SATO 48 – A Springfield Tradition
By Grace Smith | August 13, 2024
Every spring for the past 19 years, residents of Springfield, Missouri have seen frantic filmmakers running around the city, trying to complete the herculean task of making a five-minute short film, from script to edit, in just 48 hours.
Why would anyone do this to themself? For the joy of filmmaking of course, and the thrill of the challenge!
It’s called SATO 48, and people come back year after year to compete in the challenge. Jeff Clinkenbeard and Kyaw Tha La founded SATO 48 in 2006. “We participated in 2004 in a “48-hour film production” event in Albany, NY. Kyaw and I wrote the script, and I was an editor” Jeff said. “We had a great time and when we were back in (Springfield) for the holidays, we mentioned the experience to Bucky Bowman, now deceased, (the don of arts & culture in SGF, in our humble opinion). He mentioned ‘film is heating up’ in Springfield, and that we should write a grant.”
Jeff and Kyaw did write a grant application, and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks provided them with the seed money to have the first Springfield and the Ozarks (SATO) 48-Hour Film Challenge.
“We thought we’d be lucky to have 15 teams sign up. We had 35.” Jeff said. “It was a nightmare, meaning, we were scrambling around like madmen trying to accommodate the demand. (Recall, this is BEFORE the Internet, BEFORE cellphones, and the filmmakers delivered their movies on mini-DV tapes !!) But it all came together, along with screenings at The Moxie…a Recognition & Awards Ceremony, and AfterParty. The next year, 2007, we had 50 teams. Then the next, 70. Then, 80. And every year since (we kept going through COVID) we’ve had close to 80 to 100+ teams sign up.”
Many SATO 48 participants come back year after year, like Shannon Sherrow, who competed for the 12th time this year. “I love the challenge that this competition creates,” Shannon said. “Within this event you’re forced to think really quickly and it pushes your creativity to a new level. I enjoy pushing myself in this way to see the art that I can create under pressure. I also really love the people. I have made a lot of friends throughout my years attending SATO events and have thus created films outside of SATO with many of the filmmakers.”
For the past few years, SATO 48 has been a family affair, with her son, Eli, joining her team for the past three years. This year, Shannon and Eli’s team won the “Family Film Project Prize.”
Will Carter, who was nominated this year for Best Production Design for his film “Cold Heart,” says he comes back every year because of the friendships he has formed. “In the last two years I’ve worked with some incredibly talented people, many of which I now call close friends. My group continues to make movies together and I’m not sure that I ever would have gotten back into it all if it hadn’t been for SATO48 setting up the perfect opportunity to do so. I will be back for year 3 in 2025,” Carter said.
While the challenge is a lot of fun, it does come with significant hurdles. Joshua Kingham, who won best Director this year for his film “Dancing Queens,” told us the story of the biggest challenge he has faced in his eight years of participating in SATO 48. “Each year provides its own set of challenges and hurdles to overcome, but I’d say one of the biggest hurdles we had to overcome was our 2023 film ‘Pain in the Boat.’ We decided it would be a great idea to complicate an already difficult challenge by having the entirety of our film take place on a 15 foot boat…everyone showed each other a lot of grace and patience. We played a game of human Tetris, moving everyone to the front of the boat, so we can get the shots in the back of the boat. Then moving everyone to the back of the boat and hanging off the side to get the shot at the front of the boat and just kept doing that shot after shot.”
The limited time and resources of the challenge also lead to great ideas. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, as Curtis Stout, who’s film “No Purpose” was in the top 10 for Best Cinematography, told us. “Because we had to go a different direction with our story per the inspiration package, our story ended up needing fake blood, which we didn’t prep for in advance. So literally right before we needed to use it for a scene, our actress Lynnette Sene and I ended up raiding her fridge looking for anything we could possibility use. What we came up with was a mixture of balsamic vinegar and ketchup, and since we were shooting in black and white, it worked wonderfully.”
SATO 48 is a difficult but rewarding challenge for all of the participants involved. Each of the participants we interviewed had advice for filmmakers interested in joining the challenge next year.
Shannon Sherrow: “Keep your story simple! It’s easy to create an elaborate storyline but at the end of the day five minutes isn’t a long time to tell a full story so a simple and powerful script is key. Also I always work with a script. I take the time to write it out so I can stay on track when shooting
and can see the film as a whole.”
Eli Sherrow: “My advice would be to manage your time wisely and have fun. At the end of the day it’s all
about the fun experience with your friends and family!”
Will Carter: “Plan, plan, and plan some more. When doing a challenge like SATO48, you must be ready to pivot. It could be the challenge elements, the weather, or who knows what. But at the end of the day, something will almost always likely change and not go to plan. Be calm in these moments, react quickly, and think about the end game. As a director, even when I feel like everything is chaos around me, I just remember where I’m going and what we have to do to get there. Change is inevitable. If you embrace it, you will do much better at a timed competition like SATO48.”
Joshua Kingman: “My biggest piece of advice for first-time SATO filmmakers is to take time to assess your team’s strengths and actively play to them. If you don’t know how to use a camera but you know how to draw, make an animation. If you have a really cool location, use it. If you are great at cinematography, write a script that is set in interesting lighting environments. Don’t worry about what a “proper” film consists of or what other teams are doing. Look at what you do have and make the most of it.”
Curtis Stout: “Don’t be afraid to be yourself. If what you want to do is weird, or dark, or raunchy, or existential, or whatever, then embrace it. Even if what you do upsets people, embrace it. Do it for you, don’t do it for them.”
For more information about SATO 48, go to sato48.com, and mark your calendars for the 20th SATO 48, starting on Friday, April 25th, 2025.
