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"Shot in 48 Hours": How a North Kazakhstan Director Managed to Win Top Short Film Awards Multiple Times
The 48 Hour Film Race short film competition has been running since 2015. Anyone from five Central Asian countries can submit their work to the festival, regardless of their skills, experience, or whether they have a film crew. This year, 329 teams entered the competition. Under the contest rules, participants must shoot, edit, and turn in their finished picture within 48 hours. Writing the script and music, preparing costumes, and setting up filming locations in advance is permitted. However, every film must include three specific elements from a creative prompt—a phrase, an object, and a character—which participants only discover immediately before the start of the 48-hour creative sprint. This year, the competition's screening took place in Shymkent as part of the Go Viral Central Asia festival.
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The Voice Media author Aizhana Shaikenova spoke with the director of the competition film Adaptation. Director Aleksandr Shingurov and his crew, Free Team, won the "Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy" category
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The Voice Media author Aizhana Shaikenova spoke with the director of the competition film Adaptation. Director Aleksandr Shingurov and his crew, Free Team, won the "Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy" category
The 48 Hour Film Race is a fast-paced competition where participants create short films in just two days. In 48 hours, teams must write the script, shoot, edit, and submit a film no longer than 4 minutes. Until 2019, Aleksandr Shingurov—a director from Petropavl—was skeptical about the competition's format.
"— People told me about the contest, and I had heard of it, but I didn't want to participate. When colleagues and friends suggested entering, I couldn't understand what could possibly be created in just two days! On the one hand, I had been working in advertising for many years and was used to short formats. But here, you had to make a narrative feature film. Our first attempt turned out to be a success: we immediately took 'Best Horror.' Nobody expected it. Victories inspire you, so we decided to keep going. The film Adaptation is Free Team's fifth competition project."
In our personal conversation, Aleksandr and I discussed at length what can actually be filmed in 48 hours. Only a few actions. But that is not enough for a full-fledged story. The director insists that what truly matters is the plot, the core idea, the artistic statement, one's perception of the surrounding world, and the ability to strip away everything unnecessary.
"— People told me about the contest, and I had heard of it, but I didn't want to participate. When colleagues and friends suggested entering, I couldn't understand what could possibly be created in just two days! On the one hand, I had been working in advertising for many years and was used to short formats. But here, you had to make a narrative feature film. Our first attempt turned out to be a success: we immediately took 'Best Horror.' Nobody expected it. Victories inspire you, so we decided to keep going. The film Adaptation is Free Team's fifth competition project."
In our personal conversation, Aleksandr and I discussed at length what can actually be filmed in 48 hours. Only a few actions. But that is not enough for a full-fledged story. The director insists that what truly matters is the plot, the core idea, the artistic statement, one's perception of the surrounding world, and the ability to strip away everything unnecessary.
This year, his work was named Best Sci-Fi. Unsurprisingly, the director's favorite film is Back to the Future. In its time, the time-travel script written by Bob Gale faced immense hurdles on its path to audiences—Robert Zemeckis's pitch was rejected by various studios, production companies, and producers over forty times. It was only at Universal, following revisions and extensive consultations, that the studio agreed to produce a picture destined to win the hearts of millions. Watching that very film proved pivotal for Aleksandr. While as a child he dreamed of becoming a police officer or a firefighter, after seeing what unfolded on screen, he decided to dedicate his life to cinema.
"— I wanted to become an actor. But Robert Zemeckis didn't call. Nobody was offering me film roles, so I decided to shoot things myself. In 2000, my father bought a camcorder, and I tried my hand at my first short films. They were action films and sci-fi, shot very naively. You had to start somewhere. By the time I graduated from high school, I was already filming tois (traditional celebrations), which is how I learned editing. I began studying directing, cinematography, and screenwriting."
This self-taught approach without academic training stemmed not merely from enthusiasm, but out of necessity. Years later, Aleksandr found it difficult to assemble a full crew right away, often stepping in to cover sound engineering or camera operation himself on several projects.
