SUPER STARS

Following the straight 8 winners being revealed at Cannes Film Festival, we caught up with straight 8 founder Ed Sayers to learn about the top 8 films that were selected by the jury for this year’s competition. 

Now in its 25^th year, the straight 8 jury process is a well-oiled machine. For the renowned competition to run effectively it requires a rigorous pre-screening process. Sayers explains: “Every film gets seen by at least two people who have made a great straight 8 in the past and have not entered in the current year.” From there, the straight 8 team select the annual collection of the top 25 films which are screened at BFI Southbank. The star-studded jury, that included regulars Mark Jenkin and Justine Wright and newcomers Asif Kapadia, Robbie Ryan BSC ISC, and more, then narrow it down to the hallowed top 8. 

Although Sayers excludes himself from jury duty, he offered his summations on what made each of the final selections so special.  

One of the 8 this year was Brief Encounter by Alex Matraxia, with Sayers describing it as “one of those films that takes a very simple premise and delivers it with an incredibly cinematic aesthetic” which is no easy feat with the competition not allowing for any colour grading. The atmospheric soundtrack and use of artificial lighting were also key reasons for its inclusion. “You can’t keep your eyes off it.” 

Also making the selection was Copycat by Sam Baker, Natalie Cox, and Molly Haviland, with Sayers musing “when people ask how we select the top straight 8 films, we say it’s like any film. The ones you want to talk about are the ones that make you feel something.” As straight 8 never set a theme or a genre, you never know what to expect next. Copycat delivered a chill right near the end, “as a result of great storytelling up to that point, a high concept, and confidence in pacing their [in-camera] edits.” 

Previous winners from 2022, the team behind Dead Funny, also made the selection this year with the comedy Lemonade Stand-off by Max Mir, Matthew Poole, and Kanhaiya Trivedi. Their return is a testament to the addictiveness of the competition and the enjoyment had when pulling the trigger on a cartridge of Super 8. This year’s entry was “full of visual tricks and ambitious in-camera editing”, Sayers continues, “comedy is hard to do well without an edit, and some of the most popular straight 8 films over the years are the ones that nail that.” 

Longshot by Kato also captured the jury’s attention, particularly for its ambitious split screen shot: “It was one of those straight 8 moments where people scratch their heads and try not to shout: ‘CHEATS!!!!’” 

Within the variety of genres that made the top 8 came the heartfelt documentary Love Over Gold by Sasha Denny. Sayers describes the film as a “wonderful documentary made by two young filmmakers in a highly collaborative way. One is herself as the subject of the doc, which explores her, her late mother, and their similarities and differences. The other, directing, works in an open and explorative way with her friend, to extract a very special, and moving story of love, loss, artmaking, and hope.” 

No Ball Games by Sam Brewster was another to make its premiere in front of a packed Cannes audience. Making the cut for “quickly conjuring] up a very specific atmosphere – never easy to do, but crucial for successful straight 8 film.” Set in a brutalist environment, a dystopian reality unfolds. “Never stopping to explain itself, the film left the jury as intrigued at the end as it made us feel at the start.” 

Quinacridone Gold by Orlando Cubitt was made of black-and-white stills, capturing “a maybe not so far off futuristic world where the UK becomes a republic, employing a future perfect reporting tonality”. The jury were taken aback by how the film cunningly brought together the most antique and modern forms of image making.  

“A lot of straight 8 films just make you grin from start to finish. Because they’re fun, because they pull off the near impossible, because as the 3 minutes evolve, so does the film.” 

For Sayers, this was the epitome of Something Gruesome by Richard Hunter. With the standout image being a blood-soaked smiling grannie, which was the poster image for the whole straight 8 top 25 annual selection, Sayers assures us that when you watch the top 8 you’re in for a great ride. 

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Keep your eyes peeled on BCinePlayer where you will be able to watch and learn more about the top 8 films soon.