Two.Five has Launched Egypt’s First Super 8 Short Film Competition

If you’re dreaming of making a trendy, grainy, uber-radical Super 8 short film but don’t know where to start, then short film contest Two.Five’s open call should be on your radar. They have launched a competition that aims to strip filmmaking to its bare essentials, without the “comforts and complications of digital technology.” They’re asking for bold, budding filmmakers to submit their pitches for an imaginative short film they would want to create on Super 8 film. The 20 shortlisted applicants will be taken through a 6-week production bootcamp, akin to a mini film school, to prepare them for shooting their Super 8 shorts!

Once the time for filming arrives, participants will be given one film cartridge, with exactly two and a half minutes of film, and a Super 8 camera on which to shoot their short film. The challenge comes in shooting the short film exactly as it will be screened, since zero post-production manipulation will be allowed.

“Digital technology has made us lazy,” Lena Naassana, Co-founder of Two.Five and Competition Director, tells CairoScene. “We have too much luxury, too much room for error!” Using just the basic tools of filmmaking, participants will aim to create a compelling narrative and, in doing so, tell a good story, the beating heart of any good film.

The inception of this competition was inspired by a “general disillusionment with the state of our film industry,” Naassana explains. “That’s why so many young filmmakers idealise the socio-realist wave of the 1990s. Their films were fueled by love so they are expressions of an authentic cinema voice.” Riled up by the domination of “ultra-commercial productions”, Two.Five believes “it is time to breathe new life into Egyptian cinema”, handing over the baton to “young, emerging filmmakers who still havent had access to many opportunities other than those they're created for themselves.”

When the time comes to creme-de-la-creme of the 20 films, prizes will be awarded for Best Film, Most Original Voice, and Audience Award, with selected films will premiere as part of Manassat Film Festival at Zawya Cinema in May 2024.

There are some seriously big prizes on offer for those 20 lucky few who make it to the competition. The prize for best film will be a fully-funded trip to France to attend the Clermont International Film Festival in January 2025, while the prizes for Audience award and Most Original Voice will be a Super 8 camera and 5 Super 8 Films gifted by Eastman Kodak.

The deadline for applications is February 11th, so picture yourself in that director’s chair and let your imagination guide you. For more information on applying for this competition, check out @twofive.film on Instagram, where you can also see their teaser Super 8 film, giving you some idea what you can accomplish with 2.5 minutes and zero post-production.