A whole constellation of stars has passed through this event: Cecilia Roth, Vanessa Ragone, Oliver Stone, Maggie Civantos, Robert Rodríguez, Miriam Fernandez, Fernando Trueba, Alex Pina, Nadia de Santiago, Pedro Alonso, Sam Nicholson and even Fito Paez.

It is a cultural and innovative enterprise that is completing 10 years of activity and has already extended in a couple of versions to Mexico and Paraguay. It is Smartfilms, the Colombian festival of films made with cell phones, an idea that was born in the heart of the Colombian production company Valencia Producciones and that has been very useful to democratize access to audiovisual productions.

2024 edition will take place between September 26 and 28 and the event will once again have international guests: Robin Jonas, executive producer of films such as The King's Speech, The Untouchables, Django Unchained and Dances with Wolves; Ramiro Navarro, Roberto Enriquez and Jose Javy Ferrer are other guests at the event.

The important thing about this initiative is that it is not only about the parade of stars. It is also an academic event where participants can receive ideas on how to develop successful film projects with low budgets. Smartfilms includes a sample of audiovisual projects made with smartphones and grouped into 10 categories, which are awarded during a gala that takes place during one of the days of the event.

According to information provided by the event, the congress program includes the premiere of more than 700 short films made with cell phones in Procinal movie theaters and an alternate academic agenda with great personalities from the international industry. 

This year there is an additional reason for celebration, because during the awards gala the 70th anniversary of Colombian television will be commemorated.

Smartphone filmmaking already has a long history with filmmakers such as Sean Baker who, with his work Tangerine, made a foray into these techniques.

But recently Danny Boyle, the famed English filmmaker, set the bar a little higher, because he finished filming his work "28 Years Later", a post-apocalyptic zombie story that became the first high-budget film shot exclusively with smartphones. According to media reports, the investment amounts to US$75 million. In this case, it was used to shoot an iPhone 15.

Experts consider this type of filmmaking to be an opportunity to democratize access to the seventh art, since the costs of producing films with smartphones are considerably lower than those of major Hollywood productions.