FLICKER NYC

On April the 17th at Southpaw in Brooklyn, New York's only Super 8 film festival will celebrate it's 10th anniversary. This year's festival features an international line up of films including my Super 8 wonder 'Robot' which has managed to surprise me once again with another prestigious screening.

To mark the occasion IndieWire the independent film website has featured an interview with Flicker founder David Teague, you can read all about it here. In the article David talks about how the festival is put together and comments on the rise of Super 8 in a digital world.

All in all it is a great event to be part of.

ROBOT AT THE LONDON SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

As part of the London Short Film Festival Straight 8 are holding another Retrospective screening featuring some of the best films entered over the last decade. This time it's being held at the famous Roxy Bar and Screen on the 10th of January at 8pm.















My 2008 entry 'Robot' once again has the honour of making the selection and will be screened alongside another Straight 8 film with the audio on switchable headsets. Sound crazy?

It does indeed, but I have it on good authority that it will be a lot of fun too!

Tickets are £5 on the door which is pretty good when you consider you are getting a decades worth of Super 8 goodness.

For more information click on the event and the Roxy Bar and Screen click here.

ROBOT AT THE ICA

As part of the Rushes 2010 season the ICA have held a retrospective event in honour of Straight 8 films. From 10 years worth of shorts filmed on one cartridge of Super 8 and with no editing my 2008 film Robot made the selection which is a great honour.


















I'll always remember seeing my completed film for the first time whilst sat in the Kodak Apartment at the Cannes Film Festival (one of the quirks of a Straight 8 film is that even as the film maker you don't get to see the finished film until it's first screening.) and although I was very proud I had no idea just how long this little film would keep going!

It has now been shown all over the world at various film festivals and even in it's third year it continues to do me proud.

NEW Home-Clubber Book

Modern Toss have released a brand new book featuring all the best Home-Clubbers including this one here:



















The book is out now and available for you to buy here.

Home-Clubber appears every week in the Guardian Guide and has done since 2004, so that's well over 200 cartoon strips to chose from when putting the book together so they quality will be high, I'm sure!

One of my first jobs was to animate the Home-Clubbers for use as mobile downloads, I did over 60 of them. It was great fun trying to squeeze as much animation as I could from a single drawing, I really learned my craft doing so many of these, the trick was to communicate the original joke but to also add something to make it worth while paying for.

To celebrate the release of the book I have posted one of the episodes onto YouTube, you can view it below.



Keep a look out for it in all good book shops. Not the bad ones, they won't have it.

Robot at the Movies

More success for Robot! This time it is going to be screened before showings of Michael Caine's new film "Is Anybody There" at the newly refurbished belsize park cinema, starting this Friday.

For more information and bookings click here.

Needless to say this is very exciting, sharing the same screen with the legend that is Michael Caine is quite an honor and I can't quite believe it!

The film has had great reviews (Michael Caine's film that is) and will hopefully attract a discerning crowd that will enjoy my little story of a Robot who finds himself replaced by a newer model and evicted from his home by his elderly owner.

Its good to hear that shorts are getting screened before features as well. Its a great boost for the film makers and is a treat for the audience too. I remember when I went to see a film at the cinema when I was younger with my family and they showed a short cartoon about some ducks, I was very confused as I wasn't expecting it and thought even then at my early age that someone was trying to con me. When it finished I remember about half the people in the room getting up to go home murmuring "Is that it?" as they went, luckily the film started before anyone made it to the door and they went back to their seats.

Hopefully some small child will go through the same roller coaster of emotions as me when my film is shown, then twenty years later they'll be writing about some weird short they saw once about cardboard.

Robot at Cambridge Super 8 Film Festival

Another result for Robot.

This time it has been selected for screening at the Cambridge Super 8 Film Festival on April 30th. The festival it's self runs from April 29th until May 2nd. Check it out if you can:

http://www.cambridge-super8.org/

There seems to be a lot of opportunity for films made on 8mm film, I guess with all the outlets for digital film these days its something a bit different. I think the look of the picture you get using an old camera and some super 8 stock has a lot to do with it, it's got a real quality to it that you just don't get with digital. That and the novelty of actually developing a reel of film before you can see whether what you have filmed has even come out!

That was my biggest worry when making Robot. It was my first attempt at using a Super 8 camera and although I received some top advice I can't believe it all came out so well.

Check Robot out here, enjoy:

http://www.getcloser.com/event/audioandvideo/straight+8/125/7410/

Robot in Shots Magazine

Robot, the film I made for Straight 8 08 (see earlier post) is still going strong. This month it was featured on a DVD accompanying trade magazine "Shots"!

I believe it is subscription only but you can get an idea at the website here:

http://www.shots.net/home_beta.asp

"Shots showcases cutting-edge creativity in global advertising." So it says on the website, so its a good thing to be in with. Thanks again to the Straight 8 folk for putting my film 'out there!'

Robot

ROBOT is the name of the short film I directed as my entry to the Straight 8 film competition. All films had to be filmed on one cartridge of super 8 with all editing done in camera. The soundtrack is then created separately. The first time you see your film is in a screening full of people!

But how do you know how it has turned out, I hear you say! You don't. Fortunatley for me it turned out very well and was selected for screeing at the Cannes Film Festival, The Cannes Lions, Soho Rushes Short Film Festival and Brighton CineCity Film Festival.