Dwayne's on the Today Show

Dwayne's, the world famous and last remaining Kodachrome (K40) lab on the planet, gets profiled in this piece on the Today Show;

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/34172096#34172096

[via Filmshooting | com]

New to Spain: Cine Amateur!

Here's one for the diaries - Saturday 20th February 2010, "Mostra Cinemtographica De Petite Format" in cosmopolitan Barcelona - basically an all day symposium on all things small film featuring screenings, filmmaking and music.

Find out more at www.cineamateur.org

Wanted: hip creative types to build straight8

(Not at all like the 'shedquarters')

straight8 need your help - and they need it now!

The elder statesmen of the single cartridge Super 8 film festival are looking for a website designer who shares their small film aesthetic to join them in the inner sanctum of their hip London 'shedquarters' (we went there once - but are sworn to cinematic secrecy) and revamp their online portal.

We don't know if beards are a prerequisite, but you could ask!

More details here - be quick!

Ryland Bouchard - more music on Super 8

Regular readers may remember the article we did on Ryland Bouchard earlier this year and some of his films that we carried on the podcast.

In advance of another album worth's of video's his people at Swim Slowly put us onto his latest track - 'No Blood is New' (YouTube below)



This great time lapse film was was directed and filmed by Bouchard in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, and Italy for the "Cowbirds & Cuckoos" release using a Braun Nizo S580 Super 8 camera with Black and White Kodak film stocks.

Sounds like folky Kraftwerk - we love it and can't wait for his next album - it's out very soon!

Find out more at www.rylandbouchard.com

Florida sun shines on Super 8!

For the 2nd time in South Florida, and after 9 successful years, the original One Take Super 8 Event presents the 2nd 1:1 Super 8 Film Festival.

Twenty five independent filmmakers from South Florida and beyond will load their cameras to take part in this year’s spectacle. These 3 minute “masterpieces” will truly display the diversity and creativity of independent filmmakers of South Florida.

The One Take Super 8 Event was established in 2000 by (ex)Saskatchewan filmmaker Alex Rogalski (via Melville/Toronto) as a way to help create more independent films by a variety of artists, while giving the local community an opportunity to view these films collectively.

To date over 500 'One Take' films have been created, collected and distributed for the One Take Super 8 Event; drawn sold out audiences to its screenings; produced 3 television episodes for community television in Canada; had films from the event screened throughout Canada, Japan, Australia, United States and other nations; produced a DVD collection of the films for distribution; been organized, funded, and supported by it's filmmakers, arts organizations and corporations; been featured in radio, print and online articles and reviews.

The 1:1 Super 8 Film Festival is happening on December 11th, 2009 at The Bubble, 810 NE 4th Ave., in Fort Lauderdale. Doors will open at 7 PM and the screening will begin at 7:30 PM. A $5 suggested donation will be accepted upon entry. After party to follow at the Briny Riverfront located at 3045 South Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale.

Filmmakers will be in attendance at the screening, however the program is subject to change. Special guest, Alex Rogalski will also be there and will be holding a short lecture before the screening on the history of the One take Super 8 Event and the aesthetic characteristics associated with super 8 filmmaking and exhibition.

For further information and questions contact Shane Eason, Film Production Professor FAU SCMS + 1:1 Super 8 Film Festival Director/Coordinator
1to1super8filmfestival@gmail.com or call 954 762 5246

More on One Take Super 8 at their website.

straight 8 2010 - get ready, get a discount!

Entries for straight 8 2010 have opened early and if you're quick and sign up before 1st December, you'll get a 20% discount on the regular entry fee of £80.

You know the drill by now - the Granddaddy of single cartridge festivals simply asks that you shoot a film on one cartridge of Super 8 film, with in-camera edits and a separate soundtrack.

It's challenging and sometimes stressful but it's hugely rewarding and immense fun! And remember, the the best might just get rewarded with a slot at Cannes, or London, or...!

Be quick, be nimble and find out more at www.straight8.net

filmlabs.org launches

It's easy to forget that there's a myriad of small scale artists laboratories specialising in innovative processes to develop small film - collectives of people pushing the boundaries of the medium in a very hands-on way.

Filmlabs.org is a new website born from an idea hatched at the Nova Cinema in Brussels during the "Rencontre des labos" back in December 2005 where nine days were dedicated to the work made in "artist-run film labs".

The site details filmmakers' labs the world over giving practical information, historical detail, examples of work and ways to get in touch. The site is also jam packed full of hints and tips for small filmmakers including some very handy downloadable instructions on everything from shooting film and processing, right through to editing and screening.

Presented simply and written in French and English it's an invaluable resource for those artists and filmmakers striving for something a little different and is definitely one to bookmark and browse in detail!

More at Filmlabs.org

straight 8 rocks and gets arty

On the Saturday 5th December, the straight 8 boys rock Brighton with a very special screening of films made by local filmmakers for the 2009 competition supplemented by a straight 8 best of and a screening of those lucky few that made Cannes '09. The event is part of the Cinecity Festival and takes place at the Sallis Benney Theatre at 8pm. Tickets are available from from the Duke of York's Cinema website (it's a bit clunky - just select 'Dec 05' and choose 'Sallis Benny Theatre:straight 8 09') or call them on 0871 704 2056.

