What’s old is new again. Local artists explored old technology to make new projects for the upcoming Super Gr8 Film Festival.
Filmmakers from the Shenandoah Valley borrowed Super 8 cameras to make a short film for the festival. Each participant got a camera and one cartridge of film, which could record for about three minutes and twenty seconds. Once the recording was complete, the organizers of the festival, Paul Somers and Patrick Fitzgerald, sent the films to be developed and converted to digital files.
The 35 films will be shown at Court Square Theater this weekend. It will be the first time any of the filmmakers see their completed projects.
This is the festival’s grand return. While the festival began in 2010 and was held every year until 2019, the organizers were forced to cancel in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, a grant from Arts Council of the Valley made it possible to restart the annual event, Somers said.
Michael Trocchia participated in a few prior festivals and said he was eager to get back behind the camera. This year, he made a sequel to one of his earlier films.
“The film I did this year was kind of special,” Trocchia said. “It was a sequel to a film I did in 2011, which was the first film that came out for me. That film, there were three main actors. It was a father, a daughter – and the daughter at that time was three years old – and then, a colleague of mine was in it, as well. I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be cool to pick up 17 years later?’ Like, where are these people, what are they doing now, and how does it tie into the first film?”
Soraya Teschner was a newcomer to the festival. She took inspiration from her musician persona to create a film, which uses one of her own songs as a backing track.
“It’s more of a music video,” Teschner said. “My music persona is IONNA, and I’m a cyborg space knight. I used this as an opportunity to tell a new chapter in the story. I thought, oh, just to add to the challenge, it would be interesting to try to choreograph and do some fight scenes.”
However, due to the limitations of the Super 8 film, Teschner, like the other filmmakers, couldn’t edit the footage. To change locations, she would have to stop recording, take her equipment to the second location, and resume the recording.
“It’s a super interesting format, where you can’t do any editing,” Teschner said. “You have to pre-plan it or just go into it knowing nothing can be changed. It’s a super interesting format for a film festival.”
Teschner said she used a song from her synth-pop band’s upcoming record to accompany her film.
Somers said the festival started with just him and a friend making videos on old Super 8 cameras, but it has turned into a way for artists to meet and connect. Now, 15 years after its inception, the festival still gives local creators an opportunity to try different technology and see how older methods of filmmaking compared to modern techniques.
“Sometimes things happen unintentionally that just end up being totally amazing,” Somers said. “It just makes you think differently about art and creativity. The format was developed in the 1960s, and we’re lucky that it’s still around today.”
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