Educating and Inspiring Mobile Filmmakers
A self-imposed obligation for a smartphone filmmaking global community who comes together in San Diego.
Film Festivals like ours don’t just ask you to pay to watch movies you never heard of before, because they were made by independent filmmakers. They educate and provide a networking experience, too.
The expenses of running a film festival go beyond the cost of a venue to showcase films. There are many things involved but most importantly, it’s not just about watching the movies.
In each edition of our film festivals, we bring filmmakers from around the world together in San Diego. They watch each other’s films together and hang out together during the three day event. But there’s more. The unique event we put on each year, is something that is not common. All films are shot with smartphones, only.
It started with a call for films shot with only mobile phones back in 2009. Not only was it unique, but it was the first film festival to create a live-in-person film festival for films shot with only mobile phones. I must emphasize our film festival has always been celebratory.
I mean, I took that premise all the way “to the bank,” as they say. I was personally excited to celebrate and inspire the world of storytellers who could now make movies using the most accessible camera in the world!
I began to “design” the festival traditionally. Showcase films, roll out the red carpet, include Q & A sessions—but then I got creative.
I realized the opportunity to provide a genuine experience and platform for a very niche group of filmmakers, which back then was tiny.
For our first festival in 2012 I built an app. It was a scavenger hunt game that worked with QR codes. I was enamored with QR codes. Everyone who accomplished the task got free Starbucks gift cards.
We held our first workshop during the inaugural film festival by asking the filmmaker who came from Macedonia. His name was Dukaglin Borova. He demonstrated how he made a stop-motion short film, Everything is Money shot with iPhone 4 in 2011. He had to change the music due to copyrights.
Workshops
IMFF has had presented workshops with the Mobile Film School ever since. Usually, it’s been a selected attending filmmaker. Sometimes, a filmmaker with a unique film shot with smartphones who did not meet time limit criteria. Sometimes, someone from the mobile filmmaking community who can bring an exceptional perspective to mobile filmmaking that inspires attendees and filmmakers to make a mobile film or make better films.
Without the special effects and CGI, there are many action films we could refer to. But why do that when we can refer to No Budget Zorro, which was shot with a smartphone’s native camera app?
During the International Mobile Film Festival the San Diego Mobile Film School (non-accredited) we invited the Art School Dropouts founders Stephanie Pham and Joey Min to present a workshop with their film, No Budget Zorro, shot with iPhone.
The movie was a two-episode web series they combined into one for the workshop.
Find out more about Art School Dropouts on their website. Below is a teaser of their workshop, which I shot with my iPhone from the sidelines.
Each one of our festival editions since the inaugural edition, we’ve held workshops and Q & A Sessions, along with other presentations educating and inspiring attendees and filmmakers with storytelling through film using smartphones.
Workshops were usually instructed by a selection of attending filmmakers, and myself. Each were coordinated with the Mobile Film School (unaccredited). MFS was created by my company and introduced during our first film festival and launched September 4, 2012.
In 2018, actor Tim Russ aka Lt. Commander Tuvok presented a mobile filmmaking Q & A during a session with mobile feature filmmaker, Brian McLane, which shared details on how they made their feature film, A Killer's Requiem (90min.).
The film was not part of the competition, it did not make the deadline, but I believed having a celebrity actor in attendance to inspire mobile filmmakers through a film he participated in was important and we had the time in our program schedule to include it.
In 2019, another filmmaker John Woosley, shot a short film with an iPhone, Alex & The Firefly that did not meet the time limit for the feature or short film competitions. However, his film was well done, and he was willing to shorten the film to 15 minutes from 34 minutes, fly to San Diego from across the country, and present a workshop. He later thanked me for asking him to shorten the film. It won in other festivals, and he claimed it was better than the original. His workshop was extensive. He presented an outstanding interactive mobile filmmaking workshop.
During our 2022 edition, iPhone filmmaker Ryan McDonald presented a screenwriting workshop presentation. In 2023, iPhone feature filmmaker Levi Austin Morris participated in the feature film competition and won the Best Feature Film Award. He presented an extensive workshop titled, Make Your Dream Movie, presented with Allison Lobel and Jamie Tobias.
Film festivals, like ours in San Diego, not only educate and inspire but provide a platform for the filmmaking community. Even though smartphone filmmaking is a niche industry, it’s built a global community since 2009 the year I launched the festival. Connecting a few scattered people experimenting with mobile filmmaking into a unified community both online and later in 2012, in-person.
Today, there are thousands of online film festivals. They became popular as a result of the 2020 pandemic, when in-person events were cancelled and/or not possible. However, in-person film festivals that are well established and provide the added programming can be a real benefit for filmmakers to attend. You can find out more about our film festival on our website.
Mark your calendars!
Our film festival takes place during the last weekend in April each year. IMFF 2025 takes place April 25, 26 & 27, 2025 for our 14th Edition. Currently, we are accepting films during the Early Bird Deadline through June 18, for all competitions and contests.
If you’d like to support our film festival and help us grow, please consider subscribing to my publication, sponsoring the festival, or my podcast.
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