Danny Plotnick

Though he has since switched to digital video, Plotnick has been aptly described as San Francisco's Pied Piper of Super 8 MM filmmaking, due to his 14 year use of the retro format and his inspiring new filmmakers he has taught to try it as well. Born in 1966, he hails from Michigan where he studied in the almost non existent film program at the University of Michigan and made his first short in 1986. Plotnick relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area several years later and found small screen venues willing to show his work. (Previously he had tried to present them at clubs and cafes opening for punk rock shows.) Starting in 1996 he taught high school filmmakers at California State Summer School for the Arts, running through 2008, and beginning again in 2010 he has been teaching college age students at The University of San Francisco. In 2020 his book Super 8: An Illustrated History was published by Rare Bird Press.