Rushes: straight 8

straight 8, which has become one of Rushes Soho Shorts’ most popular events, puts filmmakers into the unique position of seeing their own rushes at exactly the same time as the audience.

The brief is to shoot a film on one three-minute cartridge of super 8mm cine film. No editing is allowed, and the cartridge containing the film must be handed over exposed but undeveloped, along with a separate original soundtrack. Because there is no creative brief the resulting selection of films is always wildly diverse and the quality of the best films is astounding.

“There are no other film screenings that I know of where the audience sits with the directors, actors and crew to watch their film for the first time”, says straight 8 founder Ed Sayers, “apart from looking at the film through a viewfinder, they haven’t seen their work yet. Watching your film this way feels like both the fastest and slowest three minutes of your life at the same time. And it’s brilliant that Rushes share our whole enthusiasm for that rawness of approach: ironic and refreshing coming from an organisation that’s all about technically polishing film.”

straight 8 is open to anyone anywhere – more details and past films are at www.straight8.net