Finding Meaning in Mayhem: Liam Maguren Reflects on 48Hours

Posted 17th June 2025

For nearly two decades, Liam Maguren has plunged headfirst into the whirlwind that is the 48Hours — a chaotic, intense, and utterly unique experience that pushes creativity to its limits. More than just a race against the clock, 48Hours has become Liam’s hands-on film school, a place where failures are embraced and victories are deeply felt.

In this candid reflection, he shares what drives him to dive into this mad weekend of mayhem year after year, the lessons learned amid the frenzy, and why he believes this wild ride is a proving ground for filmmakers ready to discover their voice.

1. What was the best thing about taking part in 48Hours?
It's a lot like trying to push a bathtub full of hammers uphill and into an active volcano: it's mad, it's tough, and you'll question why you're doing it, but the absolute rush of banding together and achieving this wild goal—no matter the result—is unlike anything else. When you manage to pull off a short film in 48 hours, it really makes you wonder what else you're capable of. Even the years when we created unwatchable rubbish, I still remember them fondly as a weekends of magical mayhem with friends.

2. What did it mean to your team to win?
At first, winning the comp with a film about the climate crisis felt conflicting. It's a very real, very current disaster that's only getting worse, and the powers that be are still not acting to avoid or mitigate it in any meaningful way. My film, Big Questions, wasn't going to suddenly provoke the change needed, so I wasn't immediately patting myself on the back for—let's face it—suddenly profiting from all this global destruction.

But then I started getting DMs from all sorts of people, saying how much they related to the film, the existential fears, and the towering uncertainty that we may never get rid of. I poured all my climate anxiety into those four minutes, and it resonated, which affected me hugely. If we're ever going to enact change, we need to first acknowledge how it makes us truly feel—as scary as that might be—or we risk sliding into denial. To know how Big Questions clicked with judges and audiences made me feel not so alone. Sure, I got called a Greta clone online, but I wear that as a badge of honour.

Beyond that, the win had me reflect on all the previous years I've entered with friends. I've never done film school. 48Hours was our filmmaking education. The win felt like the culmination of the nearly two decades we all spent making 48Hours films and solidified the value of learning the craft hands-on in this competition. Nothing sticks in your head more like frantically searching for video tutorials on how to apply a basic mask in After Effects when you've got less than an hour to hand in your film.

And I'm still learning. We've almost completed our Level Up grant short film The Charm of the Magpies which has a budget, producers, and studios behind it. I've never had the privilege of working with any of these sorts of things before and had to learn quite a lot from very talented people, but if 48Hours has taught me anything, it's how to learn fast.

3. Why would you recommend others register a team this year?
This competition gives you licence to try innovative ideas and tell stories with no restrictions. If it flops, you only lost two days (as opposed to two years on a full-scale production). If there are flaws, you're in good company—every 48Hours film has limitations, as is the nature of the competition. 48Hours allows you to make films with no restraints, put in front of an in-built audience of supportive peers who know the weekend's pain as well as you do. I earnestly believe this creates the best environment for filmmakers to find their voice. Go in with that attitude and you'll learn something new about the craft, yourself, and the kind of filmmaking that sits right by you—no matter what you end up creating. That's incredibly valuable, especially if you build on that year after year.

4. Any favourite memories, behind-the-scenes moments, or lessons learned?
The ultimate lesson I learned during my time with the competition: know your limits, and maximise them. Only got one actor? Write a story that plays to their strengths. Using a smartphone as your camera? Make it move frantically through tight spaces. Technical limits leave more room for creative thinking, so know your limits well before the shooting dates and you may just find a storytelling angle unique to your team. The weekend has its ways of giving you the right energy to find these avenues, that no-time-to-overthink-it mindset that will allow you to pursue fresh ideas you may otherwise have ignored.