Jade Sheppard and Rory Allardice almost did not enter the 48Hours film-making competition in which teams are required to write, film and edit a film within two days.
Their team, Mayodaze, won the Dunedin city finals with their film The Fountain of Youth,
a splatter horror about an older woman who steals a young woman’s youth by killing and eating her after inviting her to live in her house.
Ms Sheppard, who also won best director, said
the win came as a shock and was pretty unexpected given the high standard of the competition.
"The runner-up [A Few Things, by Midnight Sunburn] got nominated more times than ours and I thought it was pretty quality as well, so I was resigned to the fact that we might just get runner-up.
"So it was a surprise, especially doing it for the first time around."
Ms Sheppard said the last-minute decision to sign up meant the crew had to accommodate lead actress Hannah Drury’s prior commitments.
"She was on a cheese roll-athon for, like, five hours during daylight hours, raising money for her roller derby team."
The film’s music was composed by Dunedin indie-folk singer-songwriter Lara Rose.
Ms Rose said she enjoyed the high-pressure environment of the competition and making the entire score in about five hours.
"It was quite quick having to come up with the different parts and flick them through.
"It made me feel like a musician, you know."
The film would be judged at the grand finals by a panel, which included Sir Peter Jackson, and screened at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington at the end of the month.
