Although its third edition could not be held in person, SmartFilms benefited from remote activities carried out by the public during the pandemic.
The film Festival made with cell phones carried out a series of virtual workshops that enhanced their closeness with participants from all over Latin America, said Adriana Sánchez, director of the meeting.
“Last year we managed to get 144 thousand people to participate. It is a very high increase thanks to digitization, since previously we had reached around 7 thousand people in person ”.
SmartFilms started four years ago with few allies within the industry. At its launch, it gathered a few 300 short films to compete in the three categories that it has. However, since the second edition they noticed a growth of 30 percent of participation.
“It happened in all areas from calls to academic agenda. And for the third year, which was that of the Covid, we got an impressive surprise because the fact that people were at home and that we took a digital format, allowed us to increase participation exponentially. At the convocation level, we managed to increase to 45 percent ”, says the director.
This scope has also been given by the alliance that they have developed with allies such as the National Polytechnic Institute, the La salle university, the Faculty of Cinema, brands and television channels that have brought their platform closer to young creators.
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“With TNT we managed to air the winning short film throughout Latin America for 15 days; and that the winners are broadcast by Channel Once in the United States. It is a way of getting to know the new cinema made with cell phones and its filmmakers. I think those are the advances that SmartFilms he can boast in these years ”, highlighted Sánchez.
They hope that this luck will be repeated in the fourth edition that will be held in November and whose call will remain open until next September 13. This is made up of three categories: Youth, Amateur and Professional, where prizes will be distributed from the 50 thousand to 100 thousand pesos according to the shortlist.
As every year, SmartFilms It has a main theme from which the short films that will compete in the different categories can be created. For this year, the premise starts from the question What is your power and how are you transforming your reality with it?
“It is a concept where we want to highlight that superheroes do exist and that there are millions out there. We want to make these stories visible and the fact that they are superheroes without a cape ”.
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In addition to the call, the event will continue to offer workshops for those interested in developing cinema with cell phones as a tool, which will be available for free on the official website of the meeting.
“Our goal when reaching the different countries is to promote the production of local content and continue to reach rural communities. This year alliances have been created with that intention. We want everyone to be able to participate because everyone has a story to tell. And we want to amplify the idea that with a cell phone you can make movies ”.
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