Global Event Democratizes Filmmaking For All

It was born in San Diego in the Spring 2009. A true believer of making movies with mobile phones for the big screen.

May 09, 2024

It began on a cloudy day, with a splash of rain and then, the sun came out to greet us all!

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.

Day One Kick Off Meet and Greet with attending filmmakers.

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.

After the awards ceremony, left to right are Vincenzo De Sio, Dhwani Sha, Sohibanoo Zolghadr, Miguel Lopez de Leon and IMFF ambassador and sponsor with Hall H Show Podcast, Aaron Nabus.

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.

Recording episode 181 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking with panelists from the bi-weekly “Fade In To Film” show. Left to right: Joey Min, Levi Austin Morris, Ryan McDonald and host/moderator Susy Botello. April 28.

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.

During the Red Carpet Extravaganza with Science Fiction Coalition cosplayers Audrey Church - Lady Loki, Jedi Church “Dude Vader Jr.” (right) and filmmaker and father Ryan McDonald with daughters Sophia and Alyssa. Sophia screened her short Rookie film, Sister Sister Jinx.

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!

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.

International Mobile Film Festival

Global Event Democratizes Filmmaking For All

It was born in San Diego in the Spring 2009. A true believer of making movies with mobile phones for the big screen.

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