Later in the month, straight 8 hits takes this year's more arty single cartridge films to the heart of 'reel' London with a special screening at this year's East End Film Festival. Mark your diaries for Saturday 12th December at 4pm at the funky Shortwave Cinema and limited tickets are available for this annual 'one off' event online by clicking here

Mono No Aware line-up

The line up for this year's Mono No Aware festival has been announced.

Taking place on Sunday November 29th 5pm to 9pm at the Lumenhouse, 47 Beaver Street, Brooklyn, New York - just 5 minute walk from Flushing JMZ and 10 minutes from Montrose L - the evening promises a wonderful night of full of music, experimental cinema and live performances by a collection of artists from around the world.

There will also be beverages, snacks and a sculptural installation by Lumenhouse's own Aurora Robson. The full line-up is detailed below;

“El Ojo, La Boca, El Ano”
16mm film & 35mm slide multi-projection / live narration, foley, music & performance
Juan David Gonzale Monroy & Julio Monterrey

“El Ojo, La Boca, El Ano” is a live audio-visual sexual education lecture produced by The School of Radical Anthropology for the promotion of healthy habits in children ages 5 to 25 which will lead you through the parable of The Eye and The Mouth. This is a story of conjoined twins, born with an eye and a mouth for heads, which were separated after their birth by their overbearing father. The complex story is wild and full of fantasy. Will the collapse of the economy be their undoing? Or will their Pay-Per-view battle prove to be too much for them to bare? Perhaps the ghosts of the dead will rise from the ground and cut down the Father by the roots, like an ancient tree.

“Etching With Light”
Super 8 Mm Film Projection / Live Musical Accompaniment
David Mason & John Davis (Ray Sohn Collaborator)

Beautifully constructed, this performance plays with the duality of the screen as a surface to reflect and capture light. Shot in Super 8mm black and white the subject, Ray Shon, illustrates with light. The soundtrack for the film will be performed live by David Mason and John Davis who will use an assortment of tape loops, acoustic instruments and analogue synthesizers.

“Honeybed”
Super 8 Mm Projection / Live Musical Accompaniment & Performance
Syni Pappa, Myrto Karapiperi, & Anna Maria Maria Rammou

Honey Bed is an intimate portrayal of Syni Pappa in a period of wild depression. The actresses in the film represent her two conflicting moods. Their interaction with the objects around them is calm, playful, yet raw & genuine. To further invite you into her world, this one reel super 8 black and white film shot straight with no retakes or editing will be projected on a canopy of a bed in which the performers will play the original score.

“Lunar Flare”
Super 8 Mm Projection / Live Spoken Word & Toy Synthesizers
Julie Buck & Levi Rubeck

This film has been hand processed, hand dyed & scraped to blend together scenes of green space, urban space and interiors of New York City. The poem “lunar flare” will be read live by the author, as well as accompanied by an atonal piece on cello and synthesizers to create a connection between visuals language and sound.

“Spillway Study / Carpe Diez”
16 Mm Film Multi-Projection / Live Projection Mixing & Color Modification Ross Nugent

The forces of nature are alternately represented in a pulsating three-part projection. Vibrant colors and pulsating rhythms are worked out by hand using filters and some precise hand jiving. The result is a spell binding remix of natural beauty taken from the archived 70’s footage of naturalist filmmaker Tom Diez.

“Safe & Sound”
Super 8 Mm Film / Live 45 Vinyl Manipulation Rachael Rene Abernathy

This Super 8 mm film dances and sways to the music. Sound manipulations off an old soul 45 record playing the melody of “Safe & Sound” by Fontella Bass complement the silhouetted images. The scratches and static of the record are visualized on the surface of the original film material.

More at Mono No Aware.

Super Duper Super 8 Homemade Holiday - call!

The Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP) is seeking seasonal-spirited cinematic works for the 10th Annual Super-Duper-Super-8 Handmade Holiday Film Screening, which will be held, with bells on, Thursday, December 17th in Halifax, Nova Scotia (time and location to be advised).

Each year AFCOOP challenges local filmmakers, from dreidelers to jolly old eggnog-lovin’ elves, and other members of the local film community to create short, spicy and even saucy holiday-themed movies using a single reel of Super 8mm film each. These fun and festive projects are shot "in-camera" with no editing and run from one to three minutes in length – long enough to wrap around a Christmas tree.

Make a tear-jerking Santa drama, a crazy Kwanza comedy, or even a menorah-filled or animated manger motion picture – it’s your choice. It will be an entertaining evening of filmmaking fun and merriment with each frosty film being opened like a stuffed stocking - the audience, including the filmmakers and the twinkling stars, will see the final results for the very first time during the screening.

The resulting movies are often funny, rough around the red and green edges, and sometimes even outrageous – with the possibility of a few joyous turkeys here and there.

It’ll be latke fun!

