It has been a very sensitive year for everyone in the arts industry. As this year transitions to he next, we hope to lift your spirit a little bit.

Between the International Mobile Film Festival bringing people from around the globe together to celebrate as a community, to the SBP Podcast that brings you together online along with MobileFilmStories that showcases inspiring films and includes a forum for the community: We’ve looked to you to inspire each other.

Since our launch in 2009, we have been interacting with curious entities and individuals. Around 2011 we heard from entities and individual pioneers from Egypt to New Zealand, and later Europe and closer to us in California. The podcast has been a direct line between the community to the world since 2017.

People from all over the world have been listening to the voices of filmmakers in the podcast, and they come from all over the world as guests on the show. It is the voices of the community that inspire each other. It’s similar with the smartphone filmmaking community that meets in our film festival, which is an intimate film festival event for all filmmakers. Every aspect of our work is, and has been, about you.

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You are the biggest story of the year from our perspective.

We cannot depend on social media algorithms to tell the story of humanity. It’s always been the arts that’s shaped our present culture during evolving periods throughout history.

In 2021, festival founder Susy Botello hosted a series in the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking. In the Weeds, with Jason C. Marshall, in Canada. The series focused on screenplay writing and storytelling.

The goal was to share the elements in film from a writer’s perspective. It was designed simple so a novice could “get it” while going “into the weeds” providing clarification, with examples and refined definitions of specific terms as concepts.

This series is empowering if you put what you learn into practice. It will help you become a better filmmaker.

We wanted to gift you something that we hope inspires you to get that story out of your head into a tangible screenplay you can use to pull resources to get your film made. If you write with the intention of shooting it with smartphone cameras, bring your passion along and realize your film.

Your film will be made because your smartphone lowers your budget a lot. When you have a great story and good acting performances, you may fall in love with filmmaking all over again.

Mobile filmmaking is the strongest connection between watching films growing up and wishing you could make one or be in one, and realizing that today. Not tomorrow, not in the future—today.

Screenplay Audio Series

In the Weeds Audio Podcast Series with Jason C. Marshall, hosted by Susy Botello on the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking. Listen now

Are you aware, that the International Mobile Film Festival is closing its film submissions? The deadline to submit feature length narrative films (1-2 hours) shot with smartphone cameras, and not more than 10% aerial drone footage, is December 24. The deadline for all short films is January 13.

All films must be shot with smartphone cameras, any brand or make qualifies. Use of AI disqualifies films in any contest or competition.

Get all the rules and criteria before you submit on FilmFreeway. There are no refunds.

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© 2025 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

Our sponsor partnerships are carefully selected to match the professionalism that professional mobile filmmakers expect today. IMFF selects the top films that showcase great storytelling and quality of production throughout all phases, including good audio quality.

SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking is a great free resource: Audio Check Smartphone Film Production

Before smartphone filmmaking and video became popular, we looked to professional, prosumer and home video cameras. The smartphone has proven itself to be all three in one device that fulfills almost all your needs on the go.

The newest iPhone 17 Pro Max is the latest rave for not only smartphone filmmakers, but even the higher budget independent filmmakers realize it’s a serious contender. The latest iPhone is not only effective for films on the big screens at the movies, like “28 Years Later” (summer 2025), but it’s also being used for live television broadcasts. At least once, just recently!

“Much of the appeal of using the iPhone 17 Pro’s main camera array – which includes a 48-megapixel wide, 48-megapixel ultra-wide, and 48-megapixel telephoto – is that it can capture the game at the same standard as a professional camera. But thanks to the iPhone’s overall dimensions and weight, it can also be deployed in places that traditional broadcast cameras simply can’t fit.” Jacob Krol published September 29, 2025, Techradar.

Post Production

FilmConvert was a partner with SBP’s San Diego Mobile Film School (unaccredited) and soon later, as sponsor of IMFF 2017.

You can find out about FilmConvert in episode 183 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking. FilmConvert is based in New Zealand. If you want to know about the company’s background and commitment to value of their software for your projects, listen to this episode. You can also visit them on their website and contact them to say thank you for supporting mobile filmmaking!

Production Tools

We met Zacuto and immediately believed they were on to something with their Smart-Z-Finder and later, their MicroBoom!

Zacuto, a leading filmmaking accessory manufacturer, has been designing production grade filmmaking accessories for 20+ years. They are known for their high quality optical viewfinders, electronic viewfinders and shoulder rigs.

Zacuto launched their newest invention, the Smart Z-Finder, a viewfinder for phones.

It’s a great tool for on the go video production, watch a video shot by Susy Botello with the Smart Z-Finder which takes advantage of their MicroBoom.

Listen to Zacuto’s co-founder Steve Weiss in episode 163 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking with an in-depth discussion.

Go to Zacuto’s website to see all they offer and if you can, thank them for their support.

Pre Production

We urge you to write a screenplay, even if it’s a short film. On average, a screenplay is one page per minute. If you are making a three minute film, that’s just three pages. A screenplay is a tangible asset for any filmmaker.

If you’ve never made a film before it’s a good idea to begin with a short film. Short film making also uses less resources.

Pre-production is the least talked about part of a film production because it’s the planning and strategy phase of your entire production. But if you’re getting started with a short film, just write out your story, even if you don’t know screenplay format, make it up.

Filmmaking is both an art form and a science. The red carpet is in your pocket™

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© 2025 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

If you are attending the convention, or outside the con, we’ll be there Wednesday, July 23rd for Preview Night and every day until the end of the convention on Sunday, July 27th. We hope you can make it to the panel on Thursday, July 24th at 7PM (PST).

Get the details and stay tuned to our “live” webpage. We’ll be sharing our convention escapades and adventures there.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!
We are welcoming Zacuto to another year supporting our community and sponsoring the 15th Edition of the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego taking place April 24, 25 & 26, 2026.

We will be at the con with our Zacuto rig including their incredible Micro Boom Pole for smartphones that is mounted to the Smart Z-Finder stabilizing cage and viewfinder for smartphones.

If you see us, ask us to demo it with your own smartphone! That’s right! We’re offering a select few attendees and COSPLAYERS a chance to be featured in our media programs like IMFF, SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking, Mobile Film Stories and the Mobile Film School (unaccredited). You can test the rig on your smartphone Android or iPhone. Hands-On is the best way to realize this is the simplicity you want for your video and filmmaking projects.

Join your community, we’re building it with you!

We are truly honored and extremely grateful for the judging panelists who have agreed to embark on a mission to select the best full-length feature film and award the three top short films.

The judges.

Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Caroline Spence, James Smith, Errol Trotman Harewood, Jack Lugar, Olubusola Ajayi, Jeremy Gladen, Levi Austin Morris and Ant Pruitt.

