Mobile phone films turned into masterpieces

The big screen will get a little helping hand from an incredibly small screen at Tropfest on Sunday 19 February.

Today Tropfest announced that cinema whiz kid and winner of 2008 Tropfest NY, and runner up to last year’s Movie Extra Tropest, Jason Van Genderen will be competing in the Telstra Mobile Mastpieces against finalists Christian Doran and John Frohlich, as well as Tropfest’s first ever Northern Territory finalist, Samantha Young.

For the last three years the world’s largest short-film festival has run the mobile competition alongside Telstra to prove how incredible mobile filmmaking can be. To be eligible for the category, films must be entirely shot on a mobile phone or tablet device.

Young’s film, Smokers are People Too, filmed on the streets of Darwin, took her only seven days to complete. The film has also been selected in the 16th Finalist Competition – where the public are allowed to vote on ten films. To have your say visit Tropfest’s YouTube channel.

The three films selected as finalists in the Telstra Mobile Masterpieces couldn’t be more different: Van Genderen provides a poignant insight into the life of a single dad; Doran and Frohlich have chosen to focus on a father passing advice onto his son; while Young has a satirical poke into the social taboos of being a smoker.

John Polson, Founder and Director of Tropfest, says advancements in mobile film technology have provoked many more mobile film entries this year.

“These days, almost everyone has a mobile phone. Which means with just a little bit of know-how, anyone can tell their story. The video quality that mobiles produce now is extraordinary, and gets better each day. Our audience and entrants have embraced the Telstra Mobile Masterpieces competition because it creates a truly level playing field for entrants, and that’s a big part of what Tropfest is all about,” he says.

The three Telstra Mobile Masterpieces will compete for $5,000 in cash, courtesy of Telstra.

The films will be shown as a part of the Tropfest festival and screened live on Sunday 19 February to an anticipated audience of 150,000 at free outdoor public events across Australia. Find out more at tropfest.com/au (click on the Events tab to find your local screening)