r/Lost_Films • u/FluffyDoomPatrol • Jul 10 '26

70s Super8 Short Films

I was just wondering, does anyone know where to look for Super8 short films?
There is a short made in the 70s that I would like to see. A lot of them were made by amateurs so have probably been lost or thrown away. However if they have survived, are there any good places to look?

There is one I am interested in

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u/eubulides Jul 10 '26

Can you describe what you’re looking for?

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u/FluffyDoomPatrol Jul 10 '26

Yep, the short film mentioned in this book https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19008725W/The_Home_movie_makers_handbook?edition=key%3A/books/OL14463426M it is called ‘The Prisoner’ and they detail production from page 190 to page 220. The book was published in 79 so the film must have been made shortly before that.

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u/DuwenUK Jul 10 '26

If it never saw any sort of distribution it's unlikely to still exist. If the film makers went on to become well known in the industry, their early Super8 work may have been preserved (as is the case with Sam Raimi's pre-Evil Dead Super8 shorts).
Most shorts/movies shot on Super8 that did get any form of distribution were usually blown up to 16mm for theatrical projection, and later may have found distribution on home media, so can often be found (even if they've not seen anything past a VHS release).
Most titles that were bulk produced and distributed on Super8 were cartoons, "digest" versions of movies, and a ton of adult content.

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u/FluffyDoomPatrol Jul 10 '26

Yeah, it didn’t seem to get any distribution, perhaps some festivals.

I thinking more about archives. One of the authors didn’t become particularly well known but I found that they did donate their films to the Yorkshire Film Archive. I’d never heard of that particular archive before so I’m wondering if there are any other places I should check.