SciFi London Film Festival May 1-7, 2012 is running its fourth annual ‘make a science fiction film in 48 hours’ contest starting Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 10:30 in London, UK.  From the March 9, 2012 news item on the Guardian science blogs (Notes and Theories),

For the past four years the Sci-Fi-London film festival has run a 48-hour filmmaking challenge. More than 380 films have been entered into the competition, many of which have gone on to be shown at other film festivals and have been broadcast on TV.

This year teams will arrive at the Apollo Piccadilly cinema in London on Saturday 14 April at 10.30am where they will be given the title of the film they will make, some dialogue that one of the characters must say, and a list of props that must be seen in the film.

This time round there will be an optional extra dimension to the challenge: a scientific theme nominated by you. [emphasis mine] The theme could be nanotech, cloning, gene splicing … or something a little more “fringe”.

The teams will have until Monday morning to deliver their completed movie. A panel of judges will shortlist 10 films, which will then be screened at the 11th Annual Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, 1-7 May.

Here’s the prize,

Last year Vertigo offered a feature-film development deal as the main prize of the 48-hour challenge (the winners will complete their first feature later in 2012) and it’s putting up the same prize this year.

Sci-Fi London can be found here and specifics about the contest and how to register here. As for Vertigo Films, you can go here.

You may have noted that you can participate even if you don’t want to make a science fiction movie yourself by entering the Guardian’s competition for scientific themes. From the March 9, 2012 news item on the Guardian website,

… this time round there will be an optional extra dimension to the challenge: scientific themes nominated by you. The theme could focus on nanotech, cloning or genetic engineering … or something a little more unusual.

To win one of 20 pairs of tickets to the Sci-Fi-London film festival (1-7 May), fill in the fields below (go here for the form) and click “send”, then email your scientific theme to science@guardian.co.uk with “Sci-Fi Competition” in the subject line.

Your theme must be summarised in seven words or fewer. So, for example, “An experimental drug that allows the person who takes it to use 100% of their mind and thus become a perfect version of themselves” would be too prescriptive, but “A pill that supercharges the mind” would be fine.

A panel of judges will choose 20 winning themes, which might be comic, surreal, original or thought-provoking …

Good luck!