by MATTHEW HAYS

The adrenaline will undoubtedly be flowing this weekend, when the first annual 2880 Film Blitz will be unfolding. The Quebec chapter of the Canadian Independent Film Caucus-Documentary Organization of Canada (CIFC-DOC) came up with the brainstorm: take 14 teams of filmmakers (including everyone from CÉGEP students to seasoned pros), give them the needed equipment and a theme on a Friday night, and, by Sunday, expect 14 short films ready to be projected for an audience.

This rapid-fire short-film-within-48-hours (or 2,880 minutes) concept is an inspired way of pointing up the intensely collaborative nature of filmmaking itself. As well, it's a opportunity for up-and-coming filmmakers to have a shot at winning some prizes. The NFB is offering a grand prize of $2,000; The Moliflex White prize is a $1,500 gift certificate for equipment rental; and the NFB will also sponsor an originality prize of $1,000 for a group's next endeavour. The People's Choice award, as voted by the audience, will lead the winning team to have a private wrap party at microbrasserie Le Reservoir hosted by Cannes-award-winning filmmaker Denys Arcand.

The stopwatch sets off this Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m., when the competing filmmakers will be handed their equipment and hear, for the first time, what theme it is they're expected to confront in their short film. The completed films will screen this Sunday, June 1, at Cabaret du Plateau (4530 Papineau) at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and will include chances to win several prizes. All proceeds from the event go to CIFC-DOC.

Not to be missed this week are the screenings of Generation Extreme, an anthology of exciting new works from young NFB animators, to be held at Ex-Centris, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. from this Friday, May 30 to Thursday, June 5. It's tough to pick highlights, as I think this is a universally excellent selection, but I thoroughly enjoyed Jesse Rosensweet's The Stone of Folly, which allows for a glimpse into the beginnings of X-ray technology, way back in the medieval age; The Brainwashers, in which Patrick Bouchard also pokes fun at medicine, while artfully exploring the concept of human memory; Tali, meanwhile, takes a veggie stance with her acerbic Pirouette, about the journey from farm to our dining room table that many farm animals make; Nicolas Brault puts a brand new (and entirely fresh) spin in his genre-busting Antagonia; anyone who has ever worked in a crowded office space will get a kick out of Diane Obomsawin's Elbow Room; Carles Porta Garcia deftly defies tyranny in the colourful and wickedly calculated François le Vaillant; and Le Groupe Kiwistiti's Francis Desharnais has concocted a bizarre urban fable with Rumours. Though the Generation Extreme anthology will undoubtedly eventually arrive on DVD, here's a rare opportunity to see these winning shorts on the big screen.

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