The Shoot Out Cheyenne 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival is This Weekend

Have you always wanted to be the next Steven Spielberg?

This weekend is your chance to make a short film and win $1,000 at The Shoot Out Cheyenne 24 hour film making festival September 23 through 25.

Teams meet in the lobby of the Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne on Friday, September 23, at 6 p.m. Production groups are challenged to complete a 7-minute movie in just 24 hours.

Filmmakers are provided the "brief" consisting of 11 phrases, props and downtown Cheyenne locations, one of which has to appear in the first 30 seconds of the film to ensure it was shot in Cheyenne during the Shoot Out. Sign up by September 21 and receive a 25 % discount off the registration fee.

Contestants must deliver their finished movie on a tape or digital file by 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 24, at the Plains Hotel Lobby where the event started.

The top 10 films will be screened at the Atlas Theatre downtown on Sunday, September 25. The local quartet, Peat Bog Mysteries, open The Shoot Out Cheyenne Top 10 screening at 1 p.m. playing Celtic and American folk music. Refreshments will be served and the movies and awards ceremonies begin at 2 p.m. General admission tickets for the screening are $8 in advance and $10 at the door and are available at Phoenix Books and Music and through the website www.theshootoutcheyenne.com.

Twenty-one teams competed in last year's Shoot Out Cheyenne and the Best of the West Film Club from Laramie won "Best Film" and picked up the $1,000 prize for their production "Poli-Tricks."

The winning movie will also be screened at the Cheyenne International Film Festival in May of 2012.

Volunteers are also needed during the event, get more information at The Cheyenne Shoot Out website.