor and Poor Boyz Productions' Charlie Grinnell, who put together a sweet comedy known as The Salad of Justice, which featured the one and only Reed Speedman...

The Salad of Justice from robjn taylor on Vimeo.

Also in the running was Switchback Entertainment's Mike Douglas and Jeff Thomas (along with legendary ski journalist Leslie Anthony of SBC Skier), who very much stepped outside of their comfort zone of making episodes of Salomon Freeski TV to create an enjoyable and thought-provoking short film about social media and their effect on relationships called LiKE...

LiKE from Switchback Entertainment on Vimeo.

But in the end, the grand prize deservingly went to Johnny Fleet and Patrick Henry for their epic and absolutely hilarious film, Poached Earth, which despite its lack of skiing (along with the others), we're sure you'll enjoy...

Poached Earth - 2011 Telus WSSF Filmmaker Showdown - BEST IN SHOW from Patrick M. Henry on Vimeo.