Pocket films in Paris

The Forum des Images film center in Paris hosted the 2nd annual Pocket Films Festival this weekend. Showcasing the work of 80 artists and directors, the festival is dedicated to films shot entirely with 3G mobile phones such as those made by Sony Ericsson and Nokia. Most of the movies, which ran the gamut from animation to film noir, were short (about 5 minutes), but several hit and even exceeded the 60-minute mark.

Most of us are well aware of the less-than-cinematic video quality that cell phones produce: dropped frames, muffled and often out-of-sync sound, and images so full of pixels that even Classic NES Super Mario looks good in comparison. This was an issue at last year’s event, but with new phones sporting improved technologies and features released almost every month (the latest were loaned to festival entrants), the old problems have been more or less resolved. The event’s artistic director noted that the pocket films produced this year were four times larger, indicating that the gap between camcorders and phone cameras is closing. Some entrants even used the limited video capabilities for artistic effect.

For more on the event, including a synopsis of the 14 films shown at the festival, check out the official website (French).

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