2025 Competition

Vista Foundation 48Hours 2025

Get ready for Aotearoa’s wildest weekend of filmmaking — Vista Foundation 48Hours is back for 2025!

Registration: Opens 16th June

Early Bird Registration: $225.00
(Earlybird registration opens 16th June and closes 18th July)

Standard Registration: $265.00
(Standard registration opens 19th July and closes 13th August)

School Teams Deal
To support our school teams we offer a two for one deal on earlybird/normal registrations

Tertiary Teams Deal
Tertiary teams can enter for half price on earlybird/normal registrations

Pick your region

There are four regions to register in -

Tamaki Mākaurau / Auckland
Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington
Ōtautahi / Christchurch
Across Aotearoa (which covers everywhere outside these main centres, including international teams).

You can register in the region that you live in or have participated in, in the past.

The regional finals for the three large centers will all be live events, and the 'Across Aotearoa' regional final will be online, so it is accessible to all teams.

Heats will be screened in multiple locations around the country so teams can see their films in a cinema, as well as online.

Find out more about each region on the Regional Info section of our website.

Prepare yourself

It can be hard to prepare yourself for the unknown, but there are a few things you can do. Stocking up on snacks is good, locking in some actors and locations and testing your equipment and workflow. You can watch a lot of past entries over on the Screening Room for inspiration or check out our page full of good advice.

You should make sure you read the rules, the health and safety info and the various FAQs, you can also download your paperwork so you're ready to go.

The Shoot Weekend: 15th – 17th August

Launch Night – Friday, 15th August
The chaos kicks off with our official launch on Friday night. We’ll be livestreaming from the homepage of our website and our YouTube Channel. Your regional manager will be online and on-call — check your regional info page for their contact details.

Genres & Required Elements
At the launch, we’ll announce the required elements and your team’s assigned genre - these will be published here. You’ll need to include all elements and use the genre that matches your genre number (found on the Team Genre Number page).

Make Your Movie
You’ve got 48 hours. Zero excuses. Make it wild, heartfelt, ridiculous, brilliant — just make it yours. And have fun doing it.

Submission Deadline – Sunday, 17th August, 7:00PM
You’ll need to upload your final film via our online submission portal on our Film Submission page — so make sure you’ve got reliable internet. No physical hand-ins this year.
Important: One second late is too late.

Poster Competition

Once the madness of the shoot weekend has wrapped, it’s time to tap into your creative side and show off your design flair in this year’s poster competition.

The Heats: 25th August – 16th September

All submitted films — even those that miss the deadline — will be screened at the Heats. This is your chance to see what the rest of the country came up with.

All heats will be streamed online on our YouTube channel, and in person in venues around the country. Check your Regional Info page for locations.

Audience Favourites
At each heat the audience can vote for the audience favourite film.

Reviews
Hit the Screening Room and write a review for your favourite 48Hour films.

Regional Finals: 13th September – 3rd October

The top films from each of the four regions — selected by local judges — will be showcased at the regional finals and regional winners will be crowned.

Regional finals for Tamaki Mākaurau / Auckland, Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington and Ōtautahi / Christchurch will all be live events, and the Across Aotearoa Regional final will be screened online.

Details will be posted on the Regional Info page.

The Grand National Final: 25th October

The Embassy Theatre, Wellington

The very best films from the 2025 competition will hit the big screen at our Grand National Final, along with three Sir Peter Jackson wildcards, followed by an award ceremony where the 2025 champion will be crowned. This year's winner will take home an epic prize pack worth over $50,000.

Can’t make it to Wellington? We’ll be livestreaming the event so you can still cheer on your favourites from home.