Smartphone Film Festival invites London students to try something new

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: SMARTPHONE FILM FESTIVAL
The Smartphone Film Festival offers all students an opportunity to explore a new art form without the typical high costs.

A new film festival is adding a twist to make the art of filmmaking more accessible to all students. The Western Smartphone Film Festival (WSFF) is challenging all students to create a short film using only a smartphone.

“They don’t need fancy equipment [and] they don’t need a huge amount of time,” said Jin Shi, founder and executive director of WSFF. “They just need an idea, a story they want to tell and a smartphone.”

Filmmakers will only be given two weeks to film a short film with a maximum length of five minutes. In order to make sure no one has an unfair advantage, a theme will be announced the first day of filming on Jan. 9, 2016.

“We want to keep [the theme] super secret for now, but it would be something along the lines of you have to incorporate an apple somehow,” said Shi about the mystery theme. “It’s just something to throw a little twist in their story and see how they use their creativity to incorporate it.”

Romy Goulem, program coordinator for advanced filmmaking at Fanshawe said the WSFF is a good idea for students.

“People get bogged down with all the fancy equipment and it’s really about storytelling,” said Goulem. “When you’re just filming on a smartphone you can really focus on the story instead.”

Though registration for the event does not begin until Dec. 1, there is nothing preventing students from brainstorming possible ideas or practicing filming techniques.

A student jury will select the top 10 short films that will move on to be judged at a special viewing event hosted at Western on Jan. 30 and will feature a panel of celebrity judges. Two confirmed are Dale Sood, current Filmmaker-in-Residence with Riverdance in Toronto, and Jordan Canning, whose films have played at Tribeca, TIFF and Interfilm Berlin.

The prizes are $500 for first place, $250 for second, $100 for third, and a surprise gift for the audience’s choice.

Other than the mystery theme, there are no limits on what students can create.

“There’s so much young talent,” said Shi. “We really want you to challenge yourself, maybe explore different views, visions… just try something new.”