We’ve made a big effort in prioritizing the judging panels for our competitions each year since the first annual edition. There is a reason for that, and we want to share a bit of that. A little transparency on how we make decisions.

Get details about each judge.

You are the stars of this film festival.

We were committed to you in 2009, and we’ve promoted, celebrated and awarded humans of all ages around the world using smartphones to tell their stories through the filmmaking process through our film festival, the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking, and the Mobile Film Stories website.

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The respect and admiration we have for you as a community goes deep. Sixteen years deep. We can’t tell you how much we look forward to watching your films, showcasing and sharing them, and meeting the wonderful inspiring filmmakers behind each short and feature film submitted. That’s just pure delight!

Inspiring the judges.

It’s imperative that we look to industry professionals and impress them with the quality of your films and the value of the stories you tell. As the industry looks into this “phenomenon” of making movies with smartphone cameras, we want them to remember the film you made that they watched as judges. We hope they’ll say more than, “They were so good.”

As your advocates…we stand by the quality and value of the films you make using smartphone cameras. We are beyond excited and we know you are too.

Together, we can inspire the world WITH YOU and your films.

We cannot thank our judges enough—even though they are excited and looking forward to watching all your masterpieces! We are also thanking you for submitting your films. Your babies are in good hands.

The red carpet is in your pocket™

Don’t miss your gift for submitting your film.

If you submitted a film to IMFF and did not yet take advantage of your free digital gift from Videomaker Magazine, send us an email so you can claim your gift for submitting your film to us, even if it’s not selected. Isn’t that cool?

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© 2025 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

Looking back to when we first launched our film festival (pre-historic times!)we realize how crazy mobile filmmaking sounded at the time.

You’ve heard about the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking, right?

One of the filmmakers who participated and attended this year’s edition (2024) of the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego is a guest on the podcast.

Miguel de Leon had a lot to discuss and the podcast is two parts. Today’s release of the second part is Susy Botello and Miguel Lopez de Leon discuss AI, our festival’s mission, this community and a feature film that Miguel is working on which YOU, yes YOU may want to be involved in!

While we listen to the published episode we are taken back to when we first launched, in the Spring of 2009, people must have thought the challenge sounded so crazy that they were complicating it.

But of course, we were dead serious, so we just rolled with the punches and pushed forward with the concept that you can make films for the cinema screen with a “cell phone”.

People reaching out to as to ask if they could use tripods, something Susy brings up in episode 2010 with Miguel, now makes more sense.

People figured this was a momentary crazy challenge. They were thinking the challenge was so crazy, they were being challenged to use only a cell phone to film and produce a movie for the big screen.

We always pointed out that we were interested in kick starting a future where all movies could be shot with phones for the big screen.

We wonder if they thought the challenge was so crazy that they were supposed to jump through a lot of hoops and keep it 100% with a phone. Today, that is completely the case that you can do that, even for a feature film.

Listen to this year-end episode to listen to an immersive conversation about these topics of interest to our community.

One more thing we are very excited about is that this month we partnered with Angaelica as our fiscal sponsor. We can now accept donations and Angaelica will provide tax-deductible receipts. Angaelica is a non-profit 501(c)(3). We’re really excited and look forward to bringing you year-round smartphone filmmaking opportunities.

There is a highlights video on our support page that we put together to share some of you at our film festival over the years. You’ll find a direct donation button there.

We have plans in store for IMFF that we cannot share yet…but we’ll be making some announcements in the coming weeks and months. It’s getting exciting, so stay tuned!

We wish you the very best 2025 and hope to meet you in San Diego in April!

The red carpet is in your pocket™.

© 2024 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

Our film festival has some unique categories paired with traditional ones.

Narrative – Documentary – Ultimate Mobile – Cosplay – Screendance – Geography, Wildlife and Travel – Experimental – Music Video

Get all the criteria in detail.

But you may not be aware of our Smartphone Photo contest and The Rookie Award contest. So we want to share them with you, in case you are not confident about your filmmaking skills, or a smartphone photography storyteller.

The Rookie Award is a separate contest for less experienced, and new mobile filmmakers to showcase their films in a separate session during our film festival.

The length of the short films in this category/competition is 1-5 minutes. All genres and categories listed above qualify. Only one of a handful of selected films will receive special recognition during the awards ceremony with The Rookie Award.

This contest allows all the categories listed above. Narrative to Music Videos.

Frame A Story (One story in one frame) is storytelling with a photo. Your photo should inspire the imagination of the viewer and tell a story. Photos may be incorporated into a video montage sharing your photo and name on the large screen during the festival. The number of photos per submission you can enter depend on the limit allowed by FilmFreeway.

Let’s talk a little about aerial drone footage for your films in all contests except the photo contest.

We made the decision to allow aerial drone shot footage in your films for all categories, not just the feature film competition. But you’ll have to be careful not to add more than 10% of the total duration of your film’s total running time, which includes credits.

You must do your own math. For example, a Short film of five minutes: 10% of (5 minutes) = 30 seconds. 10% of (10 minutes) = 60 seconds, etc.

In order to qualify, the entire rest of your film must be shot with only mobile phone cameras. Not One Second More than 10% of the film may include aerial footage recorded with a drone camera. This is the only exception to another camera or device allowed. To be clear, any camera on a drone is allowed. This does not include crane shots, should you be so lucky to have a crane available for your smartphone film production. But if you do, yes—you can have crane shots in your films as long as you use a smartphone camera.

A bit about the Community Stories program. When we first launched our film festival, back in 2009, we wanted to extend the opportunity to community members to share stories from within their own communities, including cultures.

You must be a part of the community whose story you are telling as a filmmaker to meet the Community Stories program criteria.

We started this program in the summer of 2009. However, we did not have defined categories in our film festival. So we would feature films which met the criteria for this category and the film festival’s other requirements, such as using a mobile phone camera and time limits. Later on, we added Community Stories as the first official category for the IMFF.

Finally, a few years ago, we removed Community Stories as a stand-alone category. We, instead, decided it was best to choose a film that meets the program’s criteria to give it special attention during the festival.

But if you submit a short film to The Rookie Awards or Short Film Competition, your film may qualify to be featured as a Community Story during our live in-person film festival. Let us know if you’d like us to review your film after you’ve submitted your short film.

We would like to extend some notable humans for inspiring some of our unique categories.

Cosplay category was inspired by Chris Canole also known as Dude Vader and Tracy Doering. We are thankful to them for organizing participating each year since 2017 in our Red Carpet Extravaganza. Bringing a stimulating and celebratory experience to all contestants at the film festival each year and connecting us with the Science Fiction Coalition as sponsors for our San Diego style red carpet “show” starring YOU!

