The story behind the images is too vast and complex to present here; instead, click here, here, and here for accounts that better explain and document the historical significance of this event.

See also this photo slideshow with accompanying map for a better sense of the geography of these locations.

Thanks to Tony P. for sending this all the way from France to us in Michigan for inclusion on this site.

Click the “MPEG-2″ link above for a high-resolution version of the film, downloadable via the Internet Archive.

In the mid 80′s, when the Super8 format was on the way out, all the Photo Supply stores were discounting the last of the Super8 gear. I bought a kit with the camera and a Eumig projector for about $250. The 64 XL had a very sharp zoom lens, and I made about a dozen films with it, and a few sound films before Super8 Sound film became unavailable. At the time, you could buy Super8 film by mail that came with processing. You mailed the exposed film in a postage-paid envelope to Kodak; they mailed the processed film back to you.

By 1995, when I shot this film, everyone was using video cameras, so whenever I shot with my Eumig, people would get a puzzled look and ask me what kind of camera it was.

A few things to notice in the film:
- In the third shot, you can see St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Sitka was once the center of the Russian American Company’s fur trade. Russian dances are performed daily for the tourists, most of whom are visiting for the day from cruise ships.

- What appears to be a very boring shot of a brick is actually part of a memorial downtown for fishermen who have died at sea. The brick in the shot is my Uncle Ron’s.

- I was lucky to catch two Red Snapper which you see being gutted in the film. To me they seemed huge – they ended up being our dinner – but nobody else was impressed; it seems Sitkans are only impressed by salmon.

- Late in the film, there are several shots of the salmon heading up the mouth of the river to spawn.

*I know, I know, whales are mammals! Music: “Krakatoa” by Clouseaux, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

The film was made for one of the Austin Cinemaker Co-op’s (now Austin School of Film) quarterly Super 8 film festivals. Super 8 film fests are alive and well around the globe, including the fantastic international Flicker network. OnSuper8.org also has a great list of worldwide small gauge screening and filmmaking opportunities.

We’re always looking for creative work to showcase, so if you have a small format film (new or aged) that you’d like us to consider for this site, drop us a line. You can send us a permalink, provide it on video, or we can always transfer the film to video for you. For more details, check out our Call for Work page.

Of the Earth is a short documentary of the Fresh Water Prayer to Eshu in the Ifa spiritual tradition. The audio, which is unfortunately lost, gave the words of the prayer and their translated meaning.

The film’s beginnings are not lofty: I had a few reels of Super 8mm left over from a film school project and was looking for a way to use them. I was interested in short-form documentary and the idea of recording a moment in time that had spiritual significance. We all have little rituals that we perform daily or weekly that renew and refresh us. These moments are, for me, the more memorable parts of living.

The prayer ceremony was recorded twice, first with two stationary cameras recording from different positions, then with one handheld camera for close-up shots. These were edited together into the final piece.

I am very grateful to Lost in Light for the transfer service they provide. It will give me the opportunity to reproduce the audio and preserve this little film in a much more accessible format.

More information about our free film-to-video transfer service is available at the links on the left.

A memorial site is being set up at helenhill.org. Photos and memories can be sent to memory(at)helenhill(dot)org.

By all accounts, Helen was both an incredibly sweet and generous person as well as a dedicated filmmaker, animator and film preservationist. When much of her amazing collection of home movies was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, she took on the task of carefully rescuing the works–and in many cases simply making the best of the damaged films she could salvage (hear her discuss them here). Her enthusiasm for handmade, DIY films, and willingness to share her expertise and passion, was an inspiration to many, including myself. She will be missed terribly.

I never met Helen in person, but we corresponded by email and she graciously included a little write-up of mine in her fantastic and much-loved DIY filmmaking guide, Recipes for Disaster. Much of what I learned about hand-painting film for that article came from working on the film I’m including here.

This Super 8 film is one of my first experiments in hand-painting, created in 1998 in Austin, Texas, and it was largely due to the amazing collection of knowledge included in Recipes that I was able to continue experimenting in this form. Even though we never met, I owe a lot to Helen, and I don’t think my films would be what they are today without her influence. This film is dedicated to her memory.

We at Lost in Light send our best wishes and deepest condolences to her family and friends. We are tremendously upset by this news, and she will be in our thoughts.

NB: Forgive the quality of this transfer; this film was not transferred using our Lost in Light transfer system, but is rather a shoot-off-the-wall style transfer from several years ago.