2026 Competition Information
Posted 30th July 2026
Here is some information to help prepare you for the shoot weekend - July 31st - August 2nd 2026.
Watch the online launch!
Tune into our online launch from 6.30pm on Friday night.
Your Genre and Required Elements
Your team’s genre number will be listed on the website here. The number will correspond to one of the genres announced at the launch.
The genres and required elements that your film needs to include will be announced on Friday night, on our YouTube live stream which will play on the homepage of our website here.
We will also post the list the of genres and elements on our website at 7pm here.
Health and Safety
48Hours is committed to running a safe competition. You are responsible for your own health and safety but we aim to help by providing links to information about your responsibilities and obligations and paperwork to assist with this. We have detailed instructions and information on our website’s health and safety page.
If you have questions relating to health and safety, please contact our Health and Safety Officer, Louise Spraggon, over the shoot weekend who will be available to give advice. Her number is 0210 276 4724.
Rules
All the rules are on our website here. Please read them thoroughly and ask your regional manager if you have any questions.
Behind the Scenes Photos & Spot Prizes
We love to see behind the scene and production photos, you can share photos in our Facebook group or on Instagram. Please tag us @48hoursnz in any stories so we can reshare and our official hashtag is #48hoursnz.
One of our spot prizes this shoot weekend is 10 x double passes to the Hobbiton™ Movie Set Tours, awarded to the teams with the best behind the scenes images!
You could win double passes to the iconic The Lord of the Rings™ and The Hobbit™ movie sets in Matamata! Winners will get to wander the world-famous movie set and discover how the magic was brought to life.
Submit your BTS photos on our website.
Hand in
Information about film submission can be found here. All film entries will be submitted online this year with the help of Digital Pigeon via this upload link.
Uploads must BEGIN by 7PM Sunday August 2nd - we can see this in the upload portal. If your upload fails you can re-submit your file within 48 hours as long as it matches the MD5 code in your wrap up form, which you will also need to submit by 7pm, Sunday August 2nd.
You will receive an email confirmation from Digital Pigeon once your film has uploaded. If you get the digital pigeon email and don't hear from us at 48Hours HQ, that is a good thing, we will have our heads down processing all the films for the judges, so no news is good news.
You will need to fill in these details on the submission
- Your team name
- Your team leader’s email
- Subject: Enter your team name and film name here (eg. TEAM FILM)
Message: Please list the following:
YOUR REGION
YOUR TEAM NAME
YOUR FILM'S TITLE
YOUR GENRE
The TEAM LEADER'S PHONE NUMBER (or Guardian's number)
Your MD5 Checksum - (see the information about this below)
For more tech details and back up plans go to the Film Submission page on the website.
Wrap up form
Remember to submit your wrap up form as well. You can find it here. You will have received a password in your registration receipt. If you can’t find it contact your city manager.
The wrap up form is where you can add important information that helps us know which awards you are eligible for.
Music
There are many options for using music in your films
- Get a composer or a musician on your team
- Record your own music
- Use music from a subscription service
- Use tracks from paid or free production music sites
- Get permission from people you know to use their music
For more info on music use feel free to check our handy music FAQ on our website here.
Copyright
It is important to consider copyright when creating your film. To ensure all of your creative work is future proofed, for release forms and more information on legalities, read the Copyright and Legal FAQ page on our website.
AI Guidelines
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are increasingly becoming part of filmmaking workflows. We have an AI policy that you can read on our website.
Questions
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out to your region’s city manager, their details are on the regional info pages on our website. Otherwise, you can ask questions and start discussion in our 48Hours Facebook group.
Top Tips
To help you get prepared for the shoot weekend, here are our top tips.
- Know your teammates skills and what resources you all have access to
- Have actors and location ideas brewing and ready to go
- Decide on roles
- Plan how to keep yourselves well fed and reasonably rested
- Test all of your camera and sound equipment, charge any batteries
- Check that your computer, hard-drive and editing software is ready to go
- Be ready for hand in, know how to sort out all of your tech, info and wrap up form so that your submission can go smoothly
For more tips, have a read through of our advice page on our website.
Letterboxd "Out-of-the-Boxd" Poster Competition
We are very pleased to continue our poster competition this year thanks to Letterboxd.
The Out-of-the-Boxd Poster Competition is a popular and highly creative part of the 48Hours film competition. It gives teams an extra opportunity to win an award and acts as a valuable exercise in film marketing and good design.
10 winners will receive:
- A Letterboxd Pro or Patron membership.
- Double movie pass to a local cinema.
- Your winning poster featured on the 48Hours and Letterboxd instagram.
- Your poster on the big screen at the Finals and Grand Finals events!
So don't forget to take lots of photos when you are shooting on Saturday, one of these hero stills could turn into your films poster!
Heats
The schedule for the Heats will be published once we have received all of your submissions on this page. All heats will be screened online, which gives a good chance to see filmmakers from other regions and review their submissions.
Thank you so much for registering this year. We cannot wait to see all of your films, we are prepared to have our collective minds blown by the talent and creativity in this country.
Your city manager should have already or will be in touch with any region specific information.
Noho ora mai,
The Vista Foundation 48Hours Team