The Short Film Categories IMFF 2023
Music Videos, Narrative Films, Ultimate Mobile, Screendance and more!
Fall season is here and deadlines are approaching!
We wanted to share a bit about IMFF categories for our short film competition.
First, all submissions are to be made through FilmFreeway. The categories on FilmFreeway reflect competitions as well. They don’t have a way to add separate competitions so we want to clarify these things for you. If you need even more details, go to our Rules page on our website.
Separate competitions:
Feature Film Competition
Short Film Competition - The categories below are part of the short film competition “Categories” on FilmFreeway for the 2023 edition. There are also some basic genre short film categories: Narrative, Documentary, Music Video and Experimental. All categories are on film freeway.
Smartphone Photo Contest
Screenplay Competition
The Rookie Award - You can submit the same categories for the short film competition in the Rookie Award Competition. You’ll read details when you choose this category on FilmFreeway. *Note time limit difference and other differences from the short film competition.
SHORT FILM CATEGORIES 2023:
There are other typical categories on FilmFreeway, check out the Categories sections on IMFF FilmFreeway to submit to for more. You can submit your film(s) to more than one category. You can submit more than one film to the same category.
YOUTH FILM NOW SUBMIT TO THE ROOKIE AWARD COMPETITION
Ages 0 through 17 years, this category gives youth a platform to use their storytelling techniques and abilities. Capturing video with smartphones (all rules apply) is an incredible boost for confidence for the youngest members of society and the film community in general. Youth can use smartphone filmmaking to realize their potential and stand out as innovative filmmakers.
Their participation at our film festival brings special recognition to youth during our film festival where they will share their experience with the world on the red carpet in San Diego. Sometimes, they receive a special youth award and are invited to speak in front of an audience during our festival during a Q&A, if appropriate.
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.
Go to FilmFreeway to see the details about the following categories which are basic genres not unique to IMFF which you can submit to as long as you meet all the criteria:
NARRATIVE
MUSIC VIDEO
EXPERIMENTAL
DOCUMENTARY
Don’t miss the deadlines!
October 19, 2022 Mobile Features Deadline
November 19, 2022 Mobile Shorts Deadline
November 19, 2022 Rookie Award Deadline
November 20, 2022 Short Screenplay Deadline
November 21, 2022 Photo Deadline
December 22, 2022 Extended Photo Deadline
December 23, 2022 Extended Short Screenplay Deadline
December 24, 2022 Extended Features Deadline
January 13, 2023 Extended Shorts Deadline
January 13, 2023 Extended Rookie Award Deadline
April 28 – 30, 2023 Festival Event Dates in San Diego, California
Want to know more about the new Smartphone Photo Contest? Meet one of the judges for this contest, Ant Pruitt of “Hands On Photography” which is a part of TWIT TV, This Week In Tech podcast network. As a professional and expert he shares great photography fundamentals no matter what camera you use and info for all smartphone filmmakers using Android phones or iPhones.
We look forward to your masterpiece creations and look forward to celebrating them with you in San Diego April 28-30, 2023!
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