At 3:00pm PT / 6:00pm ET on Friday April 17th, we will randomly draw a theme, item and action, on the Handmade Puppet Dreams Facebook page and Instagram. This info will also be sent via email to registered participants!
Using those prompts, participants then have 48hrs to build, film, edit, export, and upload a 3-minute (or less) short puppet film!
Submit your film via a Google Form (link sent to registered participants) by 3:00pm PT / 6:00pm ET / 11pm CET on Sunday April 19th.
To Register as a filmmaker participant, purchase a ticket below. One registration is required for each film submitted. (If you have a team, you only need to register once).
Our illustrious panel of judges will watch all of the films with prizes awarded for the top 3 films with additional recognitions for best in category, best kid-made, and MORE! CASH PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED! All this will be announced at the online screening on Saturday, May 9th!
No filmmaking or puppetry experience required! Participate from anywhere!
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Meet Our 2026 Judges!
coming soon​
There will be some cool credits here.
half past selber schuld
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Credits include Die Sündenvergebmaschine, What's Wrong with People?, and Die Puppenstars,
coming soon
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There will also be some cool credits here!
The 48hr Puppet Film Project is an annual event originally presented through the LA Guild of Puppetry, and now presented by Handmade Puppet Dreams and Griffin Eye Productions through originator and producer Alex U. Griffin. For the past two years, Handmade Puppet Dreams and Heather Henson has been proud to sponsor the event and give a little something extra to artists partaking in the challenge.
This event first started in 2018 as an effort to spark creativity-through-challenge within puppeteers and filmmakers in the LA area by giving them just 48hrs to create a short film using our randomly-drawn theme, object, and action. Since then, the event has gone international and attracts submissions from participants from around the world!
Past judges have included Kirk Thatcher (The Muppets, Dinosaurs), Tim Lagasse (Crash & Bernstein, Helpsters), Trish Sie (Step Up: All In, Pitch Perfect 3), Heather Henson (IBEX Puppetry, Handmade Puppet Dreams), Christine Papalexis (Team America: World Police, Amaterasu), Bill Watterson (Dave Made a Maze, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Sam Koji Hale (Alien X-Mas, Yamasong: March of the Hollows), Liz Hara (Sesame Street, Life in Pieces), Victor Yerrid (Earth to Ned, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), Alva Rogers (the doll plays, Daughters of the Dust), Liz Hara (Sesame Street, Life in Pieces), Jean Marie Keevins (The Muppets, Helpsters), Pam Severns (Jim Henson: In His Own Words, Bunny Love), Rudy Martinez (Dear White People, Jane the Virgin, Ham), and Tyler Bunch (Bear in the Big Blue House, Pokemon, Sesame Street), Amanda Maddock (Crank Yankers, Five Nights at Freddy's), Sarah Fornace (Manual Cinema, Candyman 2021), and Frankie Cordero (Donkey Hodie, Sesame Street), Nicolette Santino (Barbarian and the Troll, Coldplay on Tour), Jimmica Collins (Donkey Hodie, Sesame Street), and Craig Shemin (Jim Henson Legacy, The Muppets).
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