Smartphones 2015: 1.91 billion.
Videos created: inestimable
Videos selected for MoMo 16: 13
Award Winners: to be confirmed May 28th, Arthouse Uto.
In 2015, there were an estimated 1.91 billion smartphones in use around the world. How many were used to create video content, we don’t know. My guess is: quite a lot. From the hundreds of films submitted to the 2nd Mobile Motion Film Festival last year, we and our skilled jury have chosen the 13 which excited us most and will present them to a select audience this month.
Last May, we held our first ever festival of films shot on smartphones. Supported by our great kickstarter backers, every moment of our spare time was used up organising the event. With so much attention in the media, the pressure was really on to create something memorable. The night was a fantastic celebration of new filmmaking talent, with a live stream online as well as screened in a cinema in London.
With nothing but hard work and great support from backers, sponsors and volunteers, we had created an event which was talked about around the world. So far so good. But could we do it again?
When a musician first hits the charts, they say it’s the 2nd album which provides the real test. You scored a hit but can you repeat the success without repeating yourself? So, the 2nd MoMo was in many ways an even bigger challenge than the first – we had no greater resources but we knew somehow we had to try to make it even better.
This year, we have everything we had last year and more.
We’ve added a 2nd day, so we’re now showing films on May 28th & 29th. Last year we showed only shorts. But when we heard a film shot on iPhone 5s was creating a big stir at the Sundance Film Festival and within the filmmaking community in general, we just had to try to show it at MoMo.
Not only that, but we asked the co-writer/producer Chris Bergoch to fly from America to host a masterclass on how they did it – to our great excitement, he agreed! We also have #MyEscape – full length documentary shot by refugees using smartphones as they make a series of hazardous journeys, often risking their lives on their way to Europe.
Like making films themselves, making film festivals is also often a journey full of drama. Will there be errors discovered in the DCP with only hours to go? Will the hosts of the masterclasses turn up? Will I have a brain freeze in the middle of presenting the award night, unable to think of anything except the tune to the Swiss Eurovision Song Contest entry?
Well, it’s a live event and anything can happen. Whatever the moment brings us, you’ll want to be there to watch the drama unfold.
I look forward to seeing you in Zurich in just a couple of weeks now and leave you with these memorable words:
“We’re the last of our kind
It’s a whole new world
And we’re mm hmm hmm hmm
And something something tum de tum…”
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