As if cellphones have anything to do with making calls.
Everybody but Luddites know their real purpose is shooting video of kittens, UFOs and the hangings of former dictators.
But tonight's Mobifest, an event celebrating made-for-mobile filmmaking, aims to change that. The festival, one of a growing number of similar events around the world, aims to elevate cellphone video to the level of art. Think less about public Taserings and more about film on an epically small scale.
"We're going beyond the ... YouTube moment to actually crafting a film," says Mobifest founder Duncan Kennedy. "We're between YouTube and the traditional film festival in that respect."
Mobifest, taking place tonight at the Revue Cinema, features films that are 90 seconds or less – hearkening to the days when cellphones didn't have enough memory for anything longer – and made specifically for the "sliver" screen.
This year's finalists, whittled to 38 from hundreds of submissions, range from comedy to horror to travel documentary and reflect the medium's evolving parameters. More than half were actually shot on cellphones, compared to about 25 per cent in Mobifest's first year, in 2006.
Another change: Only five of this year's finalists are local. International interest has increased, and over the past year Kennedy has struck deals with 10 other mobile-film festivals to show each other's winners.
"We've taken the lead in pulling together these festivals and co-ordinating the effort," said the 44-year-old former movie producer, citing liaisons with festivals in Brazil, France, Italy, Denmark, Spain, England, Australia and China.
One international entrant in the Toronto event is Californian Jas Batra. His film "FBI Top Secret Video – Ghost Incident" is a finalist in the Shot-on-Mobile category.
"It was a pain to shoot it on mobile," said Batra, who was introduced to Mobifest at a festival Kennedy organized in L.A. "We shot it (using four different phones), then some parts didn't work out or they didn't look good on the phone, so we couldn't use them. It took about three days of shooting, about 30 different takes, and more time editing than anything."
Steve Nash – not the NBA star – is another finalist. The Torontonian and his shooting partner Simeon Ross have a short titled "Hey hey hey" in the Green Scene environmental film category.
It uses subtitles in what he calls a "moving picture-book story."
"You have to make sure your font's large enough that people can read it (on such a small screen), so we had to work with very concise wording. And what could be more concise than what you'd see in a children's book?"
Leslie Chan, a lecturer at the University of Toronto who specializes in the effect of new media on social practices, says mobile movies are the logical next step in multimedia.
"When video cameras became widely accessible, it changed the way we tell stories, as well as how news is reported. Remember Rodney King?" he said.
"What we are seeing today is media convergence on a massive scale, meaning that we can create, access and share media in multiple ways. ... This is where I think new 'storytelling' techniques are emerging, so instead of 'feature film,' we're seeing new genres."
Multimedia Intelligence, a U.S. market research firm, reported that shipments of cellphones with video capability will exceed those of TVs internationally in 2008. And the medium got a major boost earlier this year when Robert Redford told reporters he was excited by the prospect of producing mobile films.
"At the beginning it was really seen as an anomaly and a novelty," said Kennedy.
"But the combination of support from Robert Redford and the release of the iPhone really validated this as a new medium."
Mobifest takes place at the Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Ave.) today at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.
