The Mystery Box Film Challenge is a film challenge for all who love to make films. Participants get items/prompts that they have to use in their film. Like the television show Chopped on Food Network but for filmmakers.

Filmmakers have roughly 2 months to complete a film. Those who submit finished films will have them premiere at the Northeast Pennsylvania Film Festival followed by a short Q&A and small awards presentation. So are you up for the challenge?

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2022 Mystery Box Film Challenge Items/Prompts that you have to use are:

CHARACTER NAME:
Morgan

PROMPT 1:
Director makes a cameo in the film.

PROMPT 2:
A story that switches genre in the middle.

LINE OF DIALOGUE:
“Oh, wow, you weren’t kidding.”

PROP 1:
A book with a blue cover

PROP 2:
A cheese grater

WARDROBE 1:
Hawaiian Shirt

WARDROBE 2:
Wristwatch

LOCAL COMPONENT:
Feature your local coffee shop.
(This is really up to you how you want to do it.)

Awards & Prizes

Best of Show Award

The Best of Show Winner and finalists are provided with a laurel which may be used for their own marketing and promotional materials. Best of Show Winner will be given an award certificate.

Rules & Terms

1.) Submission Requirements

ITEMS/PROMPTS: Filmmakers must use all items/prompts in their film which are listed above.

PG-13 RATING: Films should align with the PG-13 rating. R or NC-17 films will not be accepted. This is for a general audience.

1 - 10 MINUTES IN LENGTH: Total time includes your credits and titles in the film. Cannot go beyond 10 minutes. These will be short films.

2.) Technical Specifications

Films should be 1920 x 1080 (aspect ratio 16:9) full HD, 24fps. The film may be in other aspect ratios & resolutions, as long as it fits within the 16:9 1080 24P display. H.264 is the preferred codec with a MP4 or MOV wrapper/file type.

3.) Eligibility Requirements

All entries must be either in English or subtitled in English. Dialogue lists are not accepted.

Entrant confirms and warrants required legal authority to submit the entry to the Mystery Box Film Challenge and to use all music, images, and content in the entry.

4.) Terms and Additional Information

All finished films submitted for the challenge by the deadline will be screened at the Northeast Pennsylvania Film Festival as long as they meet all submission requirements.

The challenge organizers will screen the films first to determine if they meet the requirements for the challenge. Then our selected judges will screen the selected films that meet all the requirements to determine the Best of Show Winner for the Mystery Box Film Challenge.

Refund of submission fee will not be given if your film does not meet our requirements above and is not accepted as part of the Mystery Box Film Challenge.