Flicker #11

Welcome to Flicker #11, Sept. 12, 1996.

Shown at Flicker #11 in approximately this order:

1. Rob Koegler "Las Vegas Travelogue"
3 min. Super 8

2. Tim Kirkman "Jasmine"
11 min. 16mm to VHS

3. Andrea DeGette "movie trailor"
3 min. 16mm to VHS

4. Lesley McClintock "April 1996"
6 min. Super 8

5. Hunter Elementary Students "A Day on Earth"
3 min. Super 8

6. Caitlen Dixon "Stills"
4 min. Super 8

7. Kay Beeman "OOBIE"
12 min. Super 8

8. Matt Andronica "Shark Bait"
3 min. Super 8,
"Copying Leni"
3 min. Super 8

9. Grady Cooper, Norwood Cheek "Maybe" (Connells music video),
4 min. 16mm

Welcome to the 2nd anniversary of Flicker.

Since September 1994, we've screened over 100 Super 8 and 16mm films by local filmmakers, and because of the Flicker Web Page, we've had submissions, and interest from outside the state. Flicker even made it's debut in Europe in May, with screenings in Bruxelles and Paris, and at the Knitting Factory in New York City in July.

It's very exciting and encouraging meeting so many filmmakers from all over who show their support and belief not only in Super 8, but simply the idea of a person experimenting with a movie camera and capturing images and light and telling stories through filmmaking whether it's crude and rough or very polished and pristine, the effort and idea, the discovery of film as a beautiful and wonderful phenomenon, much like the sun rising every day, there waiting for each of us to realize our very own potential, before it's too late, before we're gone, before the Sun is gone, and before celluloid film has disappeared. Super 8 is still widely available, but Kodak has reduced their production to Kodachrome 40, Tri-X, and Plus-X. Our lifelines are being cut, whittled down to bare necessity, oh the saddest days we foresee. Our lives in the hands of the Sun, if only Super 8 were so lucky. Its life is in the hands of Kodak, slowly slipping through the sprockets, inevitably extinct, as will be the independent filmmaker.

More and more, it seems artistic exhibition (movies, museums, even music), is aimed at people raking in $30,000 + per year. What average student or lower income person can afford a $13 cd, a $8 movie, a $7 museum? To me, the latter should be free, always. Movies should be no more than $5 - there should be a government regulation preventing a company from spending over $100,000,000 on a film, you can't tell me that's not wasteful - give me the $9 million Star Wars over the $100 million Independence Day any day. Entertainment is no longer for the people, by the people, it's becoming for the elite, by the elite.

After Super 8 disappears, what average income artist will be able to afford to shoot on 16mm? Fall back on video? That's like asking Clyde Jones to start chainsawing Balsa wood. But if you've got money none of that matters - you'll even be able to afford Super 8 Sound's $26 Super 8 film, as opposed to Kodak's $10 version. I'm just mad. Mad that I can't afford to go to every movie I want to, that I can't afford to go to every museum I want to, that I can't afford to buy a new cd, when I know cd's cost around $1 to manufacture - that's including artwork. Even more mad that you can't be poor and be an artist working in film, and grants set up to help out those needy, and deserving artists have become so very few and far between that it's rarely worth the effort to apply.

And this is just me, and I know I'm not alone, and probably more fortunate than many people, thousands of artists like me and you who could potentially produce the most amazing films, music, photos, paintings, only to fade away, just like the Sun, but without the promise of a tomorrow. What's the solution? Thievery? Extortion? Credit Card Fraud? I can't find an answer except belief, faith in yourself, and determination, and all I can promise is that every Flicker Film Festival will never be more than $5, and that I will do my best to inform everyone of the cheapest and best labs, the best place to find a good camera, and the least expensive way to purchase film. I'm not concerned with making money, I just want to be able to do 3 things - #1. Pay rent. #2. Eat. #3. Shoot film. (of course the latter taking priority).

Yours for better films,

Super 8 in the Comfort of Your Own Living Room!

Sometime in the not too distant future, I plan to air the first of what I hope to be many shows that feature the works of Super 8 and 16mm filmmakers. While much about the show has yet to be resolved (including its title), this much is certain: it will be shown on Chapel Hill's cable access channel (ch. 4), and it will broadcast the work of anyone who bothers to send me a Hi-8, VHS, or 3/4 inch copy of their film. Super 8 filmmakers brave enough to trust me can also send their originals -- I'll do the video transfer. So talk to me, call me, send me your films!

Matt Andronica
915 Phils Creek Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
phone -919 933-4776