Time was running out.

With only hours to conceive, create and polish a film for the annual 72-hour Frederick Film Festival, Brian Belida ’06, along with friends Mike Yamrus and Diego Torres, worked quickly and efficiently on their creative short.

“We toyed with a few ideas and settled on a plot revolving around a man who is distraught and depressed,” said Belida, the web site manager at the College. “He takes pills to better his life, but they also dull his emotions, a kind of double-edged sword. The real beauty of our movie though, is that it is open to interpretation, as with most art.”

Their four-and-a-half minute movie, “Release,” won the grand prize, along with best cinematography and best actor.

All 32 entries were based on proverbs handed out at 9 p.m. on Oct. 4. Belida’s team selected the Iranian proverb, “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

Belida, Yamrus and Torres worked through the night on ideas. The next day, they filmed the actor, Yamrus’ father-in-law, popping pills, and a child figure walking through a soybean field in a dream-like sequence. Belida worked on all aspects of the production, but mainly filmed with a secondary camera. On Sunday, the team edited and finished the movie.

“It was a rush because we had very little time to come up with the idea, film and edit,” he said. “I’m proud of the movie. It was a lot of fun to make.”

The trio plans to enter “Release” in the Maryland Film Festival.