FROM THE BALKANS TO GALICIA IN SEARCH OF SUPER 8

Few things are as heartening as discovering that real cinema—mechanical, chemical, tangible—still sparks curiosity and admiration among younger generations.

This time, Super 8 once again built bridges — from the Balkans all the way to Galicia! I had the pleasure of welcoming Pranvera and Orgesa, two students from the University of Pristina, who visited together with Professor Carlos Oro from the Escola de Imaxe e Son in La Coruña (in Galicia, NW of Spain).

Both students, part of the Erasmus+ programme, are majoring in Film and Television Directing at their Faculty of Arts.
In what I like to call our modern Esperanto — English — they were able to discover first-hand the fascinating universe of Super 8 and Single 8 filmmaking.

With my Harryhausen motion control

Inside the darkroom, I showed them how I extract unexposed film from Super 8 cartridges and reload it into Single 8 ones — “It’s not quite manufacturing film, but it’s very close,” one of them aptly remarked. They also saw how I carry out hand processing, physical editing on a moviola, cutting and splicing by hand, how I prepare 16 mm prints for distribution, and finally how I scan in 4 K to preserve the photochemical texture in versions destined for television.

They even had the chance to see historical equipment more than 125 years old, still fully operational — authentic treasures of cinema heritage that can only be found here, in my small production studio on the outskirts of the city, entirely devoted to preserving and practising true film.

Our meeting concluded, inevitably, talking about the SELLIER FILM FESTIVAL — the only festival in Spain whose entire programme is projected on film ONLY, with no digital screenings whatsoever. This year’s edition once again includes our Introductory Super 8 Workshop, open to anyone in La Coruña who wishes to explore this form of creation which, far from dying out, continues to inspire new generations around the world.

Because film doesn’t belong to the past — it’s a bridge between times, visions and cultures.

And within every frame beats the emotion of something crafted by hand, patiently, with the quiet desire to transcend — something that the digital world will never be able to replicate.