Inspiring anyone with a smartphone to tell their story through film

SF3 is one of the biggest smartphone film festivals and educators in the world, bringing affordable and accessible filmmaking to all.

SF3 2025 is now open for entries!

Get us your films by September 1st, 2025 to be part of our 11th edition happening October 24th at ACMI in Melbourne & November 7th-9th at The Palace Chauvel Cinema Paddington,Sydney, Australia.

Enter your film into SF3 2025 via our site here.

Enter your film into SF3 2025 via Film Freeway here.

A very big thank you to our 2025 sponsors who are donating over $50,000 in prizes for our award winners!

SF3 Major Sponsors are Blackmagic Design & Rode Microphones.

Silver Sponsor is Melodie.

Bronze Sponsors are Chicken & Chips Casting & Rubber Monkey.

Our 2025 Prize Sponsors are Reeflex, StoryBoard Quick, the Australian Cinematographers Society, the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Australian Directors’ Guild, Screen Producers Association, the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, Ribbet, The Hub Studio, WriterDuet, InkTip, iPitch.tv, WIFT NSW, AACTA/AFI, Backstage, StarNow, Shot Lister, FilmLocal, Song Saga, Spineless Wonders, NIDA, Trenear Printing, Film Ink and ACTS.

And thanks to support from the City of Sydney and Screen NSW.

We have 5 categories in 2025:

1. The SF3 Best Film for short films 20 mins and under. The films must be entirely shot on smartphones or tablets, with the exception that a very minimal amount of Drone footage is allowed and archival footage is also allowed if necessary to the story. The films can be edited on any device and with any program and external equipment like lenses and mics can be used. Within this category we will also award The Blackmagic Camera Award for films shot using the Blackmagic Cam App, the #FILMBREAKER Award for first-time filmmakers and the Luma Touch Finished on Mobile Award for films that are both shot and edited on a mobile device as additional prizes to our Best Film, Best Director, etc. awards. The Official Selection from this category will be screened in our 2025 Gala Finals and will vie for our top festival prizes.

2. The SF3 Best Feature Film. This is for feature films shot entirely on smartphones and tablets. A minimal amount of drone footage and archival footage is allowed. Films must be a minimum of 30 mins with no maximum.

3. The SF3 Kids Award for filmmakers 18 and under at the time of filming. All films must be shot entirely on smartphones and tablets. A minimal amount of drone footage and archival footage is allowed. The time limit is up to 10 mins. Longer kids film that are really fantastic and justify being longer will be accepted with permission from us at sf3@sf3.com.au

4. The SF3 AI Award for AI made films up to 20 mins. These films must be created on a mobile device using AI and can be any genre or topic. These films must be written by a writer, only made using AI.

5. The SF3 Mini Mobile Award is for films up to a maximum of 3 minutes in length, in any genre. The theme for our SF3 Mini 2025 is BREATH. Use this as your starting point or your inspiration and interpret as you like, even as loose as you need, this is just a prompt for inspiration.

We also have some special awards within these categories:

The SF3 & Blackmagic Camera Best Film Award. We will be awarding three prizes for this award for the best film that is shot using the Blackmagic Cam App. These prizes will be from our Gala Finalists and from our SF3 Kids Finalists.
The SF3 and Chicken & Chips Best Pitch Award. We invite filmmakers to submit a 1 minute video pitch or a 1 page pitch of a film idea to us by June 10th. The Chicken & Chips team will pick their favourite pitch to win this award and they will professionally cast the film. The winner of this award must make their film for SF3 2025 and it is guaranteed a place in the Gala Finals. Submit your pitches to sf3@sf3.com.au
The SF3 First Nations Award for the best film made by a First Nations filmmaker from anywhere in the world.
The SF3 and WIFT NSW Best Female Creative Award.
The #FILMBREAKER Award for the best first-time and emerging filmmaker.

SF3 Smartphone Filmmaking Workshop Series presented by Sydney Water

Join our free screening event on June 14th along with a Film Festival Distribution and Strategy Masterclass taught by Nick Bolton and Angela Blake and supported by Sydney Water.

Reserve your free spot now – https://events.humanitix.com/smartphone-masterclass…

Supported by Sydney Water and presented in partnership with Screen Illawarra, the South Coast Writers Centre and SF3.

#BIGNEWS

We are super proud to announce that we were the 2022 Australian Small Business Champion Awards Winner for the Best Performing Arts Company. SF3’s Angela picked up the award in Sydney at the Star Event Centre in front of a crowded room of more than 1000 people. It is a true honour and we thank everyone who has made SF3 what it is today.

SF3 was also a Best Performing Arts Champion Business Finalist in both 2023 & 2024.

What is SF3?

SF3 or the SmartFone Flick Fest is one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals for filmmakers of all ages and abilities. We are a world-wide festival open to anyone with a smartphone or tablet and a great idea for a short film.

Tell me more

Past SF3 Films

Our recent winners are all on the festival circuit but you can watch some of our old finalists here from across the years and be inspired to pick up your phone and create your own!

Watch Now

SF3 is a top tier Smartphone Film Festival. The team genuinely love smartphone filmmaking and supporting smartphone filmmakers. They watch the films, they know the filmmakers. The festival is a professional, warm and inviting space.

Darcy Yuille

Filmmaker & SF3 Best Feature Film Award Winner

This is the new wave of filmmaking and is something all cinema lovers will appreciate — it’s a short, sharp feast of film.

Nicole Da Silva

Actor & SF3 Ambassador

A really fantastic festival run by the team with some phenomenal industry support. They really care about the filmmakers and put on a spectacular show.

Joshua Belinfante

Filmmaker & SF3 Multi-Award Winner

Workshops

We run smartphone filmmaking workshops around Australia and the world, from one hour classes to five day workshops to students of all ages and abilities, both live and online. Email us to find out more – sf3@sf3.com.au

Get Involved

Our Ambassadors

Our Ambassadors are the most wonderful and supportive professionals from the elite of the film industry and include: Phillip Noyce, Kerry Armstrong, Nicole da Silva, Christopher Stollery, Kriv Stenders, Pieter de Vries, Garry Maddox, Kara Rose, Jon Bell, Anthony Kierann, Jason van Genderen & Emily Prior.

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