In his youth, Aleksandr kept dreaming of connecting his life with cinema. However, in the North Kazakhstan Region, where he was born and resides, creative work is rarely considered prestigious, as it cannot always guarantee a stable income. With no higher theater education available in Petropavl, he enrolled in the journalism department at the local university instead.
"— My parents insisted on a higher education degree, and I thought: journalism involves cameras, so maybe I'll get a step closer to cinema that way. That's exactly how it played out: I spent my time at the student TV channel and continued creating."
"— I wanted to become an actor. But Robert Zemeckis didn't call. Nobody was offering me film roles, so I decided to shoot things myself. In 2000, my father bought a camcorder, and I tried my hand at my first short films. They were action films and sci-fi, shot very naively. You had to start somewhere. By the time I graduated from high school, I was already filming tois (traditional celebrations), which is how I learned editing. I began studying directing, cinematography, and screenwriting."
This self-taught approach without academic training stemmed not merely from enthusiasm, but out of necessity. Years later, Aleksandr found it difficult to assemble a full crew right away, often stepping in to cover sound engineering or camera operation himself on several projects.
In his youth, Aleksandr kept dreaming of connecting his life with cinema. However, in the North Kazakhstan Region, where he was born and resides, creative work is rarely considered prestigious, as it cannot always guarantee a stable income. With no higher theater education available in Petropavl, he enrolled in the journalism department at the local university instead.
"— My parents insisted on a higher education degree, and I thought: journalism involves cameras, so maybe I'll get a step closer to cinema that way. That's exactly how it played out: I spent my time at the student TV channel and continued creating."
During his university years, Aleksandr actively explored various creative avenues: after recording a rap track, he came up with the idea to shoot a music video for it. That project brought him together with cinematographer Aleksandr Yantsin. Later, they and their friends formed the creative collective Free Team.
To date, they have delivered five short films for the 48 Hour Film Race competition. Armed with Victor Pelevin's notion that an original narrative discourse naturally creates its own allure, the director embarked on exploring what conditions are truly essential to make a short film story memorable and deeply resonant.
A tightly knit team of like-minded collaborators is a vital element of a compelling narrative film. Free Team captured the audience's attention, drawing viewers into both the real and imagined worlds created by the filmmakers.
To date, they have delivered five short films for the 48 Hour Film Race competition. Armed with Victor Pelevin's notion that an original narrative discourse naturally creates its own allure, the director embarked on exploring what conditions are truly essential to make a short film story memorable and deeply resonant.
A tightly knit team of like-minded collaborators is a vital element of a compelling narrative film. Free Team captured the audience's attention, drawing viewers into both the real and imagined worlds created by the filmmakers.
In addition to Aleksandr Yantsin, Aleksandr's friends and colleagues joined the crew: Dmitriy Rura stepped in as cinematographer, Yevgeniy Lukyanov provided lighting consultation, Anton Shchelkunov starred in lead roles, David Litvinov composed the score and handled sound design, and photographer Lev Osintsev was brought on as an additional collaborator.
"— We discuss together what to make the film about. Zhenya Lukyanov often acts as the creative spark—for instance, he suggested combining artificial intelligence with national identity."
Across the team's collaborative work, one can trace unconventional approaches to storytelling and cinematography, a genuine human message, a distinct artistic voice, and evocative imagery—all achieved strictly within the competition's high-pressure constraint: shooting a film in just 48 hours.
Across the team's collaborative work, one can trace unconventional approaches to storytelling and cinematography, a genuine human message, a distinct artistic voice, and evocative imagery—all achieved strictly within the competition's high-pressure constraint: shooting a film in just 48 hours.
Since 2019, the North Kazakhstan creative collective has submitted five works to the competition, representing Kazakhstan. While each film speaks to the audience in a distinct visual language, they share common hallmarks: creative reliance on limited set dressing (given the scarcity of versatile filming locations in northern Kazakhstan); an extreme, almost baroque aestheticism in portraying even the darkest facets of human nature, including deceit; and raw, overflowing emotion.