November 5th, 2009: Call for submissions begins
December 7th, 2009: Final deadline for submission of films
December 17th, 2009: Screening & Party. Free of Charge. (Location and Time TBA)

More at AFCOOP

8 Tips for Shooting Modern Super 8

Head honcho at Pro8mm, Phil Vigeant has been blogging his top 8 Tips for Shooting Modern Super 8 Film over on the company blog.

With Hair in the Gate, 85 Filters, Exposure and Focus covered so far - its defin8ly worth a read!

More at the Pro8mm blog or on Twitter

International Super 8 epidemic!

The plot above is snapshot of today's recent visitors to onsuper8.org - hello Hawaii, Argentina, India, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Turkey, Taiwan, Estonia, Mexico, Canada, USA and Europe!

Wow - so much Super 8 love!

Tiny Japanese plastic cameras!

...on an auction site in Japan [via Muddy Orihara's Twitter feed]

We love Sheffield!

We had an amazing 45 people show up at the joint Flicker LA / onsuper8.org workshop on Super 8 Filmmaking in the 21st Century at Doc/Fest, the UK's premiere Documentary Filmmaking Festival and marketplace.

I'm sure Norwood would want to share my view in wanting to thank everyone that came and the organisers at Doc/Fest for making us so welcome.

The workshop and the previous day's Attack screening were both a huge success and such good fun to organise and take part in.

Thank you Doc/Fest and thank you Sheffield - we love you!

Giles

Flicker Attacks Sheffield!

We had a great time last night at the Sheffield Doc/Fest where onsuper8.org met up with one of our all time Super 8 heroes Norwood Cheek (of Flicker LA fame) to host a very special documentary led 'Attack of the 50 foot reels'.

In all 19 filmmakers rose to our challenge to make a short documentary around the broad theme of 'Revolution' on one cartridge of Super 8 film with in camera edits. If the single cartridge dogma wasn't hard enough, timescales meant they only had a couple of weeks to make their film and soundtrack to make last night's screening.

With subject matter ranging from the truth to fixed gear bicycles, sexual revolution to skate punks - the one hour programme not only caught the imagination but demonstrated that even Super 8 has a role to play in the world of documentary.

Huge thanks to Doc/Fest, Norwood and Andrea as well as Ben, Matthew, Leonora, Dylan, Robert, Andy, Joanna, Ethem, Freya, William, Paula, John, Alex, Mat, Paul, Yashar, Chris, Luca and Jan, without whom there wouldn't have been a documentary Attack.

For those at Doc/Fest today - we'll see you at the Super 8 workshop and if you can make Cambridge tomorrow evening go see Norwood at the Cambridge Super 8 group event!

Tomorrow - Battersea!

We're really, really late with this - via Facebook here...

as a part of the "playroom" series at Battersea Arts Centre we are running a one night only digital version of the straight 8 experience

straight 8 veterans will & george will open the evening by screening and chatting about some of their favourite straight 8s from the past 10 years

participants will then be given a loose theme and an unreasonably short amount of time to make their own straight 8 style short film (video), shot by shot, without editing or reviewing

finally we'll premiere the films on a nice big(ish) screen

the event is completely free but, if at all possible, participants need to bring their own video camera as well as leads with which we can connect it to a projector. (we'll bring 2/3 of our own so don't panic if you haven't got one)

...we know it's video but Will & George are such good value for money (and even better when free!)

Cinevia - not vapourware?

Over the last few years or so we've reported on the various stages of progress of the on/off progress of Cineva (links here) the German re-packaged Super 8 filmstock offering.

According to this brief news article on the Schmalfilm website, it seems that hope still might be flickering for the stock - which as you can see in the picture above is shown as in "Beta".

The article (dated 30/10/09) roughly translates (via lazy robots) as...

In Schmalfilm 6/2009 you find a comparison test between Cinevia and Wittnerchrome V 50 D. in both Super-8-Cartridge put super 8 material, which is manufactured from Fuji Velvia 50 D Film Stock. In addition we compared the development quality of different laboratory enterprises with one another, because reproaches arose, tracks and scratches on the film with the development also again and again developed. In order to verify this, we sent 8 cartridges parallel to the development of the Velvia material also original Kodak Ektachrome 64T in super into the laboratory enterprises. One may be strained on the result!

Schmalfilm - don't forget it!

Whilst Smallformat is a sad and dimming memory - don't forget that Schmalfilm (either in print or via their website) still has a bunch of Super 8 and small film related news, views and articles.

Whilst our German doesn't extend beyond ordering a beer, the website is well worth a bookmark and a regular look to keep abreast of what's happening in Europe.

They've even got a Vimeo channel!

Festivals you should enter - now!

Here's a quick round up of the Super 8 friendly festivals you really should be entering in the next few weeks...

Mono No Aware (USA) - by 9th November
$100 Film Festival (Canada) - by 1st December
Dresdner Schmalfilmtage (Germany) - by 5th December
Cambridge Super 8 Film Festival (UK) - by 26th December
USA Super 8 Film Festival (USA) - by 15th January

These festivals are all doing their bit in breaking new talent showing Super 8 films of all genres and flavours.

We're entering films for some of these great events - are you?