Groups participating in the third annual film and media studies All-Nighter 24 Hour Film Dash filtered into the UC Irvine McCormick Screening Room for the kickoff meeting on April 4. Participants spoke in excited murmurs, occasionally piping up to speak with Nikki Normandia and Trevor Jue, founders and organizers of the UCI Department of Film and Media Studies’ film festival.
The 24-hour event tasks participants with conceptualizing, writing, shooting and editing a six-minute short film within 24 hours. Students of any major may register in groups of four to six.
Normandia, instructional technology and systems administrator of UCI Film and Media Studies, said that due to the pandemic, the All-Nighter Film Dash debuted in 2023 rather than the initial date in 2020. It is inspired by the 24 Mad Film Dash, a former recurring film event hosted by UCI’s bookstore.
“I remember doing [the 24 Mad Film Dash] as an undergrad,” Normandia told New University. “It was a lot of fun, some of the most fun I had just doing film here on campus, so I wanted to bring it back.”
Twenty-four hours before the 4 p.m. submission deadline April 5, each group received brown paper bags containing one prop and two lines of dialogue to use in their film. Past props included a rubber chicken and a recorder, while one of the dialogue choices was “What, no cheese and crackers?”
This year, groups received a coconut and had to choose between the lines “Welcome to amateur hour” and “Looks like it’s gonna be another all-nighter.”
According to Normandia, participants have free rein over film genre, writing and shooting location. Requiring specific props and prompts ensures groups’ integrity with their project’s timelines.
“People are gonna be staying up all night making these films. We’re gonna drive them a little bit crazy by giving [them] something noisy,” Normandia said. “We don’t necessarily want a bunch of super über-serious films — the point of this is to enjoy it. It’s for fun.”
Arthur Elman, a fourth-year film and media studies student, participated in the festival for his third time. Elman was a member of the group that won the inaugural All-Nighter competition in 2023.
“The challenge of having to make a film, from writing, producing it and editing it over 24 hours, and having to do it with friends has always been fun,” Elman said.
According to Elman, the film festival is a tradition for him.
“[It’s about] participating in something that I think could be a staple in UCI’s very small but tight-knit film community and it’s also just a fun activity to do with friends,” Elman told New University.
Fourth-year film and media studies student Zebas van der Most van Spijk is the historian for the DigiFilm Society, a club that makes film approachable and accessible. Last year, the group won best picture at the Film Dash festival.
According to Elman and van Spijk, UCI’s film and media studies is a theory-based major, so the festival provides the space to further practice production.
“The production side, it’s not as emphasized,” van Spijk told New University. “A lot of people [spend] a lot of their time here at UCI without practicing a lot.”
The event also shows that filmmaking doesn’t require a lot of time and money, according to van Spijk.
“I think [the festival] breeds a lot of creativity and hopefully gets people more used to the process of making a film,” van Spijk said. “Because they’re like, ‘Oh, I did it in 24 hours … if I have more time, it’s a cakewalk.’”
The festival aims to push participants’ creativity in numerous ways.
“It leads [to a] different sort of approach to creativity,” Normandia said. “When you have a really restrictive deadline to submit, that leads to choices that might not otherwise be made.”
DigiFilm Society President Ayson King and Events and Socials Director Caden Kim said the festival provides them with the unique opportunity to bond not just with each other but also with others in the film sphere at UCI.
“You never get a break, for better or for worse, but mostly for better,” King told New University. “Other groups are doing the same thing and trying to achieve the same goal of just making a movie, and I think that’s really exciting.”
Abby Redmond, DigiFilm Society treasurer, commented on how she hopes to see more people outside of the filmmaking community take part in the 24-hour Film Dash.
“[Filmmaking] shouldn’t be confined to just artsy people, you know,” Redmond told New University. “I think filmmaking is an outlet for all kinds of people — all kinds of disciplines.”
The McCormick Screening Room was nearly empty after all the groups received their materials and parted ways to begin brainstorming. Their films can win the awards for best picture and most creative for using their assigned prop and line in the most unique or memorable way. Winners are based on an audience vote.
“People are gonna remember this for a long time,” Normandia said. “The films themselves aren’t necessarily the end goal. The end goal is the time that you spend making it.”
To view the finished films, students can attend the festival in the McCormick Screening Room at 5 p.m. April 19.
Zoë Chang is a Features Intern for the spring 2025 quarter. She can be reached at zoeac@uci.edu.
Edited by Alyssa Villagonzalo and Jaheem Conley.