40 filmmakers, 25 countries: Super Nature is an epic ode to the animal kingdom and natural world told through Super 8 film stock

London-based filmmaker Ed Sayers is the creator of the Straight 8 Filmmaking Competition, an experiment that he and twenty friends came up with back in 1999. It revolves around a crucial prompt: create a film on a single cartridge of Super 8 film stock with no editing, everything is in camera. The competition still runs today, inspiring filmmakers from all areas of expertise to give it a stab – but what Ed didn’t know is that it would end up becoming the spine of his experimental filmmaking career. One Straight 8 entrant, a French octogenarian called Roger Batteault, inspired Ed so much with his nature-focussed Super 8 films that Ed decided to give it a shot himself. The result is Super Nature, a feature length film on the expensive and highly endearing film stock that celebrates and honours our connection with nature.

After connecting with crew from the Straight 8 competition universe, such as two fellow producers Rebecca Wolff and Beth Allan, and most recently the trailer editor, Jason Bradbury, Ed set out to create a love letter to nature created on Super 8, connected people to the natural world as well as the humble analogue of shooting on film. 40 filmmakers in 25 countries collaborated on Super Nature to tell stories closest to their hearts – through fleet-footed footage of flora and fauna, Ed set out to make our world’s epic wonders the primary character of the film, whilst the Super 8 becomes a textural character – it’s difficult to escape the intimate connection between the simple beauty of nature and the brilliant inventions of man as the main narrative thread running throughout the film.

There’s three worlds in which Ed edited this film. One in which it played out just like the one-roll-no-edits style of Straight 8, another where Ed edited the entire film with a Super 8 editing viewer, a splicer and some tape – and there’s the one we live in, where all films were processed, scanned to digital by Cinelab Film & Digital and Ed edited the film digitally. If he had gone ahead and done it his usual style, he says the film would be out in 2043. But using digital editing doesn’t take anything away – it was all about the story and how to make sure all of the filmmaker’s contributions wove together into a compelling narrative – one that Ed says “remind us [that] we are nature – and if we all act locally we connect and benefit each other globally”.

“Super 8 is an analogue activity that calls for a different mindset to digital. You have to immerse yourself in the environment and study your subject as your recording medium is precious and will run out. You look directly through vintage glass at your scene, the eye of a musk oxen or snail,” says Ed. “There’s more connection than looking at a digital screen or viewfinder. You can’t review your shots in the field. The footage has to go to the laboratory for processing which takes time. There’s nothing to share immediately. You stop thinking about the outside world and come into yourself, and hopefully, really tune in to your surroundings, your home. Eco[system] means ‘home.’”

Super Nature is on general release in cinemas across the UK & Ireland from September 4th 2026.