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{{Infobox Film festival | name = 168 Film Project | image = 168FilmProject.png | image_size = | caption = | opening = | closing = | location = Fayetteville, Georgia | founded = 2003 | awardsreceived = | awards = | films = | directors = John David Ware | producers = | writers = | starring = | host = | number = | date = | language = | website = [http://www.168film.com/ 168film.com] }}
The '''168 Film Project''' is a Christian film festival. Worldwide, over 1500 short films have been produced for the competition since 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-01-la-me-beliefs1-2010mar01-story.html|title=A film festival for the faithful|last=Morris|first=Naomi|date=1 March 2010|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2 March 2010}}</ref>
168 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
== History == The 168 Film Project (sometimes styled 168 Hour Film Project) was launched in 2003 by filmmaker and producer John David Ware in Burbank, California. Its inaugural edition screened thirteen shorts created in the single-week production challenge.<ref name="Wiebe2008">{{cite news |last=Wiebe |first=Chris |title=Film festival isn't averse to the Bible |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2008-04-14-gnp-festival14-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Glendale News-Press |date=14 April 2008 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> By its seventh edition in 2009 the festival had adopted the annual theme “Family Business,” and organisers reported a growing slate of eleven-minute shorts drawn from randomly assigned Bible verses.<ref name="Rudolph2009">{{cite news |last=Rudolph |first=Joyce |title=Well-versed films |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-xpm-2009-03-28-gnp-168film28.1-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Burbank Leader |date=28 March 2009 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref>
The eighth edition in 2010 drew more than sixty-five submissions from sixteen U.S. states and five continents. Ware, described as having “worked with filmmakers worldwide,” estimated that over 300 films had already been produced through the initiative.<ref name="Charky2010">{{cite news |last=Charky |first=Nicole |title=Well-versed in the art of making movies |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-xpm-2010-03-20-gnp-168film032010.1-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Burbank Leader |date=20 March 2010 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref>
At the ninth festival in 2011, themed “Second Chances,” ninety shorts competed for twenty-one awards and more than US$15,000 in cash prizes.<ref name="Rudolph2011">{{cite news |last=Rudolph |first=Joyce |title=Second chances help win awards |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2011-04-05-tn-gnp-0406-awards-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Glendale News-Press |date=5 April 2011 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> That year the short ''Useless'' won the top prize.<ref name="CT2011">{{cite magazine |title='Useless' Gets Useful at 168 Competition |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2011/04/useless-gets-useful-at-168-competition/ |magazine=Christianity Today |date=20 April 2011 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref>
By 2014, organisers estimated that alumni had produced more than 800 shorts, with some screening at other international festivals and some advancing into feature-length development.<ref name="Tchekmedyian2014" />
In November 2022 the festival relocated to Fayetteville, Georgia, first staging its twentieth edition at Trilith Studios’s Town Stage.<ref name="GPP2022">{{cite web |title=168 Film Festival |url=https://www.georgiaproduction.org/event-details/168-film-festival-2 |website=Georgia Production Partnership |date=4 November 2022 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> The festival would change location to New City Church in Fairburn, Georgia in 2024,<ref>{{cite news |title=168 Film Festival Winners 2024 |url=https://www.168film.com/news-events/168-film-festival-winners-2024 |access-date=February 7, 2026 |work=168 Film}}</ref> and then Harp's Crossing Church in Fayetteville since 2025.
{{Cleanup section|date=July 2025|reason=Should this be here? potentially shall be removed}} Hollywood participants include Zachary Levi (''Shazam!'', ''Shazam! Fury of the Gods'', ''American Underdog''); Candace Cameron Bure (''Full House''); Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr.; four-time Emmy Award winner Michael Learned (''The Waltons''); Max Gail (''Barney Miller''); actor and director Corbin Bernsen (''Major League I & II'', ''Psych''); actor and director Kevin Sorbo (''Let There Be Light'', ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys''); T. C. Stallings (''War Room'', ''Unbridled''); producer Howard Kazanjian (''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'', ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back''); producer Ralph Winter (''X-Men'', ''Fantastic Four'', ''Star Trek''); and co-creator David McFadzean (''Home Improvement'').{{cn|date=July 2025}}
Past 168 sponsors include Sony BMG, Sony Pictures, Canon, Arri, Sony BPC, Sony Affirm, Panasonic, Kino Flo, Roland, Panavision, Regent University, Biola University, ''Church Production'' and ''Worship Technology Magazines''.{{cn|date=July 2025}}
==Format== Participants receive a randomly selected Bible verse and have ten days of pre-production to develop a screenplay, cast actors and secure locations. Principal photography and post-production must then be completed within exactly 168 hours (seven days), and the finished film may not exceed eleven minutes.<ref name="Charky2010" /><ref name="Tchekmedyian2014">{{cite news |last=Tchekmedyian |first=Alene |title=Filmmakers aspire to capture faith |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/tn-blr-me-168project-filmmakers-capture-faith-20140603-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Burbank Leader |date=3 June 2014 |access-date=30 July 2025}}</ref> Each annual cycle revolves around a unifying scriptural theme—for example “Atonement,” “Family Business” and “Second Chances”—against which entries are judged for their “scriptural integration.”<ref name="Rudolph2009" /><ref name="CT2011" />Competitive categories typically include Best Film, Director, Actor, Cinematography and a student division, with cash awards ranging from US$12,000 to US$20,000.<ref name="Rudolph2011" /><ref name="Tchekmedyian2014" />
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Official website|http://www.168film.com/}} * [https://filmfreeway.com/168FilmProject 168 Film Project] on FilmFreeway
Category:Film festivals in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Christian film festivals Category:Film festivals established in 2003