About

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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.

IMFF 2024 took place April 26-28 in San Diego, California.

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?

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 brought a 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.

Smartphone Photo Contest.

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.

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.

Hands-On impromptu Pro Video lesson by Susy Botello at the inaugural FilAm Creator Con in San Diego, September 14, 2024. Photo by Susy Botello. Jacky Lau using his Android phone with Susy’s Smart Z-Finder and MicroBoom by Zacuto.

Is it 30 seconds or 4 seconds? Learn what it depends on, and some tricks to help you get your viewers engaged with your video content from the second they click play.

“Smartphone Action Filmmaking Workshop” Mobile Filmmaking workshop with Art School Dropouts’ founders Joey Min and Stephanie Pham took place during our 13th Edition IMFF April 28, 2024. Sponsored by the Mobile Film School.

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.

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. Help us keep it going. Become a member on Patreon with a paid membership. Unlock exclusive episodes with the $5 a month membership, less than the price of a taco or a coffee per month. Listen to 25 plus exclusive episodes. 

Register as a paid member in your web browser instead of the Apple Store to save the cost of Apple Store fees.

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.

Are you thinking about starting a podcast? Susy can help!

On July 18, 2023 SBP Podcast premiered a new bi-weekly program called “Fade In To Film,” where podcast host Susy Botello sits down with Joey Min, and occasional guests, to discuss topics of interest affecting the filmmaking and mobile filmmaking community jointly, with a foundation in storytelling through film.

“Fade In To Film” discusses current events and news of interest to indie and smartphone filmmakers 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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