Author
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Topic: Super 8 Madness! - the documentary
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Jean-Marc Toussaint
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: France
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted December 23, 2013 06:15 AM
Why is a message called "Super 8 Madness!" posted in the General Yak section? read on…
30 years ago, I was working for a magazine called "Mad Movies" (our equivalent to "Fangoria", and still being published). At the time, a couple of us had made super 8 shorts and we decided to organize a small film festival in Paris to display our work (essentially scifi, horror, fantasy…) This festival ran successfully for six years, before enthusiastic audiences up to 1500 people. When most of the aspiring directors switched to video, and when the crowds got slightly out of our control, we decided to pull the plug.
2 years ago, while having dinner with old friends from our super 8 festival days, we all agreed it was time to produce a documentary about what it was like to be an amateur filmmaker in the 80s. JJ Abrams's fictionnal work about kids making a horror movie was being talked about by fans all over the world. Our ambition was not to compete, but to show some of the real people who, three decades ago, were trying to be the next John Carpenter or the next Lucio Fulci.
Some of them have become bona fide film pros, be it VFX designers, make-up artists, screenwriters or directors. Others have simply chosen other careers (lab tech, lawyer…) We tracked down two dozens of them, interviewed them extensively, digitized all the films they had done at the time and collected video archives of what the festival was like back then.
Our documentary is not only about the films and the festival, but also about the context (censorship was strong in the 80s), influences, finding a way to express oneself, the long road towards adulthood and how hard it was to make the most out of this small format support (as opposed to how easier it is technically today to make amateur films).
I've just finished editing and creating the animated graphics of this 90 minutes monster. We're in the final phase of postproduction: an original soundtrack is being composed, then the film will go to mix and colour correction. We should be ready by the end of January '14 as we will start touring the film festivals. A DVD release is planned for later.
In the meantime, you may have a look at the trailer (with english subtitles): CLICK HERE
Merry Xmas to all and long live super 8... [ January 25, 2014, 02:51 AM: Message edited by: Jean-Marc Toussaint ]
-------------------- The Grindcave Cinema Website
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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 16, 2014 12:16 PM
Magnificent Jean! (I'm surprised that I didn't see this post originally!!!).
I started out in "film" the same way, making short little sci-fi flicks, mostly stop motion and pencil/ink animation, (mostly little STAR WARS epics!), and now, looking at my productions I do, it's a fond thing to look back at that pimp laden teenager making those films. Most fond!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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