straight 8 Hits Ciclope Festival Tonight

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Director Ed Sayers

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The Ciclope Festival begins today [October 26] in Berlin and as part of the schedule the super 8mm film competition, straight 8, will be showcasing the work from its 16 entrants at 5.30pm in the Kino International theatre.

Presented by the APA in association with Cinelab London, the straight 8 industry shootout is a global industry battle – a company to company showdown – to produce the best film on one super 8 cartridge, without editing or post production, according to straight 8’s strict rules. There is no creative brief for the competition and all of the 16 films - good, bad or ugly - will be screened for the very first time, even to their makers, at the event with the audience voting to decide the winners and the truimphant companies able to donate prize money to the charities of their choosing.

"[It's a] level playing field that doesn't care about names, experience, budget..."

straight 8 began life in 1999 when director, Ed Sayers, asked friends to have a go at making a short film on one cartridge of super 8 each. Since 2003 straight 8 has held premieres at Cannes Film Festival, receiving 100-200 entries for every annual open competition. straight 8 has also enjoyed stints on Channel 4 broadcast TV.

Below we talk to Sayers about the upcoming event and what's next for the competition and feature a selection of the winning films from Cannes 2017.

Cannes 2017 first prize: Electric Eye, by Pundersons Gardens

What do you think the appeal is of shooting a film in the straight 8 manner?

The near-impossibility of perfection. The need to embrace all accidents; happy and unhappy. The level playing field that doesn't care about names, experience, budget. The rawness of using film and not wasting a frame, knowing every time you pull the trigger you're building your film. The inveitable bonding you do with the team that works on the film - there's nothing like going through something tough with people to make lasting memories!

Has the constant availability of digital filmmaking/photography meant that some people are more excited at the prospect of using film?

People are loving playing with film and the emotional quality that celluloid film can bring to your story. With super 8mm, the grain, lens abberation, jittery gate, dirt in the camera only adds to the atmosphere.

What do you think is the hardest aspect of taking on the straight 8 challenge?

The hardest part of the straight 8 challenge is most definitely coming up with the right idea. Get that right, plan well, be daring (but not about the planning) and everything else can fall into place beautifully. Or not.

Cannes 2017 second place and audience award: Twelve, by Rushes.

What can people expect from straight 8 at Ciclope?

16 companies - many new to straight 8 - seeing their work for the very first time in front of 500+ industry peers on one of the best, biggest screens in Berlin: Kino International.

The companies come from all walks of advertising: agencies, production companies, service companies, post houses etc. And from 13 countries on 5 continents. We are indebted to them all for having the balls to put their company name to some work at such high risk, and to CICLOPE, APA and Cinelab London for helping spread the word to their global audiences.

Each company can vote for their top three fillms (not their own) and the winning three companies get to donate prize funds to the charities of their own choosing.

Did any of the participants in the Ciclope event ask for advice and, if so, what did you tell them?

Not really but here are some things we often say:

Don't trust the camera's in built counter.
Keep it simple.
Don't try synch sound.
Don't shoot TVs or edit off a screen.
Don't tell us your friend knows Radiohead and said on the phone that it's ok to use their track on your straight 8.

What’s next for straight 8?

We're really enjoying the ad industry 'straight 8 shootout' format and having it running in parallel to the annual straight 8 competition (that screens the best 8 at The Cannes Film Festival).

We're looking to take to shootout to new festivals and regions around the world and should have an exciting announcement soon. Watch this space!

On November 6th we are saying 'Hello L.A.' at Framestore's Culver City HQ, showing a selection of films and challenging Tinsel Town to get involved. Details on the annual main straight 8 competition for 2018 are availble later this year - we encourage people to sign up at straight8.net to be the first to hear about it.