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SmartFone Flick Fest
Film festival in Sydney From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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SmartFone Flick Fest, also known as SF3, is an annual film festival held in Sydney, Australia, since 2015. It screens films made on smartphones and tablets, awarding 40 prizes over six categories.
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History
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The SmartFone Flick Fest was founded by filmmaker and educator Angela Blake and actress, producer, and radio presenter Ali Crew,[1][2] with the first edition held in 2015.[3][4]
The second Gala event was streamed live for the first time to international followers.[5]
For the third event in August 2017, 130 films were submitted from around the world, including entries from Nigeria, India, Iran, and Ecuador. The jury of 13 judges included Australian playwright and screenwriter Louis Nowra, cinematographer Pieter de Vries, and Susan Botello,[2] who founded the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego, California, in 2009.[6]
In 2019 the SF3 Best Feature Film Category was introduced.[1] Sad Sachs, a film about a Jewish family directed by Joel Perlgut won Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Jared Jekyll), and Best Actress (Stephanie King).[7]
By 2020, the festival had received a total of over 2000 international entries since the inaugural edition in 2015. SF3 was held during the COVID-19 pandemic in that year, for the first time streaming the whole event online. A new award category, "ISO" (isolation) was introduced.[8][9]
In 2021, a First Nations award was introduced, for "the best and most promising filmmaker – worldwide - who identifies as First Nation, Indigenous, and/or Aboriginal". Three new Indigenous Australian ambassadors were appointed: journalist and producer Stan Grant, actor and director Wayne Blair, and screenwriter Jon Bell. Other new appointments were SF3 Kids Ambassador is (Emily Prior), and African Ambassador, Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu. Phillip Noyce, Kriv Stenders, Nicole da Silva, Jason van Genderen, Kerry Armstrong, and Christopher Stollery returned as festival ambassadors.[10]
In 2022, hundreds of entries were submitted for the 8th SF3,[11] including over 300 shorts and 18 feature films. In that year, the festival took place live on screen in two cinemas Sydney over a weekend in February, and was screened online until 13 March. Among the finalists was the short film Leader, made by English actor and filmmaker Chris Overton, who had previously won an Academy Award for his short Silent Child.[12] Leader is about climate change.[13] Another finalist was a social justice documentary titled Eight Minutes Forty Six Seconds (the title relating to the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the US), about Aboriginal deaths in police custody, made by 17-year-old Kara Rose, an Aboriginal student at NIDA.[13] Also in 2022, two young brothers from Lebanon, aged 5 and 9, were finalists with their film titled The Magic in Liberia.[14]
In 2023, previous records were broken, with over 458 submissions received, including 28 feature films, by filmmakers from over 60 countries. [15][16]
The 10th anniversary edition was held on the weekend of 16-17 November 2024 in Sydney, and online until 2 December.[4][17] There were 45 feature film entries and 330 shorts entered from all over the world for this competition.[18] Ahead of the competition, director Phillip Noyce talked of the festival being "ground-breaking", and a rare opportunity for emerging filmmakers to screen their films in front of an audiences.[18] In addition, in partnership with the 13th annual MINA Festival[4] (run by the Mobile Innovation Network and Association[19]), a joint festival was held on 8 November at ACMI in Federation Square, Melbourne, featuring the best films.[4][20] MINA, run by Max Schleser, is the longest-running mobile film festival in the southern hemisphere.[21]
In April 2025 Screen NSW announced that the festival would be a recipient of funding from its 2024/25 Audience and Industry Development Program funding.[22] The festival opened for entries in May 2025.[23]
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Description
The SmartFone Flick Fest is a festival for films made using mobile phones, by filmmakers of all ages.[3][14] It is held annually in Sydney, and awards over A$50,000 in prizes.[3] As of 2024[update], the films are screened at the Palace Chauvel Cinema in Paddington.[4]
Filmmakers of all ages from anywhere in the world are eligible to enter the competitions, so long as the entry has been filmed entirely on a smartphone or tablet.[3] Finalist films are shared with other film festivals across the globe[1]
The festival also holds workshops throughout the year, both live and online. SF3 teaches teach in partnership with the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Powerhouse Museum, the Actors Centre Australia, WIFT NSW, as well as local councils and arts centres across Australia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Jamaica, America, Europe, and Asia.[1]
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Categories
In 2024, the categories were:[3]
- SF3 Best Film for short films (20 minutes and under)
- SF3 Best Feature Film
- SF3 Kids Award (18 years and under)
- SF3 AI Award, for short films made using AI (inaugural award)
- SF3 Mini Mobile Award, for films up to 3 minutes long
- SF3 Social Media Video Award
In 2025, the categories are:[23][24]
- SF3 Gala Finals / Best Film for short films
- SF3 Best Feature Film
- SF3 Kids Feature Films
- SF3 Mini Mobile Award
- SF3 AI Award
There are also a number of other prizes awarded, including Best Cinematography, Best Director, People's Choice Award, Best Actor and Actress, etc.;[3] in total, 36 across the four categories announced for 2025.[23]
Ambassadors
The 2024 ambassadors of SF3 are: filmmakers Phillip Noyce, Kerry Armstrong, Christopher Stollery, Kriv Stenders, actress Nicole da Silva, smartphone filmmaker Jason van Genderen, producer Anthony Kierann, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Garry Maddox, cinematographer Pieter de Vries, disability advocate Emily Prior, First Nations filmmaker Darlene Johnson,[3] and Venezuelan actor Luis Fernandez.[4]
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Notable past winners
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In 2016, Sydney actor Christopher Stollery won Best Film with his film No Budget.[2][5]
In 2022, Darcy Yuille's One Punch won SF3 Best Feature Film, before going on to screen at many other festivals, winning best film at Berlin Independent Film Festival, Dublin Smartphone Film Festival, the International Mobil Film Festival based in San Diego, and the Spanish festival Cinephone – Festival Internacional de Cine con Smartphone. In addition, Yuille won Best Director and Best Cinematography at the African Smartphone International Film Festival.[25]
In 2023, Lodi, made by American actress, producer, and director Courtney Coker, won Best Feature Film, Best Director Awards, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay awards.[26] A horror film called Paralysis, created by American writer-director Levi Austin Morris, won Best Feature Film.[15][16] Paralysis also screened at 14 other film festivals in same year, winning seven awards.[27]
In 2024, the Best Film award was won by 15-year-old Charli Fletcher, who also won four other prizes, for her film Don't Ignore Me.[28] Idiotproof, co-directed by Laura Brogan Browne and Jonathan Lagudi and starring Lagudi, won the SF3 Best New Filmmaker Award, and also screened at many other festivals, including the Toronto Smartphone Film Festival, New York Mobile Film Festival, Dublin Smartphone Film Festival, and others. It is being developed into a feature film in collaborating with screenwriter Damian Overton.[29]
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Recognition
The festival featured on a list of "The World's Best Smartphone Film Festivals" on the Mobile Motion Film Festival website in 2019.[30] According to the Hawkesbury Phoenix in 2024, SF3 is "one of the world's largest and most prestigious smartphone film festivals".[31] SF3 also features in books about making films with a smartphone.[21][32]
See also
- List of films shot on mobile phones
- Mobile Motion Film Festival, a film festival in Switzerland
References
External links
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