Ryan McDonald won the Cosplay Category IMFF 2024 with his short film, “Luke Skywalker – A “Peaches” Parody,” shot with iPhone 11.

Screendance category was inspired with the collaboration of choreographer and soloist filmmaker Jamiel Laurence in, we created this unique category June 2020 for our film festival beginning with our 2021 edition.

Screendance is for dancers using smartphones to choreograph performances for the camera. Using camera movement and style, this category hopes to inspire dancers who perform in front of the camera to team up with a camera person, or more than one, to shoot a story driven performance precisely for the screen.

“The universal language of dance has always held a special place when being performed in the realm of cinematic capture. Fred Astaire once said ‘Either the Camera will Dance, or I will’ and this really captures the essence of the synergy between dance, choreography and filmmaking. With the rise in popularity and easy access to mobile filmmaking technologies, choreographers are naturally finding new and exciting ways to evolve dance alongside developing mobile form factor stabilisation and affordable lenses & filters. The International Mobile Film Festival is a welcoming group of like minded creatives, and the ideal place to have your Screendance work seen by new audiences and industry professionals alike.” Jamiel Laurence: Dancer. Choreographer. Filmmaker.

We want to share a gift with everyone who submits a film to the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego thanks to a partnership with Videomaker, a magazine based in Chico, California.

Since our 2024 edition, with compliments of International Mobile Film Festival, you can receive a free one-year digital subscription to Videomaker magazine when you submit your project to IMFF 2025. Each subscription features tips and tricks, buyer’s guides for filmmaking equipment, and various editorial content regarding the industry of video.

Submit your films to IMFF 2025 and mark the dates to be here in person for the full experience in San Diego.

© 2024 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

Friday, April 26th in the heart of one of the most beautiful places in San Diego, the International Mobile Film Festival held its 14th annual edition. The Aquarius Bar and Grille on the bay at Marina Village served up some good grub and drinks for attending filmmakers and participants as everyone was introduced to everyone.

We later moved on to day two, which was the official first day of the festival at Marina Village, a few steps away along the marina.

The first film screened was “A Long Afternoon” by Sohibanoo Zolghadr in Iran. Sohibanoo briefly introduced her film and it then screened on the big screen. The film was one hour and 28 minutes of cinematic storytelling shot in one take with an iPhone 13 Pro Max. That’s right, one take.

After cheers and applause from attendees and filmmakers, Sohibanoo stood on the state and we gave her the floor to share the incredible journey she endured to make the film and travel to San Diego to our film festival. A festival where only movies shot with smartphone cameras qualify.

Sohibanoo Zolghadr’s film, A Long Afternoon won the Best Feature Film Award.

We let everyone take a break to mingle and network before we screened the first and later the second session of official selected short films 3 to 10 minutes each. Then we shared four short Rookie Award contenders of one to 5 minutes each.

Saturday’s screening ended with the feature film by Ian Courtney from Michigan, Movie Theater Massacre, shot with an iPhone 12 Pro. Ian presented a Q & A after the film.

The winners of the short film competition were:

First Prize - Sapling by Dhwani Shah with Lydia Muir, Mila Besson, Ellen Prudente attending from New York.

Second Prize - Single Use Abuse by Lucy Bond & Leo Mitchell in Australia.

Third Prize - Here It Is by Sacha Reyes in Connecticut.

This year’s Rookie Award went to HELADO by Jimena Larraguivel in the United Kingdom.

The winner of the Smartphone Photo Contest: Frame A Story (One Story in One Frame) was Arcadia by Vincenzo De Sio from Salerno, Italy who lives in New York.

Awards were also presented to winners in each category:

Dhwani Shah, Best Narrative Short Film, Sapling.

Lucy Bond, Leo Mitchell, Best Documentary Short Film, Single Use Abuse.

RJ Baculo, Best Ultimate Mobile Short Film, The Art of Living (with a Mechanical Keyboard).

Ryan McDonald, Best Cosplay Short Film, Luke Skywalker – A “Peaches” Parody.

Marta Renzi, Best Screendance Short Film, KATA.

Sacha Reyes, Best Geography, Wildlife and Travel Short Film, Here It Is.

Katerina Desyatova, Charley Stadler, Best Experimental Short Film, Nosferatu 2.0.

Austin Giles, Best Music Video, Qkuest – Art.

Thank you to all the judges for this year’s film festival. You’ll find a couple Nori and Nori of The Hobbit Trilogy by Peter Jackson in the Short and Feature film panels. Thankful that Jeremy Gladen and Levi Austin Morris attended in person and assisted us in presenting awards.

You can find all awardees for all editions of the IMFF in San Diego, which launched in 2009, on our website. You can also cruise through the programming with details of each film that screened and participated in the festival this year.

But wait a minute!

If you think our film festival only screened films and held an awards ceremony, you “ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Art School Dropouts founders Joey Min and Stephanie Pham presented a captivating and entertaining Smartphone Action Filmmaking workshop. They also screened their film, No Budget Zorro shot on iPhone during the presentation. You can watch the version they shared during the festival on their Patreon page.

Festival founder Susy Botello, host of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking, rounded up the “Fade In To Film” panelists from her bi-weekly program and recorded a live in-person episode (181) on Sunday, April 28. Thanks to Joey Min from New Jersey, Ryan McDonald from Utah, and Levi Austin Morris from Los Angeles, California.

Red Carpet Extravaganza San Diego Style!

But the feedback we received just before the awards ceremony was that everyone enjoyed the Red Carpet Extravaganza, which has become a tradition since 2017. It’s been labeled as the most “unique red carpet I’ve ever been on!” by filmmaker and actor, Miguel Lopez De Leon on Instagram.

We thank our sponsors Dude Vader and Science Fiction Coalition with Hot Nerd Girl for coming each year to give mobile filmmakers the best star treatment on the planet during a film festival.

We thank all the attending filmmakers who came to support each other and celebrate their accomplishments. Growing a global community of smartphone indie filmmakers who are making films using smartphone cameras.

We cannot end this update without giving every contender a shout out!

Ian Courtney | Sohibanoo Zolghadr | Rick Cerda | Jonathan Lagudi & Laura Brogan Browne | Alexandra Guillossou | Hamid Khosravanipour | Daniel Michael Tomcik | RJ Baculo | Alexandre Belanger | Austin Giles | Erik Hogan | Ryan McDonald | Katerina Desyatova & Charley Stadler | Nora Le Guen | Mohammadreza Moghi | Péter Engelmann & Kata Domján | Michèle M Jedlicka | Dhwani Shah | Lucy Bond & Leo Mitchell | Marta Renzi | Ian Leer | Harry Valentine | Sacha Reyes | Monique Sorgen | Jimena Larraguivel | Réka Shikli | Sophia McDonald | Miguel Lopez de Leon | Vincenzo De Sio!

