We are now coming up on the March 8th deadline to enter the straight 8 2020 contest, which means your last chance to send in your cartridge of unedited Super 8mm film is only a month away.

If you're unfamiliar with straight 8, this contest is calling on filmmakers to send in shorts captured on Super 8 film, “one Super 8 cartridge, no editing.” For those Super 8mm filmmakers who can shoot a film using a single cartridge of color negative, that means, everything in-camera! You send in the cartridge to the straight 8 contest, and they process the film. Then, sight unseen, you create a soundtrack and send that in. The 8 winning entries get to screen their short masterpiece at the Cannes Film Festival for the first time!


As a little extra bonus, No Film School Readers get 25% off the entry fee when they use our exclusive discount code.

Alexsuper8Filmmaker Alex Mallis shooting on Super 8 mm. Check out his breakdown and tips on everything Super 8 related!Credit: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Shooting on Super 8mm

So, how does the submission process work? Let's break it down:

  1. Enter the contest by paying the £150 (about $195 US) entry fee. (NFS readers get 25% off!)
  2. straight 8 sends you an email with your entry number, which you have to include in the first shot of your film.
  3. Make your film. It can be whatever you want it to be as long as it's shot on one roll of color Super 8 film and has a runtime of 3 minutes and 20 seconds or less.
  4. Create an original soundtrack. (Yes, without having seen your final film.)
  5. Send your roll of film to London by the delivery deadline.
  6. Email straight 8 a link to your soundtrack.

​Need a little inspiration? Here's a winning entry from none other than Edgar Wright.

Even getting the chance to premiere at Cannes doesn't take the sting of that entry fee out completely. That's why we're happy to be able to offer No Film Schoolers the code below so they can get 25% off.

Discount Code: NOFILMSCHOOL25

As a reminder, part of your entry fee goes toward processing the film, and each entry receives a 2K Pro-Res file of their scanned film. If you need a refresher on shooting Super 8mm, don’t forget about our great article, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Shooting on Super 8mm.

Think you can create one semi-brilliant in-camera Super 8mm film? You have to get the cartridge to straight 8 by March 8th. Read the full contest details here.

Ready, set, roll film!

Source: straight 8