The winner’s of last year’s “48 Hour Film Festival” has reassembled their team to aim their camera at another trophy in this year’s competition, to be held June 23-25.

With the straightforward challenge of making a film, start to finish, in just 48 hours, the festival requires creativity, innovation and dedication to succeed in. However, succeed is exactly what Becka Carroll, of Cranston, and her team, Tens on the River, did last year with their film, “Dot Dot Doubt.”

“The genre we were assigned, because you get randomly assigned a genre on the first day, was suspense/thriller,” Carroll explained. “So our team, we’ve done serious films before, but we realized that the funnier ones tend to be easier to work on and it’s easier to do well by getting a laugh out of the audience. I mean no one is looking to have their life changed in seven minutes. So we asked ourselves how we can do suspense but also make it fun and comedy.”

The solution turned out to be more familiar than you may expect. Suspense comes in many forms and Carroll and her team worked to create a comedic take on a type that everyone can identify with in their own life; waiting for someone to text you back once you see the “bubbles.”

“What we came up with was basically sending a risky text to the person that you have a crush on expressing your feelings, and then you see that they left you on read or are starting to text back and then it goes away,” said Carroll while recalling the film with a smile. “You know that they read it and now you’re stuck in this hellish limbo waiting for them to get back to you. It’s the definition of suspense.”

The film centers on the main character, Rachel, and her best friend, Christy, as Rachel tries to figure out how to tell the man she has a crush on that she wants to be more than friends. Christy, who works as a receptionist in a hotel/casino, continually ignores customers to consul her friend over the phone.

Comprised of a ten man team, Tens on the River has participated in the “48 Hour Film Festival” several times over the years. In fact, last year was the teams seventh time participating as far as Carroll can remember.

The Team

Becka Carroll: Team leader, director, co-editor 

Daniel Larsh: Editor, assistant director

Ashton Daniel Robertson: Cinematographer

Lauren Testoni: Writer, editorial consultant

Katie Larsh: Producer, production designer, props master, crafty, PA, jack-of-all-trades

Brooke Amerantes*: Cast (Christy Nattingly, the best friend & required character)

Amelia Votta*: Cast (our hero, Rachel), writer, producer

James Tabor: Cast (Tyler Bradford, the crush in question), sound

Kelly Coccio Tabor*: Production designer, sound, cast (hotel guest)

Ashley Bowen: Directorial consultant

“This was definitely our first time winning as much as we did,” Carroll said. “So far our previous win was best use of prop. That was for using a safety helmet as a ‘talking helmet.’ As in you are holding the helmet so you get to talk. And to win when it was our first time back after a hiatus, because some of our team actually moved out to Los Angeles a few years ago, but I actually managed to convince them to fly home just for this.”

Early bird registration for this years festival opened on March 22 and continues all the way to May 30. Entry into the competition as with early bird entry costs $158, with the price increasing to $178 during regular entry up till June 13 and then $198 for late entry which continues right up to the day of the festival. Registration is available at 48hourfilm.com/en/providence-ri along with more information on the festival, such as requirements and even ways to help find team members to help you get involved.

“This year's festival is going to be amazing, we started planning for the 2023 competition the day after we finished in 2022,” Film Festival (Providence) Director Mel Rainsberger said. “Our filmmakers were creative, unique, and had some of the most interesting special effects last year. I hope the filmmakers bring that innovative energy back in 2023.”

Teams will then have their films screened and scored by local judges, on the last day of the festival, with the winner receiving awards and the potential to go to the national “48 Hour Film Festival” screening.

Those hoping to attend the final showing of the film projects submitted to this years contest can purchase tickets to the premier screenings for just $12. The screening will be held on July 11 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.Avon Cinemas, which is located at 260 Thayer St. in Providence. Both showings will be followed by a Q&A with the directors of the films.