We look forward to what they bring next year to this growing community and the inspiration they bring to each other sharing stories.

Grateful to all our sponsors! And our great team whom we could not pull it off without them.

So you may be asking now, “When can I submit my film shot with a smartphone camera?” We open June 19. It’s around the corner. Just follow the red carpet, it’s in your pocket!

The red carpet is in your pocket™ International Mobile Film Festival was founded in 2009 from a vision in 2001 by Susy Botello.

If you’d like to support our work and efforts to raise the community you can buymeacoffee or become a patron. Your support helps me bring more to the community and help it grow. Thank you, we truly appreciate you as we begin to organize and plan IMFF 2025, our 14th edition in San Diego.

© 2024 S. Botello Productions™ International Mobile Film Festival. All rights reserved.

The festival kicks off with a meet and greet Friday, April 26 at the Aquarius Bar and Grill in Marina Village at 4PM. Saturday and Sunday, April 27 & 28 is the official festival event.

The IMFF is the first traditional in-person international film festival for films shot with only mobile phones, no other mobile devices, for the cinema. And it continues to champion the smartphone camera filmmaking movement for indie filmmakers around the world.

Feature length films were introduced in 2016. The short film competition has evolved from 3 minutes to five minutes and most recently, ten minutes maximum length. It is a tough festival to get into thanks to the quality of films shot with mobile phones.

For this reason, the festival has a side-contest titled The Rookie Award which selects a handful of films to screen as a separate program during the festival.

Each edition, beginning with it's inaugural edition, the festival features Q & A Panels and sessions, workshops and plenty of opportunities to network and connect with like-minded filmmakers and content creators.

This year, Joey Min and Stephanie Pham of Art School Dropouts presents an "Action Smartphone Filmmaking Workshop" on Sunday, April 28. Art School dropouts is offering a special price for their course at $99 for those who sign up on their website and use code: “IMFF2024” at checkout.

For the first time, IMFF founder Susy Botello, invites listeners of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking to attend a podcast panel show in-person from the bi-weekly, "Fade In To Film" program team featuring Levi Austin Morris from Los Angeles, Ryan McDonald from Utah, and Joey Min from New Jersey.

Two full-length narrative feature films screen with all short films divided into sessions with breaks for filmmakers to connect and share filmmaking stories.

The festival encourages everyone with a smartphone, and who doesn't have one, to attend and be inspired to make their own films.

"Filmmakers from countries around the world come to San Diego for this unique experience. Our inaugural festival brought a young filmmaker from Macedonia to San Diego for the festival. It's always been an international film festival from attendees and participants, to the films we screen. Truly inspiring!" says Susy Botello, founder.

The venue is the Marina Village Conference Center, within five minutes from SeaWorld® and Pacific Beach's Belmont Park on the boardwalk.

Don't miss this unique landmark event born in San Diego. There is an intimate and festive vibe in this unique entertaining film festival.

The festival, launched in the Spring 2009 from a vision in 2001, is well-known around the globe and continues to raise the bar for smartphone filmmakers.

Get all the details, schedule and programming. Tickets on sale now, space is limited.

The red carpet is in your pocket™

SPONSORS 2024:

FilmConvert | Zacuto | Swords & Circuitry Studios | Engraving Pros | Hall H Show Podcast | Science Fiction Coalition | A Pawsability 4 Veterans | Sevilla Portrait Studio | SBP Podcast

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max comes with ACES color support and log capture.

“The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is the industry standard for managing color throughout the life cycle of a motion picture or television production. From image capture through editing, VFX, mastering, public presentation, archiving and future remastering, ACES ensures a consistent color experience that preserves the filmmaker’s creative vision.” Oscars.org

The smartphone camera is fast becoming a fair contender to traditional independent filmmaking. Bringing practice and experience to the novice with tools and features for the professional.

There is one place in the U.S.A. that brought a traditional film festival platform to challenge the world to make movies for the big screen using only mobile phone cameras, no other mobile device. Our film festival was born in San Diego, California, from a vision on September 11th 2001. It launched in the Spring 2009 by S. Botello Productions™ via founder and festival director Susy Botello.

13 years after its first inaugural in-person event at Grossmont College, it’s growing as a unique must-attend space.

Witness the magic of this growing niche industry in a beautiful venue by the bay, five minutes from SeaWorld® and Belmont Park on the boardwalk.

Filmmakers used to traditional film festivals will experience an intimate extraordinary space.

“Susy Botello…fostered an incredibly playful, fun atmosphere and created an environment that allowed all of the filmmakers to genuinely bond. We ate lunches together and we chatted about our experiences. This made for an even more amazing viewing experience of the films as everyone knew who was involved with each project and cheered each other on.”

Filmmaker Levi Austin Morris, IMFF 2023.

Whether you make films using smartphones or not, you’ll be inspired by the films. There are over two dozen short films and two full feature films screening during the festival. How many film festivals have you attended where the vibe is set around how you too, can make the films you watch? The camera is in your pocket, whether it’s an iPhone 5 or 15 or an Android smartphone—this film festival is for you!

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Tickets went on sale today. Space is limited so grab your tickets before they’re gone.

The festival this year includes a “Smartphone Action Filmmaking Workshop” by Art School Dropouts, coming from New Jersey to present their short film, “No Budget Zorro” shot with iPhone and share their techniques, which they teach online.

There are Q&A Sessions with attending filmmakers, a raving and entertaining red carpet show with all contestants participating with cosplayers from the Science Fiction Coalition and Dude Vader, and more!

This year, an exclusive live podcast recording by SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking will feature the new bi-weekly program, “Fade In To Film” with panelists Levi Austin Morris, Ryan McDonald and Joey Min hosted by Susy Botello who will also be moderating.

This is a space to connect and find collaborators who share their techniques and passion for storytelling and content creation through film and video.

Short film genres include narrative, music, experimental, documentary, wildlife and Travel, Dance and more. There are two full-length narrative films.

You can peruse the full program of films, the schedule for all three days, and all the sessions on the event page.

“That felt like camp. It felt like we came together for the weekend as filmmakers and we just had camp. And it was like…we met the other campers and it was just so fun, and it was so intimate and like we really got to connect.”

Levi Austin Morris, SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking Episode 144

This is an experience to participate in, as an attendee or participant, you’ll be delighted you came.

You can see the filmmakers attending here.

