LAKE PLACID -- Last year's assignment began with the discovery of a dead body, the plot thickened from the very first.

"It was a great way to start off," said Kathleen Carroll, artistic director of the Lake Placid Film Forum.

Author Russell Banks concocted that story starter for the five teams of college students who competed in Sleepless in Lake Placid, the 24-hour filmmaking contest that anchors the Lake Placid Film Forum set this year for June 12 through 15.

Carroll and Barry Snyder, director of Cinema Studies and Production for Burlington College, devised the contest as a way to entice that age group to the annual Film Forum.

"The challenge has always been to have enough young people there who are really interested," Carroll said.

IMAGINATIVE EFFORTS

There was no lack of interest from the students who conceptualized, scripted, shot and edited the 10-minute projects in just 24 hours.

"They came up with the most imaginative films," she said, especially considering the lack of time for polishing.

Some were funny, such as the Burlington College production that proved the audience's favorite pick.

"They were very clever," Carroll said of that team's members. "They were probably the team that was most prepared -- they brought things like costumes "¦ They seemed to have some sort of concept in their head even before" they knew the topic.

Others were more serious, including "Marching On," by the Syracuse University team that won the Robin Pell Emerging Filmmaker Award.

"They made very great use of locations around Lake Placid," Carroll said of all the entrants, noting a taxidermy shop in Keene and miniature golf courses as examples.

"They proved to be very resourceful."

LOCAL ENTRANT

That was vital, as the challenge also included required use of certain elements, namely, something related to both the Olympics and abolitionist John Brown.