It brings great joy to my heart to see Elle Beeden crack the Wellington finals for 2026. This has been a long time overdue for one of the great auteurs in the history of the competition.

I don't use that term lightly either. Swan Ronson routinely blow my mind with a change of animation style and subject matter each and every year.

This year is the most jaw dropping entry they have made so far. Animated largely using water paint? And leaning hard into the Hacker genre with a pumping techno score it felt like somebody who loved HACKERS and JOHNNY MNEMONIC just as much as I do.

Only then the abruptness of not using a VPN or an adblocker produces an amazing comedy of errors. With heart! We all want connection and the eyes are the window to the soul. Elle knows this, and presents adult internet dating in a beautiful yet humorous way. Really great work!

I've had a superfan of this film adamant this will win Wellington for weeks and I can genuinely see it happening. Brought to life by Froblin (including a couple of the key masterminds behind BLOKE OF THE APOCALPYSE) here we have a masked bandit by night infiltrate an art museum, on an impossible mission with a very singular purpose.

Tight in run time but also tight in execution the jokes are great, the animation superb and the message is touching. As a parent this really brought a big smile to my face and warmth to my heart.

I think the only question that may come up when it gets to business end will be if there is enough depth packed in to the 2 minutes or not. But it worked for me!

Quite simply the most gorgeous animation ever made in the 48Hours Film Competition. This film is flush with cosmic beauty, making interplanetary beings a believable family and pulling on the heartstrings.

The mis-en-scene is beautiful combining stars, clouds, blues, purples and glowing neon to present a mystical world of wonder. The phenomenal sound design and lovely soundtrack don't hurt either.

My friend and I watched this in person at the heats and honestly I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 10/10 for the cinematic experience. I don't care about the competition requirements for this one or if the story is basic. It took me to outer space and stayed in my dreams.

Beautiful <3

Look this is an absolutely beautiful film and an amazing effort for a solo entry. It's whimsical, bright, colourful and presents a fully fleshed out world of cloud cats high above Poneke.

The animation is also incredible. Hot on the heels of last year's grand final winner this is the same sort of top shelf animation festival style you hope to see in 48 and its really cool to see produced.

But to me I thought the story needed more weight to personally resonate. Going dialogue free certainly meant that the visuals spoke for themselves. But at the same time the engagement factor was missing. If you like cute cats you will love this film. But what's the dramatic question here? What's the story actually about? That sometimes what we fear isn't all that it seems? Good message but too lightweight I felt unfortunately.

Its gorgeous and technically impressive but the narrative didn't have enough weight for me. Go well at the final though!

I loved this piece! The cinematography was stunning and those special effects? Amazing! Such a quirky and seamless piece. Genuinely hard to believe it was made in only 48hours.

This was super fun! Absolutely loved the utter ridiculousness of the continuity errors and the way you built them from barely noticeable to completely absurd was brilliant. What a great concept!

Watched this with a massive group during the heats and everyone loved this so much! Evil Michael has already become a reference between some of my friends, genuinely incredible work!

Froblin!! What a moving and funny story. Beloved at the embassy.

Killing Karma Studios are going to make a 48Hours Grand final sooner rather than later, mark my words. From making possibly the greatest school team in the history of the comp (WE SCREAM, and yes that includes Prime Rib and Calvin Sang - these kids can cook) to back to back deserved Wellington finals, this is an extremely talented team. And Hugo Montgomery might be the best young actor doing the rounds in New Zealand today.

Now I'm not going to fully put on my old man hat and do the A.F.M blast because this film was a hell of a lot of fun with an audience, full of heart and a terrific lead performance by the aformentioned Hugo.

Editing is great. There's not a nary frame shot that isn't tight and technically its slick although sound a little bit raw at times. Though that fit well with the documentary approach.

So, onto the film itself. Puppet with Human Love is outlawed but forbidden fruit always ends up being the most appealing doesn't it? The team made the protagonist likable before presenting their doomed hubris in a remarkable modern way with social jargon out the screen and having the audience in stitches at both screenings I was lucky enough to see this film at.

The problem for me is the form. Talking Heads and mockumentaries have been a bugbear for me in this competition for over 20 years and we've possibly come a bit full circle after the well was essentially dry as teams and viewers grew tired of them.

You see the second you have people talking to the camera, then using the footage away from the interview my brain gets triggered as this sort of film has been done hundreds of times before in the comp. Never this technically well, and possibly never as well acted. So personally it was a hard hurdle to overcome.

Nevertheless I loved the emotion you were able to create in this whirlwind alternate reality. I think you made a great film and in many ways it worked as a twisted homage to NZ legends Jason Gunn and Thingee (though I had to work hard to not think about the Kevin Clash controversies...gulp) and am excited to see what you come up with next.