SPONSORS 2024:

FilmConvert | Zacuto | Swords & Circuitry Studios | Engraving Pros | Hall H Show Podcast | Science Fiction Coalition | A Pawsability 4 Veterans | Sevilla Portrait Studio | SBP Podcast

© 2024 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

The International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego, branded as International Mobil Film Festival™, takes place during the last weekend in April each year. This year, it celebrates its 13th Edition with new members from the community and past members. Filmmakers who shoot films using smartphone cameras are independent filmmakers.

Since the festival launched in the Spring 2009, it’s been advocating for all humans to make movies using the phone camera in their pocket.

Founder Susy Botello has been an ardent and persistent advocate for the advance of storytelling through film. Of course, not every storyteller can invest in a camera, something a lot of independent filmmakers have access to.

“We are not excluding indie filmmakers who use other cameras. That’s because everyone has access to a mobile phone camera. What we advocate for is for recognizing and respecting the people behind good films just as any other filmmaker. Said festival founder and director, Susy Botello.

Back in 2009, the festival aimed to prove the vision of a future where the smartphone cameras are today, and where they will be in the future. Today, it’s a lot easier to convince people using a smartphone camera is a viable option for independent filmmakers.

The end result for independent filmmakers is the same no matter what camera they use.

“Now that distributors are acquiring films shot with smartphones, it’s easy to see how the mobile filmmaking industry has reached a plateau within this niche.” Susy said.

There are films on Amazon, TUBI and other major streaming services. Mobile films are listed along with Hollywood studio films.

Perhaps the most ardent proof of how far the mobile filmmaking industry has come, comes from Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max with log capture. Blackmagic Design’s Blackmagic Camera App, which launched its free app in direct competition with the pioneer camera app Filmic Pro.

But in the end, it’s about films. It’s about the people behind the camera, whether it’s a smartphone or a traditional filmmaking camera.

Simplifying the learning curve to operate a camera enables storytellers to gain experience that improves their filmmaking skills above and beyond what many filmmakers in the broader industry believe.

“If you are making a movie with any camera, you want to move someone with a story. You want to create something that people will talk about. Something memorable and then, you want to do it again—better.”

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This year is the 13th edition of this annual film festival. It’s one of the toughest film festivals of this kind to get accepted. The criteria to be selected is detailed on the website. The only mobile “device” it accepts is mobile phones. There are time limits and format standards, and no vertical videos. Audio quality and resolution limits as well.

If you are a serious filmmaker, and you are making movies with your phone, you will most likely be selected if you meet all the criteria. That’s because the films that are selected screen in its live in-person film festival. IMFF has a limit on the number of films it can select because it takes into consideration the festival program and schedule. The festival presents an intimate experience for attendees to inspire each other.

The festival Kick Off Meet and Greet begins at 4PM with food and drinks at the Aquarius Bar and Grille on the marina by the bay, steps from the festival venue at Marina Village. Participants meet and network, and they are encouraged to support each other during the following Saturday and Sunday, April 27 & 28.

IMFF ends with a Red Carpet Extravaganza with the Science Fiction Coalition cosplay group and Dude Vader followed by the Awards Ceremony.

The full program schedule will be released to the public March 22. You can get a Sneak Peek today.

IMFF 2024 brings the fantastic team Art School Dropouts’ Joey Min and Stephanie Pham to present a “Smartphone Action Filmmaking Workshop.” They are flying in from New Jersey and plan to attend the entire three days.

You can peruse through all the films that will screen at the festival now.

Tickets will be available soon. Space is limited. Get more details on the website.

The red carpet is in your pocket™

Sponsors: FilmConvert | Zacuto | Swords & Circuitry Studios | Engraving Pros | Hall H Show Podcast | Science Fiction Coalition | A Pawsability 4 Veterans | SBP Podcast | Sevilla Portrait Studio

© 2024 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

This year we chose “Illuminate” as our theme. Simply describing a big part of what we’ve done for the mobile filmmaking community since the very first film we received in 2011.

We begin this week with some very cool announcements for the 13th Annual Edition of the festival. We try not to think too much about how far we’ve come on this journey, on this timeline, which we’ve previously referred to as the evolution of filmmaking.

We’ve tasked ourselves each year to bring a platform where filmmakers of all levels of experience and success have come together to celebrate what this niche industry has accomplished each year through people like you.

After all is said and done, our film festival has always revolved around you.

We learned before our first event that when you promote a filmmaker who made an exceptional film with a smartphone camera, it inspires those who are contemplating turning their own stories into films to do it.

This year is our 13th edition and we are honored to illuminate you as a participating contestant in this pioneer international festival.

All the official selectees for this year’s film festival are noted below. If you recognize any of them, send them a huge congratulations. Each year we do our best to select as many films as we can. An in-person event has time limits in a physical space. We bring added value for our event with other engaging elements like a workshop, Q & A Panels and sessions, networking breaks, our red carpet is a unique show, and more festivities.

Attending in person is highly recommended.

Listen to what filmmaker Erifili Davis who flew in from Australia last year said yesterday in a comment on our Facebook post announcing this year’s official selectees:

“Congratulations to all the contestants. I had the *best time* at the film festival last year. I met so many amazing and inspirational filmmakers and I learned so much. Not to mention the fabulous Susy whose passion and hard work makes it possible. If you're a contestant wondering if you should go - DO IT!” — Erifili Davis

Do you know we had a workshop since our inaugural film festival? A teen filmmaker from Macedonia traveled to San Diego to participate in person. He made a short stop-motion film, “Everything is Money” by Dukagjin Borova.

Each year we include a workshop and festival director gets pretty creative in tapping into the mobile filmmaking community to bring unique valuable workshops to the festival each year.

This year we invited the founders of Art School Dropouts to bring teach live-action filmmaking with smartphones. We are honored and grateful to them flying in from New Jersey. Please share it with everyone you know.

Joey Min and Stephanie Pham are the founders of Art School Dropouts and their workshop will highlight their techniques for live action filmmaking. Their film, “No Budget Zorro” shot entirely with an iPhone will be showcased during the workshop.

We’ll be sharing more with you soon.

Congratulations to the official participating contestants!

Official Selectees 2024: Ian Courtney | Sohibanoo Zolghadr | Rick Cerda | Felicia Fairley | Jonathan Lagudi & Laura Brogan Browne | Alexandra Guillossou | Hamid Khosravanipour | Daniel Michael Tomcik | RJ Baculo | Alexandre Belanger | Austin Giles | Erik Hogan | Ryan McDonald | Katerina Desyatova & Charley Stadler | Nora Le Guen | Mohammadreza Moghi | Péter Engelmann & Kata Domján | Michèle M Jedlicka | Dhwani Shah | Lucy Bond & Leo Mitchell | Marta Renzi | Ian Leer | Harry Valentine | Sacha Reyes | Monique Sorgen | Jimena Larraguivel | Réka Shikli | Sophia McDonald | Miguel Lopez de Leon | Vincenzo De Sio

In our next phase we will be preparing films to screen at the festival and officially confirming who is attending in person. We’ll be promoting attending filmmakers so that they can “meet” one another before they meet in person.

