ADAM MCKINNEY: CALMING HEADS TAKES THE PRIZE >>>

Sitting in the dark of the Rialto Theater last night, the most recurrent thought that crossed my mind was the relativity of time. Though each film submitted for The Grand Cinema's 72 Hour Film Festival clocked in under five minutes, some seemed to stretch into infinity. Still others had an urgent energy or a languid beauty that ate those five minutes up. Indeed, it seems that relativity was the underlying theme that stretched across the festival. Something about sitting in a room with 400 strangers for three hours watching film after ever-loving film creates a haze that hangs over each and every viewer. It’s sort of like the Brain Cloud from Joe Versus the Volcano except, you know, not deadly.

This is what I thought as the audience unanimously roared with laughter at the streaker in 20 Seconds, a new film from the people who brought us South Five a couple of years ago. It was the last movie before intermission â€" number 17. I would estimate that around the ninth or tenth movie, a giddy delirium had set in. The audience reached synchronization. Every laugh was huge, every gasp was the gasp of dozens, and, most notably, the silences were deafening. It’s a strange thing now to look at the films in the light of day. Outside of the theater, rewatching a couple of the 72 Hour films I enjoyed most almost makes me feel like a former cult-member: once you get a little distance and some time to think, you start to forget the appeal.

Full disclosure time: I’ve competed in every 72 Hour since its inception, and this year was no different. My shoot, however, was panicked and rushed this year, resulting in a product that wasn’t my best. Fortunately, this alleviated the nervous tension of having to compete against what was arguably the festival’s best crop of films in its five-year run. The program was almost completely lacking in zombie movies, action movies, and hard dramas â€" unfortunate mainstays from years past. This year saw the return of the comedy as the dominant genre. But what really set this year apart was the rise of legitimately awe-inspiring visual effects. As veteran teams get more comfortable with the format of the festival, the chasm between the pros and the amateurs widens.

To give you an example, I’ll direct you to the film that won Best Overall as voted by the official judges. Calming Heads was the work of Jeff Alldridge and Michael Bartley. It’s a dark comedy about a hit man going to anger management. There are two visual effects in this film that are so sudden and seamless â€" one involving a car, and one involving a gun â€" that my friends and I spent 15 minutes watching it on DVD at home, mouths agape. Watching, rewatching, pausing, slowing it down, studying it like the Zapruder film. How in the hell did they do that?

Where some films lacked in surprising visual effects they gained in fairly clever plots. My favorite of the night was a movie called Steve. How this didn’t win Best Overall, I have no idea. It seamlessly weaves all of the festival’s requirements into a rather ingenious and cohesive story of a man desperately trying to communicate his frustration through a jaw wired shut.

Mostly, despite the high ratio of bad films to good, The 72-Hour Film Festival was encouraging. And important. It’s a pleasure to see so many people in our community, young and old, with such a passion and a desire for making films. That we can all get together and experience it once a year is a joy. And it’s one you shouldn’t miss next year, when the 72 comes rolling along.

LINK: 2009 72 Hour Film Festival winners