As the only juried 8 mm festival in North America, the United States Super 8 Film & Video Festival remains a mecca for Super 8 filmmakers and 8mm video artists.
The 1997 Festival continued to evidence the vitality of Super 8 mm film and to mark the emerging versatility of 8 mm video as an artistic medium. 180 works were submitted by film/videomakers from throughout U.S. and Canada, of which 106 originated on Super 8 mm film and 74 on Hi 8 mm video.
The entries were screened by a twelve member selection committee : Caroline Gilligan, James Vant, Johanna Schiller, Vic Fern, Ram Devineni, Stan Laikowski, James Fazzaro, Gabrielle Stander, Sonia O'Leary, Brian Brown, Anouree Crawford and Jason Currie. The selection committee chose eleven finalists, which were screened and judged on Friday, February 7, and the Special Merit works, which were exhibited on Saturday, February 8. In addition, the committee selected a number of works worthy of mention, via Screening Jury Citations.
On Friday, February 7, 1997, a panel of five judges chose the winners and awarded $1200 in cash and prizes. The judges were : Eleanor O' Sullivan, Film Critic for the Ashbury Park Press; Matt Zoller Seitz, Entertainment Writer for The Newark Star-Ledger; Professor Alan Williams, Associate Director , Program in Cinema Studies, Rutgers University; Nicole Cousino, Co-Grand Prize winner at Super 8 Festival 1996; and Albert Nigrin, Festival Director. In addition, the audience was asked to participate in the judging process by voting for the "Audience Choice Prize". Here is a brief summary of the results.
Grand Prize
| Conservation of Matter
| 1995
| Tim Wright | Boston, MA 29 min.
| S8 + 3/4" V
| Dial M For Mars
| 1996
| Jennifer Stefanisko | Los Angeles, CA 21 min.
| S8 + 16 + 1/2" V
| Second Prize
| Almost Me
| 1996
| Mo Donahue | Minneapolis, MN 20 min.
| S8 + Hi8 + 1/2" V
| Third Prize
| Shadows of the Son
| 1996
| Silt / Jeff Warrin | Berkeley, CA 7 min.
| S8 + 1/2" V
| Tack
| 1996
| Kate McCabe | Philadelphia, PA 6 min.
| S8 + 16 + 1/2" V
| Reelin'
| 1996
| Jim Swanson | San Fransisco, CA 2 min.
| S8 + 16 + 3/4" V
| Best Long Work
| The Hamster Factor
| 1996
| Keith Fulton | Philadelphia, PA 87 min.
| Hi8 + 3/4" V
| Honorable Mention
| Rarefaction
| 1996
| Dave Ryan | Beaver Falls, PA 9 min.
| Hi8 + 3/4" V
| Time : Part 1
| 1996
| Mark Zero | New York, NY 15 min.
| Hi8 + 1/2" V
| Under The Skin Game
| 1996
| Diane Nerwen | Brooklyn, NY 18 min.
| S8 + Hi8 + 3/4" V
| One More Kiss Dear
| 1996
| Glenn Cowan | North Hollywood, CA 10 min.
| S8 + 1/2" V
| Audience Choice Prize
| Conservation of Matter
| 1995
| Tim Wright | Boston, MA 29 min.
| S8 + 3/4" V
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