We’ll also be creating a program and schedule with every filmmaker and film featured with details.

We are thankful to our partners and sponsors for IMFF 2024 who are helping make this event possible.

FilmConvert | Zacuto | Swords & Circuitry Studios | Engraving Pros | Hall H Show Podcast | Science Fiction Coalition | A Pawsability 4 Veterans | SBP Podcast

And we thank our team and the judges! We’ll sharing more about our judges very soon!

© 2024. S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

It’s been a long year but today, it seems like it was short since we leave it behind tomorrow. But wait, there’s something important to do first!

Everyone who submitted a film into our film festival should know how much we appreciate you. Everyone who has ever participated in some way, supported or attended our film festival in San Diego…we look forward to the new year!

January 13th is the final extended deadline to submit a short film to the Short Film Competition (3-10 minutes) and The Rookie contest (1-5 minutes) to be included in our 13th edition in San Diego April 26-28, 2024.

What we do now that 2024 is approaching begins at this very moment.

When we are looking for story ideas we often go out hunting for them. We use our imagination, locations we visit, our own experiences, or we look at the stories others have told and see if we can share them with a twist and a different angle.

Today, though, take time to reflect on the stories people shared with you in 2023. If you remember them, that means they connected with you. Just think of all the people you met or spoke to and the stories they shared with you.

The consequence our storytelling is human connection.

Storytellers work really hard to come up with stories that connect to their audience. But sometimes, we’re really overthinking it. Listening to the stories strangers share with you can give you an insight into the success of their stories, if you connect with them.

Try to separate the stories from the teller if you have no connection to the storyteller.

Many of us easily ignore those we don’t have a connection to and when we do that, we don’t listen to their stories. The magic storytelling is that connection that happens between us humans. And it’s very unique to humans and has been forever.

To ignore other people’s stories as your own movie story ideas is walking over opportunities.

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You don’t want to steal stories. You want to retell them as films.

In the filmmaking industry, there are many stories retold with different characters, different settings and locations, different times…take, for example, Romeo and Juliet and Titanic by James Cameron. Both of these are one and the same story told by different storytellers.

Over the next couple days before 2023 ends, just take the time to reflect on all the stories someone told you, their experiences, and make a list.

In 2024, select one story to write a screenplay and tell it using your smartphone camera. We’d love to see it and hopefully get it into the 14th edition of IMFF in San Diego in April 2025!

Mark the dates to attend our film festival and meet the incredible filmmakers who’ll be participating. We’re working on selecting the films right now. You’ll soon be receiving emails from us and once all is confirmed with each one we intend to select, we’ll be notifying you in an email and on FilmFreeway.

Wishing you all peace and prosperity in 2024.

We gave many of you an opportunity to get into a mobile film festival instead of trying to get your feature film accepted in traditional film festivals. Why? Because we experienced first hand what a person with a dream to make movies could do with a cell phone.

Did we say cell phone? We sure did!

In 2009, there were no HD cameras on mobile phones. In 2009, the iPhone 4 had not even come out of the closet! We know a thing or two about our industry. By ‘our,’ we mean you and us. Because this festival has been standing up for you since the Spring of 2009.

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A few years ago, after many disappointed filmmakers missed our deadlines, we finally decided to extend our submissions. But we can only go so far because we need to process each submission and make selections as we program and get the film festival in order.

In our competition, we select only three films to compete. Those three films will screen during the festival to our festival audience. One feature film will be awarded the Best Feature Film Award from our exclusive judging panel for only this competition.

The feature film category is all narrative. That means we receive less films than other film festivals, but that benefits you the most. We’re not overwhelmed reviewing each film. Each film is a delicacy for us. Your baby is in good hands. Each film is reviewed by our founder first. Susy Botello has your back. She is your biggest advocate in the mobile film industry.

We watch your film from beginning to end. Your film is a work of art.

You put your heart and soul into each scene. Every element. Each edit decision. Every delicate magical touch from your heart into a masterpiece. We are honored and proud to share your work with our audience in San Diego and around the world.

So enough about our behind-the-scenes treatment of your films and let’s go!

All the shorts are due before the January 13 extended deadline.

Don’t miss out on being a part of the 13th edition of the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego.

Mark the dates: April 26-28, 2024.

Be sure to make arrangements to be present to celebrate you and your film, make new friends in the industry, participate in Q & A’s and more, so much more!

If you don’t have a film, the festival is open to the public. That means you can come and participate!

Participate unlike any traditional film festival you’ve ever attended because you too have a smartphone, and you know our slogan right? Be inspired.

The red carpet is in your pocket™

Submit now.

© 2023 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

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Our rules are precise and we apply them equally.

If you have questions or need clarification, use the link to contact us on our website to reach out. We will do our best to respond in a timely manner.

Our festival does not have a “catch all criteria” for the competitions. We have put a lot of thought and consideration in providing fair and precise criteria around our mission to be all inclusive by being exclusive to only films shot with mobile phones.

First and foremost, everyone in the world has an opportunity to participate due to one simple mobile device that is the most popular in the entire world, the mobile phone. We decided when we launched many moons ago (2009) that we only wanted to focus on the most popular mobile device with a camera, the phone.

This means that everyone can participate in a fair arena. A competition in which only films shot with mobile phone cameras qualify.

Our festival screens every film we select in our live in-person event. All films and filmmakers receive equal treatment in our film festival.

The experience of participating and attending is a real value to filmmakers.

We aim to provide you with an opportunity to screen your films in a live event in San Diego and we encourage every attending filmmaker to watch each others’ films. It’s how filmmakers connect to each other, you begin by watching each other’s films.

Your film will reach your peers in a mobile filmmaking community with a global reach because we are pioneers.

Some of the earliest filmmakers from our film festival come back to experience it again. Networking and making new friendships in our festival, embracing your films and finding out you are also making movies with your phone is real and pretty awesome.

Our director and founder watches every single film submission, beginning to end, before anyone else on our team.

The criteria we add to our competitions is precise. It makes what we look for transparent. We hope to select as many films as possible.

Add the dates of our film festival to your calendar now.

Whether or not your film is selected, attending is a very rewarding experience for filmmakers. You’ll still experience a very intimate film festival where participating and attending filmmakers meet, enjoy new friendships, attend workshops and Q & A’s, lectures, and much more.

