Cinevic handout Super 8

One take on Super 8

Popular film event returns with two showings plus online component

  • Oct. 10, 2022 7:30 a.m.

CineVic Society of Independent Filmmakers is excited to announce Vancouver Island’s third edition of the One Take Super 8 Event—a fun, non-competitive, filmmaking and screening opportunity for community participants.

The use of Super 8 film peaked in the 1960s and ‘70s as an accessible way to make home movies, but it was essentially replaced in the ‘80s and ‘90s by video. Once thought obsolete, Super 8 lives on today amid a resurgence of the format. The One Take Super 8 Event began in the year 2000 in Regina, Saskatchewan, and since then it has inspired the creation and screening of over 1,000 films in more than 50 locations around the world. CineVic presented the island’s first edition in 2019, and followed it up in 2021 with a hybrid screening—the first ever digital presentation of the otherwise analogue event.

CineVic’s executive director, David Geiss, explains the premise: “Earlier this summer, 24 participants from Victoria and the surrounding region answered the open call to participate. They were then given a camera, a roll of film, and one week to create their own three-minute movie. The only catch: no editing.”

The filmmakers had to shoot their scenes in order with no second chances, and they’ll witness their work for the first time along with an audience.

Due to the popularity of the event, it has been expanded to two screenings this year on October 14 and 15 at the Metro Studio Theatre, and the online component has been kept as well.

Past years have seen common (and purely coincidental) themes emerge in the films such as cat antics, childhood adventures and BBQ chicken.

But Geiss is giving no hints at this year’s artworks, saying, “We only receive the processed films a few days before the event, and not even the filmmakers get to peek. You’ll have to join us at the show to see what they came up with!”

Check cinevic.ca for more information about the upcoming screening and to purchase advance tickets.

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