What makes the Super GR8 Film Festival Awesome!
-by Rhonda Vigeant, Pro8mm
When you think about hubs for independent
filmmaking, it is unlikely
Harrisonburg, Virginia would come to mind as a place where extraordinary
film projects are being born by the dozens, but this is precisely what happens
every fall when two local residents, AKA festival directors Paul Somers and Tim
Estep announce that it is time again for the annual Super GR8 Film Festival.
The idea is to make a complete film on one 50-foot
roll of Super 8 film with all the edits done in the camera. Filmmakers see
their film for the first time on screening night, so the excitement and
anticipation is intense, for not only the filmmaker, but the actors and
audience as well.
While single roll super 8 film festivals have
been around for a number of years, and have a popular following, what happens
in Harrisonburg during October and November is a transformation of community
rallying around the arts and creative process unlike anything I have ever seen
or experienced before in my 30 years of working with the Super 8 medium.
The awesomeness and uniqueness of Super GR8 is
that the entire community gets involved with it. As a small college town, home to James Madison
University, as well as other near-by colleges, beautifully seated around a
plethora of Civil War history, the sense of community in Harrisonburg extends
well beyond the campus. The vibrant historic down town area is filled with unique
non-commercial shopping, art galleries, hand made items and one of a kind
eateries. It is a very special place
with very special people, and as one resident says, it is like “CHEERS” – a
place where everyone really does know your name.
The elevated sense of community Paul and Tim
have created with Super GR8 is a natural fit to a town that already has a sense
of creative spirit and identity. A
feeling of pride and cooperative, not competitive mindset touches every aspect
of this amazingly successful festival, which has a tag line by the way “LIFE IS
SUPER GR8”!
Super Gr8 entries are only solicited from local
residents during an annual sign up night.
There are a coveted 48 spots, which are quickly spoken for every
year. 24 films are made on Super 8 Tri-X Film, and
24 are made on Super 8 Color Negative. Each film type has its own screening night
in the beautiful, historic down town Court Square Theatre.
The actors and crew are all local
residents. People in the community open
up their homes and businesses to let the filmmakers use their locations. Dozens of local businesses participate as
sponsors. Local artists design logos, t-shirts
and posters for the publicity – which is prominently, displayed everywhere you
go. Innkeepers donate rooms to host
festival judges and some of the invited out of town guests. Even the amazing trophies (which are the only prizes) are amazingly hand
crafted from “throw away” broken super 8 cameras, reels and super 8
projectors. These in themselves are
unique relics that rival the beauty of any cookie cutter Hollywood Emmy or
Oscar!
On the night prior to the screenings – the town is a buzz. Everyone you meet knows about the festival, has either made a film, is in a film, crewed a film, wrote a music score for a film, or knows someone directly involved in some way.
The Festival was founded is 2010 with the first
years films shot only on black and white film.
In 2011, Pro8mm was asked if they would like to jump on as a sponsor, so
for the past two years, we have provided at cost both the black and white and
color negative film, the processing and HD scanning.
When we told Tim and Paul back in 2011 that we
wanted to come to the festival, they were surprised but happy to have their efforts
validated in this way. This year, we
returned again, and were asked to be judges.
When residents ask us why we have come all the way to Harrisonburg, Virginia
from Burbank,CA, we tell them it is an extension of our love of super 8 and we
want to be part of the love fest. To be
part of the magic created by this outrageously fun, grass roots Super 8
Spectacular, complete with after parties at local venues is for us, amazing!
So with our involvement, Super GR8 has added on
a night before the festival where we present to the newbie’s and predominately
non-filmmakers to help them to begin to understand some of the basic
filmmaking process, and think where else they might want to use the medium in
their life.
The amount of people giving time, effort and
commitment that goes into not only the films, but also the sound tracks, the
posters that each filmmaker made for their own film is immeasurable. As the audience began to come in and settle
in their seats, I looked around at the hundreds of people who attended this
sold out event and it was extremely emotional for Phil and I on many levels. The
house was packed. I thought to myself, when was the last time you could fill a
room on a Tuesday night with 300 people who paid the price of admission to see
something that is a complete unknown, just to support their friends, their
community, and be part of something bigger than themselves?
Super 8 has been our life’s work for 30 years. And here it is, the end of 2012. The future
of film origination from where we sit in Hollywood is changing so fast. And yet, as I looked around the room of
predominately 20-30 something’s, it was clear to me that Super 8 has indeed
come full circle and is going to have a new life, in the loving hands from
where it came. Some in the hands of
aspiring filmmakers, but mostly in the hands of regular people. People who want
to create art. People who want to collaborate, not compete. People
who are a bit counter culture, and thrive in that environment.
One event can change a community. Two people, Paul Somers and Tim Estep through
the Super GR8 Film Festival changed the way their community looks at themselves
and as a result changed Harrisonburg in so many ways. Creating a sense of
community is what most people want, but don’t always know how to create. Yet, a 3 and a half-minute cartridge of 50
feet of Super 8 film had the power to move an entire town to have an abundant
amount of fun this fall and create an
experience that is not just Super Gr8 but Super awesome!
As I felt the energy of the audience explode during
the sold out two screening nights, and
found myself “all in” as both a judge and a “wannabe “Harrisonburg Groupie, I
found myself wondering if everyone over at the multiplex down the road was
having as much fun as we were. But I already knew the answer!
Laura Merians is a cinematographer and director based in Los Angeles and New York City. She started her career in lighting after receiving a degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley. Laura has worked on projects for Discovery, MTV, VH1, Fox and Sony well as shooting music videos and short films. Her work has been featured in American Cinematographer, Studio Monthly Magazine, Videography Magazine and Digital Cinematography. She recently finished shooting and directing a series of shorts for Whole foods on urban farming called GROW and a new series for the Style Network titled Tia and Tamera; she used Super 8 on both projects. 
