Mobile Phones and The Red Carpet

 

The Results for the second annual International Mobil Film Festival

The weather was perfect in “America’s finest city” as MFF2013 kicked off on Saturday, April 27 at Grossmont College. The two-day event was lots of fun and inspiring to say the least. Watching the films on the screen was an eye-opener to those who attended that did not realize what the International Mobil Film Festival was really about.

When one person in the audience began to ask questions about the criteria to enter the film festival next year and pulled out a pen and paper to take notes–we knew they were inspired.

We opened the door to just about anyone of any skill level, education or age to to try to tell a story using the video camera on their mobile phone and for the second year in a row we received some good films all shot with mobile phones.

We showcased all the films during the festival. There were presentations by filmmakers with Q & A sessions. Mr. Snead, instructor of media communications at Grossmont College & our sponsor, provided criticism and advice to the filmmakers who attended.

During the awards ceremony Mr. Snead gave away some books relating to media production to all the attending filmmakers. We also gave all the attending filmmakers an iTunes card to purchase the app Filmic Pro, if they didn’t have it already. Filmic Pro is considered the most popular app for mobile filmmakers. They also received shirts, awards and best of all, they walked The Red Carpet on Sunday before enjoying an Awards Ceremony.

Art King of DJ Art King, who provided music during our two-day event also interviewed the filmmakers for the audience during the red carpet walk to the Awards Ceremony.

The attending filmmakers and their films were: Landon Clark, Jamie Lynn Franklin & Jessica D. Johnson of Peace Up! with their film “Pass the Peace.” Peace Up! came from Los Angeles. Dan Balcaban came from Canada with his film “My Love” and James & Steven Skarren came from New York with the film “SEND”. Greg Armstrong and Alise Anderson who also picked up a trophy for their winning film “Trapped!” attended (not shown in photo).

Second Place winning filmmakers Greg and Alise said that Greg woke up that morning with an idea and by the end of the day, they had a movie. Now that their film won the International Mobil Film Festival, they said they are inspired by the entire experience and honored by winning. Greg has filmed using different cameras and is also a talented actor. The film is about stuffed toys which lock Alise into her bedroom closet and have a party. The film is creatively and entertainingly crafted with ingenuity and great sound effects with a cute score which is accentuated with the film’s natural sound effects. Alise makes the stuffed toys. Greg and Alise received an official award certificate and trophy with their names engraved. They also received an award for the Pirates Dinner Show. Greg and Alise currently reside in San Francisco, California.

First Prize went to Timothee Corteggiani and Nathalie Giraud for their film, “The Girl with the Red Balloon” from France.

Third Prize was given to “Memory 22” by Bill Newsinger from England.

JT Lighting came and exhibited their lights to the audience and filmmakers, gave advice and was very entertaining. Jim gave away some freebies and answered all the questions that were asked. He then had some questions of his own during the showcasing as he was truly impressed and seemed inspired.

There were others with messages behind their films and you will find them on our website. Their profiles include a biography from each of them, along with their photos and films.

When you watch all 19 films from MFF2013, you will find a variety of genres. Lots of different categories and different phones were used including the Samsung S series. All of the winning films were shot with the iPhone 4 S and the criteria used was an overall best film taking everything into consideration from the filmmaker’s creativity combined with their skills and talents. Here is a listing of MFF2013’s Judge Panel.

Some of the films were created by folks who have never created a film before or at least not created films they entered in a film festival. Everyone is inspired to create more films. Even the audience was inspired. Laura Benavides, was in the audience and told us that she is inspired to create a film for next year’s festival.

We are already planning next year’s film festival and have been contacted by online mobile film festivals from around the world to include them in next year’s festival in San Diego. So next year, it’s sure to be a bigger and larger event. We will also be featuring films by Conrad Mess, as one of our partners and from Dr. Max Schleser from Mobile Innovation Network Aotearoa. (MINA) who is also a partner.

Thank you to our sponsors: Grossmont College, Red Giant Software, Pirates Dinner Show and Gaslamp Popcorn.

For everyone who wasn’t able to attend the festival clear your calendars for next year. The best is yet to come. Although you could not be there amongst the filmmakers during the event, you can now watch the films on our website or on our video channel here.

Stay in touch and stay updated through this blog or our Facebook page. Lots of exciting things are happening already and you won’t want to miss any of it.