Documentary Partially Shot With iPhone 'Searching For Sugar Man' Wins Oscar

"Searching for Sugar Man," a nonfiction film about two South Africans who go in search for their 1970s rocker hero, has just won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. You're reading this bit of entertainment news here on AppAdvice because "Searching for Sugar Man" happens to have been partially shot using an iPhone. Yes, by all accounts, "Searching for Sugar Man" is the first film partially shot using an iPhone to win the award. As the story goes, director Malik Bendjelloul and the rest of the team behind the documentary ran out of money before it reached completion. Fortunately, Nexvio's 8mm Vintage Camera app for iPhone came to the rescue. According to Bendjelloul:

We used a Super 8 camera to get the beautiful colors and gritty look of film on quite a few shots. When we ran out of money I started to use the Super 8 app of my iPhone – the result was almost as good as the real stuff, quite amazing.

Optimized for iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 5.0 or later, 8mm Vintage Camera is available in the App Store for $1.99. The app's iPad version, 8mm for iPad, is also available in the App Store for the same price. Interestingly, 8mm for iPad is featured by Apple in its latest iPad TV ad, which debuted during the Oscars telecast. [gallery link="file" order="DESC"]