FilmLAB

Timeline
Rules & Guidelines

The 2025 Footcandle FilmLAB

Weekend Filmmaking Competition | Public Screening of Films & Cash Prize to Winner

The Film Lab is an event designed to challenge creative individuals to collaborate in competitive teams while racing against the clock to produce a one-of-a-kind short film.

Over a 60-hour period your filmmaking team will write, shoot, and edit a short film based on the genre you draw at the Friday night FilmLAB kickoff event. By Monday morning, 8am, your team’s finished film is turned in to be judged and then screened in front of an audience later that week at the Footcandle Film Festival’s FilmLAB Premiere event!

Recruit your own filmmaking team for the weekend! There’s no limit to the size of your team, and it can consist of friends, colleagues, family members, or fellow students.

We’re sorry, but registration for the FilmLAB is CLOSED as we have registered the maximum amount of teams we can have this year.

Please plan to join us next year for FilmLAB 2026; registration should open in July 2026. Thank you!

FilmLAB Timeline

Friday, September 19th – 7pm
FilmLAB KICKOFF @ SALT Block, Kaiser Community Room; at least one member of your team must be in attendance!
Monday, September 22nd – 8am
FilmLAB entries due (submitted online)
Thursday, September 25th – 7pm
All FilmLAB entries screened as at the FilmLAB Premiere event @ Hickory Community Theatre, Downtown Hickory; followed by drinks with fellow filmmakers
Sunday, September 28th – 7pm
FilmLAB winner announced at the Footcandle Film Festival AWARDS CEREMONY @ Hickory Community Theatre

FilmLAB Rules & Guidelines

The FilmLAB entry fee is $30 per team ($20 per team if half or more of the team is made up of current high school or college students).
All teams are responsible for providing their own filmmaking equipment. Any type of gear is allowed, and we even wholeheartedly support and encourage the use of mobile cameraphones if desired.
No prior work (scripting, effects, etc.) should be used in the entries. All content for the film should be generated during the FilmLAB 48-hour timeline.
However, filmmaking teams may scout and secure filming locations prior to the FilmLAB weekend.
A representative from all filmmaking teams must be present at the FilmLAB kickoff event on Friday night, September 19th, at 7:00pm. Note: your entire team does not need to be in attendance at this kickoff.
During the FilmLAB kickoff event, all filmmaking teams will:
- draw a random genre that their film must adhere to
- receive a single prop that must be incorporated into their film
- receive a single line of dialog that must be included in their film

Entries must run a minimum of five minutes (excluding credits) and maximum of ten minutes (with credits twelve minutes).
All films are to be uploaded to a designated Dropbox folder by 8am on Monday, September 22nd. Teams need to ensure they calculate time into their production process to account for this.
FilmLAB entries must not further hate speech or portray any negative, hurtful stereotypes.

Closing credits of the film should include the Footcandle Film Festival FilmLAB Logo (provided to all teams).

The winning FilmLAB entry will be determined by an average of audience scores during the premiere screening at the Monday night COMING ATTRACTIONS event and scores determined by a panel of judges. The weighted averages of the two groups of scores are as follows: judges average score = 60%, Audience average score = 40%.