Nature Hunter A feature documentary An 80-year old filmmaker’s journey to capture nature’s treasures on Super 8 film - a film format in danger of extinction. In our time of ecological crisis.

English version. 17/FEB/20 © straight 8 / Grasp The Nettle / Remy Batteault Nature Hunter

Meet Roger Batteault. He’s an 80 year old retired charcutier who lives in Beaune in France, who’s been filming nature on Super 8 since the format began in the 1960’s.

Roger has entered straight 8’s in-camera-editing Super 8 film competition for the last 4 years. Each year the jury have selected his film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival premieres.

His passion for, and poetic approach to, wildlife is the backbone of this feature documentary about Nature.

Learn about his relationship with his wife, sausages, nature and cinematography… by watching his three minute straight 8 2018 film ‘Winter of My Life’, created on one super 8 cartridge without editing, here. (NB: the v/o on the film is not Roger’s voice.) The Short Film

Roger’s 4th straight 8, ‘Nature Hunter' opened the straight 8 premiere in Cannes in 2019 - to rapturous applause.

Asif Kapadia, (Director: Senna, Amy, ) and straight 8 jury member, said:

“I love Roger’s work, he does what he does, year after year, it works for me! I like birds and insects! He shoots nature and wildlife incredibly well. The way the world is going and how swiftly the climate is changing we may not have any birds soon, so we should record and enjoy the beauty and simplicity of nature on the big screen in glorious super 8 while we can.”

Immerse yourself for 3 minutes in ‘Nature Hunter’. It’s the inspiration for this feature film. Watch here The Feature Doc

The full length film will be a celebration of nature captured on this small format for the big screen. So much of what we see about climate change is designed to change our actions yet makes us feel so brokenhearted that we want to switch off our screens and look away.

We need to be reminded what we're fighting for, not just what we're fighting against. Giving people a positive emotion helps them to be proactive.

Nature Hunter will be a vibrant celebration - on celluloid - which immerses people in the beauty of our natural world. Roger’s super 8 eye lends a dream-like connection to his subjects and his use of music and sound design adds to the charm and really brings the creatures to life. It’s an impressionistic approach - by today’s 6K standards - and makes for a visceral, tactile experience. The Story

Roger would like to travel the world to film particular species on Super 8, but he and his wife Josette are no longer of an age to travel. So, instead he enlists the help of Super 8 lovers worldwide to capture species in their localities, in his style, for him to include in his global testimony to nature.

Together with his son, French documentary filmmaker, Remy Batteault, we have created a 4 minute Nature Hunter Teaser (p/w: planet) to show to potential collaborators. In it, we see Roger writing the letter that is going to Ignacio requesting that he films polar bears in Greenland, and to Petko in South Africa for big cats. As the project grows, thanks to our global network of filmmakers, so too does the list of collaborators, and Super 8 footage of wondrous birds, animals, insects, sea creatures and even humans will be sent to Roger in Beaune, from around the world. The Edit The film will combine a series of ever more immersive Super 8 nature reels, with digital footage of Roger’s mission as it grows - underscored by his poetic philosophies, conversations with people he meets and musical scores by Franck Gervais. ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ meets ‘Life In A Day’ meets Agnes Varda’s ‘Faces Places’.

The story will begin at Cannes Film Festival 2019 with the premiere of Nature Hunter (3 min). It will highlight a man on a mission, as demonstrated in the teaser… a man of 80 concerned about a globe getting warmer by the year, showcasing all the beauty we sometimes forget, on a film stock that may not be around forever. And this feature film itself will premiere at Cannes in May 2021.

The full documentary script is being developed. Release

Nature Hunter will be released on World Environment Day, June 2021.

With the increasing urgency around climate, we want to connect with multiple campaigns with 2021 deadlines, so that this film’s influence can be felt and it can play a part in helping to drive the agenda asap. We want to connect with: • film festivals • environmental events and campaign groups • corporations and universities for screenings • charities and NGO’s Time and tide wait for no man.

Time is running out to save our beautiful world.

Super 8 may not be around forever.

Roger is 80.

We are not procrastinating.

Help us help Roger make this film. Contact

Ed Sayers Producer/straight 8 Founder [email protected] +447813818136

Rebecca Wolff Producer, Grasp The Nettle beccawolff@googlemail.com +447967171580

Remy Batteault [email protected] +33687053760

Links

straight 8 website: www.straight8.net Grasp The Nettle: www.graspthenettlefilms.com Franck Gervais, Composer: www.franckgervais.com