About

We’re on IMDb

We created the world’s first official International Mobile Film Festival launched in the Spring of 2009. IMFF was the first film festival to screen films shot with ONLY mobile phones of all brands on a big screen in a traditional film festival setting.

Closeup of smartphone held horizontally to film with festival laurels, and 13th edition seal, year "2024" text "International Mobile Film Festival, San Diego, California" in background is a large audience facing a stage with festival logo and website URL.

STATUS OF 13TH EDITION CHECK IMFF 2024

Want to get in front of our community?

A screen grab from a post on LinkedIn in the San Diego Video Production Network group, dated July 3, 2009. "Enter your mobile film shot on your mobile phone into the International Mobil Film Festival™ in San Diego's Community Stories Category free."
Above is a screen grab from years ago, months after promoting our new film festival for films shot with mobile phone cameras for the big screen in San Diego. We created our first category: Community Stories. It was the only category we had for a few years because we didn’t want to limit you to specific categories as long as you shot your films with your phone. The date on the image is from July 3, 2009.

Have you heard the origin story of how our pioneering film festival was conceptualized? Did you know the idea of making movies for the big screen in the future began on September 11th, 2001?

SBP is in production of a documentary series: A Story of Art and Community. Read more.

Join us and participate in the 13th Edition of the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego, California April 26-28, 2024.

Participants for the 12th Annual Edition IMFF April 2023 with red carpet show sponsors Science Fiction Coalition.

IMFF is THE industry event for mobile smartphone filmmakers.

As one of the longest established festivals in the world for mobile smartphone filmmakers, we transformed our film festival for the 2022 11th edition and beyond, as a leading global film festival for professional mobile films for both, short and feature film competitions. We’ve added a separate competition for less experienced filmmakers: The Rookie Award.

We continue our reputation of professionalism within the industry and continue to raise the bar.

SBP Mission Statement

Our brand, International Mobil Film Festival™ is an annual event that takes place in San Diego, California. The festival brings people together to celebrate storytelling through mobile filmmaking. We showcase short and feature films shot with smartphones on a big screen. In 2023 we bring a short screenplay and smartphone photo contest to the lineup.

We present a unique awards ceremony with our “Red Carpet Extravaganza!” honoring contenders from all competitions; actors, and crew of all ages. All participants are escorted by sponsors Dude Vader and members of the Science Fiction Coalition on the red carpet.

Each year, the festival recruits a number of volunteer judges with no interference from our festival, or each other, to select the winners for each competition.

Participants in our film festival enjoy networking with industry professionals, learning through workshops and special presentations, and make new friends and genuine connections.

The International Mobile Film Festival was created by founder Susy Botello of S. Botello Productions™ who launched it in the Spring 2009.

Filmmakers Marina
Photo credit: Dean Curry Photography. Left to right back row: Cooper Friedman, Madison Friedman (front), Quinn Friedman, Niles Larson, Caroline Spence, James Smith, Kelly Calabrese, Dave Calabrese, Randy Zuniga, Julia Zuniga, Alison Kohlhardt; Center front row: Clint Clark (left), Preston Meneses (right).

International Mobile Film Festival is a GOLD Member Film Festival on FilmFreeway.com and an IMDb qualifying film festival.

SUBMISSIONS FOR IMFF 2024 ARE CLOSED

Smartphone Photo Contest.

Short Screenplay Contest 6-8 pages.

OUR IMFF TRANSFORMATION 2022

Submit on FilmFreeway.com! Read the detailed criteria and categories.

The Feature Film Competition seeks high quality well produced story based narrative feature length films. Three films will be selected to screen and compete for the Best Feature Film Award.

The Short Film Competition seeks short high quality films of all genres. Winners in each of the categories in the short film competition (see categories in FilmFreeway.com) will compete for the top three awards: First, Second, and Third Place. 2023 new time limits are 3-10 minutes!

Both feature and short film competition selected films will screen during our main event screening in our film festival. 

The Rookie Award is a separate competition for less experienced, and new mobile filmmakers to showcase their films in a separate session during our film festival. The length of the short films in this category/competition is 1-5 minutes. All genres accepted. One of a handful of selected films will receive special recognition during the awards ceremony and one film will be recognized as the winner of The Rookie Award.

Read about the Community Stories Program.

“Make Your Dream Movie” Mobile Filmmaking Workshop led by Levi Austin Morris (center) with Allison Lobel (left) and Jamie Tobias (right) IMFF 2023’s 12th Edition April 30, 2023. Sponsored by Mobile Film School (non-accredited). Photo: Mario Sevilla.

Mobile Film School in San Diego

The San Diego Mobile Film School (non-accredited) was officially launched in September 2012. It has since held workshops during each film festival event and on it’s own. During the pandemic, we found it impossible to provide our intended “hands-on” instruction, lectures and seminars. However, we continue to look for opportunities for in-person events, and maintain the tradition through our in-person film festival in San Diego.

SBP PODCAST MOBILE FILMMAKING

Festival founder Susy Botello hosts and manages the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking (October 2017). The Voice of Mobile Film™ is for everyone who ever wanted to or is curious about making movies and videos using smartphones.

The SBP Podcast is free to the public with no ads. Help us keep it going with a paid membership and become a patron. Unlock exclusive episodes with the $5 a month membership, less than the price of a taco or a coffee per month. Listen to 25 exclusive episodes. 

Susy sits down with smartphone filmmakers to discuss their projects and inspire listeners with in-depth conversations.

Our podcast inspires storytellers as filmmakers and gives a voice to creators in the mobile filmmaking community.

On July 18, SBP Podcast premieres a new bi-weekly panel discussion called “Fade In To Film,” where select panelists sit down with Susy to discuss topics of interest affecting the filmmaking and mobile filmmaking community jointly, with a foundation in storytelling through film.

The program discusses current events and news of interest to both communities, with an effort to solidify the connection between them.

www.fadeintofilm.com

Fade In To Film: Bringing Topics from Your Mind to Your Ears.

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SBP (S. Botello Productions)

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