Festival celebrates mobile phone movies

Iria

Europe's first film festival for movies shot with mobile telephones opens this weekend in Paris.

With dozens of films to be screened, ranging from 30-second shorts to a full-length feature made in Rome, the Pocket Film Festival seeks both to showcase an emerging art form and to ask what effect it might have on mainstream cinema.

"There's already great creativity in mobile phone film-making," said festival director Laurence Herszberg.

"I don't think we'll ever see Scorcese making films on phones, it's a new form and it will attract its own creators."

The festival comes as mobile network operators in many countries are thrusting third-generation (3G) phones equipped with video cameras and internet capability on their customers in the hope of recouping some of the huge investments they made in the sector.

While mobile phone users are long familiar with downloading ringtones, games, and graphics, they can now in some countries view "mobisodes," clips that play on a mobile phone's screen.
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Read More / Source: BBC News