D.C.’s own ADD filmmakers Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston are back tonight to present the first evening of their 5th annual 48-Hour Film Festival at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. Screenings kick off at 7 p.m., and run every night this week through Friday.

Like previous years, the festival invites amateur filmmakers to compete in a contest where they are given one character, one prop, and one line of dialog they must include, and asked to complete a short film in, literally, 48 hours. All other filmmaking choices are left up to the participants. All entries were created last weekend, with contestants handing in their final films on Sunday, May 7.

And just what were the elements each director was required to include this year? The character was Tim (or Tina) Tate, the area’s own glass sculptor currently exhibiting at the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda. The prop was a fire extinguisher, and the line of dialogue was: “This is absolutely the last time.” Dear Lord, please, grant us the gift of at least one slapstick gay porno piece starring Tim Tate as a fireman. Please, God. We’ve been soooo good.

Any contest that places finishing a film quickly over making sure it’s any good is bound to be full of also-rans. But with almost 100 entries, odds are at least some of them are probably worth their weight in celluloid. We hear there will also be a “Best-of” night scheduled sometime soon, which might be a smarter move.