Many film festivals are for only filmmakers. IMFF is open to the public. IMFF is for all storytellers. It’s for everyone with access to a smartphone. It only takes a few minutes to be inspired in our film festival.

Join us as a participant or join us as an attendee. We embrace you and will celebrate mobile filmmaking together as a community. You are welcome to be a part of it. Don’t miss what may be your most memorable film festival experience.

Join the community today, you don’t have to wait.

We are revamping the community on Patreon because you can now become a member of our community as a free member. We are working to bring the community from the SBP Podcast together with the film festival because together, the community members can support each other.

Join us on Patreon to let us know you want to connect to the community and each other. We’ll provide opportunities for you!

Read some testimonials.

The information below is an expert or the criteria on our website, and you can read all the criteria, rules and categories in detail on our website.

Take note of all the deadlines, including extended deadlines.

Criteria for short films.

SHORT FILM COMPETITION: Films must be between 3 & 10 minutes and Not One second shorter or longer, including intro, end credits and/or video black at beginning or end.

The Short Film Competition seeks short high quality films of all genres, for example: horror can submit to narrative, etc.

The Short Film Contestants who win awards in each category (excluding The Rookie Award category) will be in the running for First, Second and Third Place and will receive a trophy and certificate. Must be present during the awards ceremony to receive trophies free. We will not cover shipping and handling.

SHORT FILM CATEGORIES AVAILABLE TO SUBMIT: Get details on categories on the website.

Narrative – Documentary – Ultimate Mobile – Cosplay – Screendance – Geography, Wildlife and Travel – Experimental – Music Video

Submitting to the correct category can help your film being selected and maybe even win that category. You can submit one film to multiple categories, or more than one film to multiple categories but only one film will be selected per filmmaker. There is no guarantee a film will be selected regardless of the categories it is selected to.

THE ROOKIE AWARD CONTEST: If you are not experienced, you can enter films that fall within the categories listed above into “The Rookie Award” category for new, or non-experienced, filmmakers. This is the best option for novice youth films. We still require a level of quality with video and audio to be selected. Please find details about this special category on our website and within the category on FilmFreeway before you submit. We are available if you have questions and will do our best to respond promptly.

The red carpet is in your pocket™

© 2023 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

All short and feature films selected into the festival are screened in a live in-person presentation.

This weekend, we are proud to bring a new partnership with Zacuto with you in mind.

Zacuto has a few things in common with us and our creator S. Botello Productions™, and it’s not just about their chosen company colors, black and red. Their passion and dedication for storytelling and film has kept them in the game year after year.

Zacuto has been in business about 23 years. The company introduced new concepts into their gear which have since become standard in the industry.

Producer and director Steve Weiss partnered with cinematographer Jens Bogehegn to design their gear, hands-on, with their staff of engineers.

As innovators who are passionate about creating and innovating filmmaking gear for filmmakers and video producers, they have designed a new rig for smartphone filmmakers and small business video producers, the Smart Z-Finder. An industry game-changer.

You can watch their story now and learn how Steve Weiss and Jens Bogehegn aligned to create Zacuto (2000).

There is much more to the inspiring story of Zacuto, and we’re excited to bring them and to our inspiring mobile filmmaking community.

As a smartphone filmmaker, you can turn stories into films at any level. We continue to bring the amateur and the professional together to inspire and learn from one another. Most importantly, to support and celebrate each others’ accomplishments in the independent film industry that is mobile filmmaking from San Diego to the online world.

There is still time to submit your feature film before the regular deadline, October 19. Don’t miss this deadline!

© 2023 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

iPhone Pro and Pro Max comes with ACES color support and log capture.

What is that?

“The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is the industry standard for managing color throughout the life cycle of a motion picture or television production. From image capture through editing, VFX, mastering, public presentation, archiving and future remastering, ACES ensures a consistent color experience that preserves the filmmaker’s creative vision.” Oscars.org

We’re challenging you to use these features to make a short film for the Short Film Competition (3-10 minutes) before the regular deadline, November 19. The first film that meets the criteria will receive a free submission code. Contact us to see if you’re the first and we’ll share the code.

There is no guarantee your film will be accepted just for using the features. You still need to meet all the criteria and make a good film.

Specs in detail from Apple.

Have you already submitted a film?

You can submit more than one film into the festival. Only one will be selected. So get cracking on this challenge. You’re too awesome for us to let this opportunity pass you by simply because you’ve already submitted a film!

You can now view all the deadlines in our film festival here.

The International Mobile Film Festival is the pioneer in-person film festival for only films shot with mobile phones for the big screen. We’re still the most intimate film festival of its kind. IMFF 2024 takes place April 2024 in San Diego, California.

The red carpet is in your pocket™

Monique Lea-Gall has earned many television credits as an actor. Her journey as a dancer on TV Awards shows with celebrities like Will Smith, Gwen Stefani, Backstreet Boys, and many more, moved into television shows like Law & Order, American Horror Story and currently on SWAT. She’s also worked on feature films.

Monique Gall has chosen Mobile Film Stories because she loves the idea of sending her audience to a beautiful space to showcase her film, and her unique and inspiring story, with her in-depth interview on the SBP Podcast.

You can help fund Monique’s next indie film from her page on Mobile Film Stories.

Read an article with Monique’s inspiring background story, “How A Career in Television Inspired Filmmaking,” on the Smartphone Filmmaking Publication on Medium.

Grab some popcorn and head over to Mobile Film Stories to watch Me Vs Me!

Watch Now!

Me Vs Me: Written by Monique Gall.

Produced by Monique and Rome Gall. Director and cinematography by Grant Cotter. Shot with iPhone 13.

Synopsis: A woman's negative conscience forces her to face her own demons.

Cast: Monique Gall, Gloria Allen, Rome Gall, Fernando Bernal.

Crew: Tamor Lewis (Editor, Score); Nate Anderson (Production Assistant); Bethany Bernal (Production Assistant).

We congratulate Monique Gall and the entire cast and crew for their continued success with her short film, Me Vs Me. We look forward to her next indie film and more inspiring stories.

As of last year, IMFF 2023, we also accept short screenplays (6-8 pages) and we have a unique smartphone photo contest: Frame A Story (One story in one frame).

ULTIMATE MOBILE FILM CATEGORY

Regardless of the genre, if you completely shot and edited your film with your phone without using any other device, this one is for you! Shoot, edit, finalize your project including audio capture and music, special effects, everything must be done on a smartphone and no other device. It’s a big challenge, are you up for it?

