Post and Courier19%
Can you make a film in 48 hours? SC creators took on the challenge and some could go to Cannes. 3%
By Chelsea Grinstead0%
8/5/2026, 2:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Representativeness Heuristic, and Anecdotal, with Halo Effect as the most egregious example at 12.5% saturation with 80 hits. Analysis detected 554 faulty-reasoning hits from 638 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 8.2% and a BS Rank of 3% (29,848 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.60% of the article peer group.
A detective character, a salt shaker prop and a line of dialogue that reads “This is a horrible idea” were the elements filmmakers had to include in their submissions to the 2026 South Carolina 48 Hour Film Project competition.
The short film that took the top spot at the awards ceremony held in June in Spartanburg was "Open and Closed," created by a 28-person team, The Holy City Bootleggers, with members from Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Savannah.
And it could be screened at the iconic Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.
The SC 48 Hour Film Project competition brought together filmmakers of all experience levels from across the state to submit 4- to 7-minute short films that incorporate the assigned elements within a randomly assigned genre.
And participants had just two days to create them.
This year, 18 teams made up of nearly 250 participants were challenged to write, cast, shoot, edit and submit original works.
The victory for "Open and Closed" sends the film to the 48 Hour Film Project’s international finals called Filmapalooza, scheduled for March 2027 in Curaçao.
At Filmapalooza 2027, "Open and Closed" will represent the state and compete against winning films from around the world for top prizes and a chance to be screened as part of the project's showcase at Cannes.
The mission behind the South Carolina 48 Hour Film Project is about building community, developing local talent and creating pathways into the state’s growing film industry, said Ashley Crane, a city producer for the organization.
“Film preserves local stories, brings communities together and creates opportunities across a wide range of careers,” Crane told The Post and Courier.
“In today's rapidly changing media landscape, emerging filmmakers need opportunities to develop their skills, build professional networks and gain hands-on experience.”
The budgets for the short films vary widely depending on each team’s resources and approach, Crane said.
Some filmmakers are able to invest a few thousand dollars into their production, while others rely heavily on donated locations, equipment and services.
The SC competition awarded teams in 38 categories, including audience awards, Best Directing and Best Cinematography.
“Out of Milk,” created by a Spartanburg-based team called Don't Trash The Ice Cream, earned second place this year, while another Spartanburg team, JoyFilm, took third place with “5 Hours Earlier.”
“Open and Closed”
This year’s Best Film winner, “Open and Closed,” is a film de femme drama following an internal investigator assigned to fire an employee for a sexual assault case, only to realize she is being asked to fire the woman who reported the assault, not the perpetrator.
“The film showcases the intersectionality between corporate greed and violence against women, and how there are parts of ourselves that we must sell in order to maintain a system's status quo,” said Eugene Rocco Utley, team leader of The Holy City Bootleggers.
The filmmaking experience was a bit like “going to a grocery store to buy all the ingredients before you even knew the recipe for the dish you're going to make,” he said.
The structure of the competition teaches you to trust your instincts more, he added.
“Once the clock starts ticking, you don't have time for second-guessing or overthinking every decision,” he said.
“You learn to silence the part of you that's holding you back from surprising yourself.”
The team landed on the Harbor Entrepreneur Center in Mount Pleasant as the filming location.
Even after a 15-hour shoot day, the sleep-deprived creatives lingered together after it wrapped, hesitant to let it all come to an end.
With a state title now secured, The Holy City Bootleggers will represent South Carolina on the international stage next spring as they compete against filmmakers from around the world.
Speakers
2speakers37%attributed speech400writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageEugene Rocco Utley
120 attributed words50% of attributed speech64% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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Analysis
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