Open call for international mobile film festival!

The 4th edition of the Pocket Films Festival will take place at the Pompidou Center, Paris, on June, 13-14-15th 2008. Currently they have an "open call" for international films created with mobile phones. This is an opportunity for students to develop films for class using their cell phones and receive some internalization recognition for their work. There are two competitions, one for films shot entirely with cell phones, the other for films created for the cell phone or iPod. Students in French foreign language classes can really take advantage of using their French language and cultural skills to create their films. Students could video tape with their cell phones and then send them to Eyespot to do their video editing. For students who do not have access to their own cell phone, films could also be created on a digital video camera, but they must be converted to be viewed on and iPod or Cell phone (3G format). A great free online converter is Zamzar (select the 3G or iPod option). Beyond a film competition they also have a mobile "project" competition for social activist or non-profits (such as schools...) to develop mobile projects around a particular social issue. What a fantastic opportunity for mobile citizen journalism or student activism (that I spoke of in a recent post). The project competition is really considering the cell phone to be a device of knowledge construction! Fantastic!