I love the idea behind Straight 8, which is deservedly growing year by year.  Each entrant receives a single 8mm cartridge of film to shoot, and sends it back unprocessed, which means the only way of editing is to take each shot in sequence.  The soundtrack is uploaded separately, so music soundtracks are more popular than attempting a sync with voiceover or overdubbing.  What could be more fun than dressing up in Edwardian costume with a bunch of friends and filming them up to all kinds of strangeness, for example?  None of the films on Straight 8's site are animated, so there's definitely room for some fantastic stop-motion and experimental animation in the competition.

From the Straight 8 website: "some of the greatest straight 8 films have been made by first time film makers.  And we love that".  I couldn't agree more.