Great Job!
We want to thank everyone who attended the Calgary Super 8 Filmmakers Challenge last night!
We always appreciate have such a large and excited audience to see all the films that are made for the challenge and I know the filmmakers love it too.
To our filmmakers, great job! The films were so diverse and entertaining! There was never a dull moment!
Anyway, thanks again for coming out and we’ll see you all next year!
FFWD Hearts The Challenge
Super, challenging films
Super 8 festival forces inspiration on local filmmakers
Published February 25, 2010 by Anh Chu in Film Features
“There will be a lot of sleepless nights, frantic emails and whatever it takes to get it done,” says Vancouver visual artist Michael Markowsky. He’s referring to the short animation he created for the fifth annual Calgary Super 8 Filmmakers Challenge, a friendly competition where filmmakers must weave randomly selected elements into their short film’s narrative.
The criteria are literally drawn out of a hat. This year’s are: fairy tale (theme), fisherman (character), slow-mo or one-shot scene (technical requirement) and someone getting poked in the eye (random element).
“The [pre-determined] elements can be limiting, or extremely liberating,” says Markowsky, whose submission, The Fisherwoman and the Merman, is fully animated and features actor Alex Arsenault of Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica.
“We consider them inspiration points,” explains event co-founder James Reckseidler. The requirements act as a jump-off point for filmmakers, and the firm deadline eliminates procrastination on starting that next project.
Challenge co-founder Mike Peterson agrees. “The criteria can spark an idea or provoke insight,” he says. The duo began the event as a result of what they saw in Calgary: many talented independent filmmakers who worked too independently of each other.
“The challenge provides an opportunity to showcase filmmakers’ work, but we’re doing all the legwork,” says Reckseidler. Even though he and Peterson donate a generous amount of their own time and money to organize the event (as well as making their own films), the payoff is in seeing new collaborations form. This year’s challenge will include submissions from filmmakers around the world.
Calgary filmmaker Jim Thalheimer, who works in TV and film commercially, eked out time for his short film Once Upon Tough Economic Times “after work and at odd hours,” he says. The short film uses the grasshopper and ant fable as its theme. Thalheimer shot his film on Super 8mm film, which needs to be processed in Toronto, so he created a work-back schedule that wouldn’t have him scrambling to finish.
“Super 8 is the original consumer-based film stock,” explains Peterson, adding that the use of the film is not mandatory, but a metaphor for the challenge. “There’s no real bar to entry both in knowledge and price, so it’s purely about ideas and using whatever’s at hand.”
Although filmmakers are given about three months’ notice to make their short films, the challenge prefers spirit to perfection.
“My strongest memory over the years is seeing people laugh with sheer delight at seeing the variety of films [that] fulfil these four criteria,” Reckseidler recalls. Markowsky likens the Challenge to a “spontaneous way of filmmaking.”
“It really is independent filmmaking at its best,” says Thalheimer. “It’s fun, loose and the audience is in on the gag.”
The event at The Distillery is more than just an evening of independent short films; it also features musical performances from bands Random Black and Night Committee, $12,000 in prizes for participating filmmakers donated by local sponsors, and door prizes for the general public.
The challenge made its way down to Los Angeles in 2009, and there are plans to grow the event across other cities.
Markowsky sums it up best: “If this thing turned out to be a major worldwide event, you can say ‘I was in Calgary for the fifth anniversary.’”
The Herald Says Challenge Awesome (or something to that effect)
You might think there are a limited number of plot scenarios that could encompass a fisherman, a fairy tale and being poked in the eye.
But those were the main narrative points that more than a dozen Calgary filmmakers had to work with for the 5th Annual Calgary Super 8 Challenge, a yearly gathering where the city’s fledgling auteurs are given strict guidelines for short films.
Mike Peterson, a director who co-founded and runs the challenge, decided to make the task even more challenging for himself by turning his entry into a trilogy and moving the action to Hungary. Yes, for one part of the three Peterson decided to shoot in Budapest, which added language barriers and befuddled locals to his list of cinematic hurdles.
“I went on vacation and apparently I don’t know how to relax, so I shot a film,” says Peterson. “I rented some fisherman’s boat for $5 for an hour. He looked at me like I was crazy.”
Tonight, all the films will be screened at the Distillery. While there are $12,000 worth of prizes, the challenge is not really a contest. The filmmakers are all invited to participate. The rules are simple. Each filmmaker must make a short film based on criteria that are cobbled together, often by pulling various suggestions out of a hat. This year, the theme was to adapt a fairy tale or fable. A fisherman had to be involved, and each film had to include one slow-motion scene and one without any cuts. Somehow the film must also include a character being poked in the eye.
“I’m pretty curious to see how that one turns out,” Peterson says. “We haven’t heard of any serious injuries yet.”
Peterson’s film is divided into three parts, including his brief foray into Hungarian cinema. Another episode stars Fubar actor Dave Lawrence.
There are no official limits for budgets or length, but most should clock in at around three to five minutes and are made on the cheap, Peterson says.
“It’s low stakes in the best way possible,” Peterson says. “There’s not big number attached to the budget, so I can try things that I wouldn’t have tried in normal circumstances. So I can push my craft. Typically speaking, the films I’ve made for this end up playing in festivals all over the world.”
Co-founder James Reckseidler also took up the challenge, making a film about a boy (played, as it turns out, by Peterson) who gets into trouble while watching the 1988 Olympics.
“It’s the moral story of why you shouldn’t run with scissors set to the background of the 1988 opening ceremonies,” he says. “I got an old ’88 logo T-shirt. Without saying too much, a kid in a downtown apartment is paralleling the Olympic torch ceremony and he is using scissors instead of a torch, and the lesson is learned.”
Both Reckseidler and Peterson have production companies in town and have found success with other short films. Both are in the midst of raising funds for their first features. Peterson’s The Secret Lives of Robots, which was spun from a former Super 8 challenge, has played more than a dozen festivals. Reckseidler’s impressive The Ice Climber’s Waltz, which wasn’t based on a Super 8 challenge, has also been well-received.
Reckseidler says the talent involved in the challenges makes for a unique night of viewing.
“The audience coming down to see this are seeing some really great talent that they normally wouldn’t see,” he says. “On top of that, the local community gets to come out and have a fun night together and celebrate what we’re doing and where we’re at in our careers.”
New Films From Calgary Favorites
Hey Everybody!
Excited about the Calgary Super8 Filmmakers Challenge???
Its only two sleeps away!!!
Want to get more excited???
Here is a preview of some of your favorite local filmmakers who have challenge films in this year’s event:
James Reckseidler
Mike Peterson
Luke Black
Jim Thalheimer
Brendan Hunter
Lyndon Cassell
Kelly Eshpeter
and More!
Now I am so excited that I have to lay down!!!
See you Thursday at 7 at the Distillery!!!
Two Days To The Challenge!
Unveiling Poster Two
Poster By Kyle Whitehead
Bands Confirmed!
In addition to great short films we’ll also be featuring two fine local bands.
First is the debut of Bobby Vanonen’s punk band Random Black, who in addition to being aggressive and energetic may also be performing a few songs from the film soundtrack Repo Man.
Second, we’ll be featuring what can only be described as a Calgary supergroup, Night Committee featuring Andrew Wedderburn (Hot Little Rocket), Lorrie Matheson, Brooker Buckingham, Laurie Fuhr and Joel Nye. You can’t help but get into their infectious grungy style of garage rock. Find out more about them here:
The Challenge Is Coming
Poster byAndrew Herman
