Super 8 film is forever associated in my mind with the short bios of filmmakers desperately trying to claim old school cred. You know the type - ‘Albert exited the womb with a super 8 camera stapled to his forehead and has been making cutting edge films ever since, editing them using only a toothpick and a roll of sticky tape’. But Our Nixon is the real deal - a film made from super 8 footage taken during Nixon’s time as US President and uncovered from the US National Archive.

Parkour is one of those inherently cool pastimes that inspires awe in those who don’t participate. There aren’t many of these pastimes around - surfing is a tad too mainstream now, and playing the banjo might get you some retro-cool points but if you’re not risking life and limb, then there’s a whole lot less awe involved. (BASE-jumping goes a bit too far the other way - risk of death is one thing, but almost-guaranteed-death just makes you an idiot).

For any pressure-cooker film challenge junkies out there, the latest to be announced is the 48 Green Hours Film Competition. If you have an idea for a narrative eco-film around the topic of water, get a team together and prepare for a 48 hour filmmaking binge on the weekend of 13-15 May. The organisers will give you some elements that must appear in the film so you can’t cheat and start early, and if you're lucky (or better yet, talented) you could find your film screening at Cannes next year.

Nick Fraser of the BBC’s Storyville has written an impassioned defence of the documentary form, Why Documentaries Matter, on The Guardian’s website.

The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association Awards were on Friday night, and SBS’s online interactive documentary Africa to Australia took out the honours in the Best Cultural or Lifestyle category. Africa to Australia was in good company, with a slew of great websites and online projects picking up awards on the night.

They’re now back with a video update on what the Western Sydney crew has been up to, and it looks like they’ve barely put down the cameras. They’ve started up their own enterprise called Matta Media, and begun taking on local video projects. Hearing the filmmakers talk about developing confidence in their work is fabulous.

I am green with envy that Melbourne has managed to set up a monthly short documentary screening night, Don’t you have docs?

Kirsty Hunter, formerly of Lion TV and now of the Project Factory, has posted her presentation from AIDC on multiplatform production online.