SCREENDANCE FILM CATEGORY

With the collaboration of choreographer and soloist filmmaker Jamiel Laurence, we are introducing a unique category to our film festival. Screendance is for dancers using smartphones to choreograph performances for the camera. Using camera movement and style, this category hopes to inspire dancers who perform in front of the camera to team up with a camera person, or more than one, to shoot a story driven performance precisely for the screen.

“The universal language of dance has always held a special place when being performed in the realm of cinematic capture. Fred Astaire once said “Either the Camera will Dance, or I will” and this really captures the essence of the synergy between dance, choreography and filmmaking. With the rise in popularity and easy access to mobile filmmaking technologies, choreographers are naturally finding new and exciting ways to evolve dance alongside developing mobile form factor stabilisation and affordable lenses & filters. The International Mobile Film Festival is a welcoming group of like minded creatives, and the ideal place to have your Screendance work seen by new audiences and industry professionals alike.” — Jamiel Laurence: Dancer. Choreographer. Filmmaker.

COSPLAY FILM CATEGORY

Cosplay Film category is for films featuring cosplayers of all ages. We are looking for superheroes, steampunk, comic book and cartoon cosplayer films for this category. If you are a cosplayer round up your friends and your team! Shoot your film with your smartphone and read the rules, because the rules apply to all categories. Make it fun. You can make your film in any genre, music, documentary, dark or comedy, drama; it’s your call. And speaking of call, this is your call to action! You got the costumes, you got the camera on your phone and you got stories so we are looking forward to your films to screen them during IMFF in San Diego…and yes, you can dress in your cosplay outfits for the red carpet!

GEOGRAPHY, WILDLIFE & TRAVEL
If your film is about animals and species or natural wildlife environment around the world or in your backyard, this category is sure to be a creative challenge for mobile filmmaking. Includes Travel videos including panoramic montage, and educational videos. All rules apply.

Get details on these categories.

COMMUNITY STORIES

We also had a category since before the inaugural festival took place. However, since last year, we choose a short film from all categories to feature as a part of that category, Community Stories.

A community story is one where the filmmaker is a part of the community (or culture) whose story they share.

IMFF 2024, has made a change to the criteria for feature films with regard to the minimum time from 40 minutes to 60 minutes. The maximum time remains at 120 minutes.

You can submit everything through FilmFreeway.com

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One difference is that when you have a traditional camera, you don’t use it everyday. You don’t carry it with you everywhere you go. You don’t use it to record home videos and all sorts of documentation. Texting a friend a short video of something you’re struggling with, for example. You don’t have the everyday, every moment, intimacy that we have with our smartphones.

Many filmmakers don’t have a camera, but hire someone with a camera as a DP (director of photography aka cinematographer). There are very few people who don’t have access to a camera on a smartphone. The point is that you have an opportunity to practice a lot.

The camera on your phone is one that you can become quite familiar with. In many ways, you can almost consider your smartphone camera as your friend. Always there when you need it.

The camera on your mobile phone is always accessible, and certainly one with an endless ability to to record video and play it back. Testing, experimenting, pretending…and the more you use it, it brings agility to your skillset as a filmmaker.

The intimacy between you and your story is facilitated through your familiarity with the tools to bring your film to life.

The production process is about capturing the footage. Preproduction is about planning and organizing and ensuring you are ready for production. Postproduction is about gathering all you’ve planned and captured and turning it into a movie that you can deliver to your intended audience. Whether it’s a film festival like ours, or a streaming service, or perhaps screening it in a theater—without a camera, you have nothing.

Begin with a screenplay. Get your camera out and begin to practice capturing scenes from your screenplay. Experiment with angles. Experiment with lighting and sound capturing. You’ve got the time and the means. Traditional filmmaking means you need to schedule a test shoot with a DP. If you have a traditional camera it means you need to plan when and where to test it. With a phone, you can decide to test it anywhere, anytime you feel the urge or have an idea.

The result is to become so familiar and comfortable with your camera, capturing footage, capturing good audio, editing, finalizing your production…that you become an expert. That you don’t need traditional filmmaking experience to know how you can make a movie. You only need to test, experiment and practice on your own time with the camera always at the ready—your phone.

The more you practice the more you know what to expect in different scenarios. For example, you’ll know that shooting without lights can be done under certain circumstances. You’ll know because you’ve already tested it many times and figured out how to overcome the obstacles. So when the time comes, you can be confident shooting a scene without lights.

Trusting your ability comes naturally in the moment.

Remember the first time you learned to drive a car, or make an egg omelette. You don’t put much thought into it anymore. You don’t feel anxious.

The most wonderful benefit of not having to think too much about how to capture your footage, is that you can focus instead on the movie you are shooting. You can be more creative. You are less inclined to waste time figuring out the how’s and use your time wisely during production. Your efficiency in getting from one scene to the next will be appreciated by your cast and crew. Your peace of mind is priceless during the filmmaking process.

You can concentrate on making that masterpiece you dreamed of making. And of course, we’d love for you to submit that gold into our film festival so we can celebrate your accomplishment!

Each submission is an entry to you to our monthly raffle!

Don’t miss the premier of Fade In To Film by SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking Tuesday, July 18.

Fade In To Film (FITF) is a biweekly panel discussion covering topics of interest affecting the filmmaking and mobile filmmaking community jointly, with a foundation in storytelling through film.

Last month, on June 19, we opened submissions for our 13th edition of the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego. We then found some stickers left over from our film festival. We sent out two sets of stickers to the first two film submissions between June 28 & 29.

We congratulate two filmmakers who submitted their films before midnight on the 29th: Sacha and Harry. They’re stickers went out last week in the mail.

We took inventory of the last stickers left and realize we can run this promo each month until the deadline! That’s good news. It’s a special thank you and welcoming to our mobile filmmaking community.

Even if your film does not get selected, we value each and every film submission. And we are watching as many of your film submissions as we can as they come in. We have received some incredible films already.

Submit your feature or short films (includes Rookies) to our Grow Your Passion with Us Monthly Raffle!

We’re so excited about the films you are submitting that we are holding a raffle each month beginning tomorrow morning through the last day of the month at midnight PDT.

Three winners each month with receive a set of two stickers. They will include one of our festival logo and another with the logo and the words, “Grow Your Passion.”

Only addresses in the United States qualify. So if you have a friend in the U.S. who will accept them and send them to you in your country, that’s acceptable.

They will arrive with a thank you card personally handwritten and signed by festival founder Susy Botello.

We’ll also draw one winner to receive one free sticker with our logo for photo and screenplay submissions.

So get your submissions in before the end of the month to be entered in our raffle.

We’re looking forward to watching the rest of the films we have received. You’ll hear from us very soon.

Are you listening to the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking? Be inspired.

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