The Winners Of The Smartphone Short Film Competition Have Been Announced

Back in March, we announced that ZIFFT (Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust) and Alliance Francais were hosting the Smartphone Short Film Competition. The competition was a challenge upon aspiring filmmakers and whoever else was interested to make films shorter than 4 minutes and record it entirely using a smartphone.

After going through forty-six entries, ZIFFT along with Alliance Francais and Elevate (another partner) picked the 10 best short films and these were the ones battling it out for the grand prize of $500.

Here are the videos which scooped awards…

First Place – The Appointment by Rodney Mabaleka

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/749145115209116/

Second Place – The Last Note by Shawn Ndlovu

This is the only video that was in the top 10 but not uploaded by ZIFFT. We will update this article once we have the footage.

Third Place – Dungeon Chronicles by Lindani Mataure

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748914191898875/

People’s Choice Award – The Sun Freak by Yvonne Mutekedza

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748846011905693/

The rest of the best…

Here are the other videos that made the top 10 but were just edged out by the ones we just saw.

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748864961903798/

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748857855237842/

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748853851904909/

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748853851904909/

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748851891905105/

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748840561906238/

https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweFilmandFestivalTrust/videos/748832765240351/

My personal favourite, Chibage did not get to win but the quality of these videos shows how far you can go using a tool as simple as a smartphone.

What will the winners be getting?

The filmmakers who got awarded will be receiving cash prizes but that will not be all. ZIFFT promised to take these filmmakers to a number of workshops where they will get trained and get a chance to rub shoulders with industry leaders.

As part of ZIFFT’s partnership with Elevate to make the Smarthone Short Film Competition happen, the filmmakers who won will get an opportunity to make videos that will go on Elevate’s social media platforms. They will be getting paid for these videos according to the views the videos get. I think this is a really cool way to enable people to pursue paths they are passionate about whilst also making sure they get to reap some financial benefits in the short term.

Kudos to ZIFFT, Alliance Francais and Elevate. Hopefully, in 2019 we will see the second edition of the Smartphone Short Film Competition