When storytelling slips out of studio hands and into our pockets, a new kind of cinema erupts. On 23 January 2026, SmartFone Flick Fest lit up the Sydney Opera House’s Playhouse Theatre, drawing creators from around the world into a charged celebration of innovative vision, fast craft and fearless storytelling.
Now in its 11th season, the SmartFone Flick Fest stands as the world’s largest smartphone film festival, drawing more than 450 entries from over 60 countries and proving just how far the craft has come. Screen production no longer waits for permission, budgets or gatekeepers. It’s a space where voices once sidelined can step forward on their own terms, telling the stories that matter to them whenever and wherever the spark hits.
SF3’s Adult/Open Category is a global, all-genre playground where anyone with a smartphone and a story can compete, as long as they keep things non-explicit, non-graphic, under 20 minutes, and every film shot entirely on a phone or tablet.
What sets SF3 apart is its ethos: radical accessibility, affordability and inclusivity, welcoming filmmakers aged four to seventy-nine, embracing neurodiverse storytellers and championing disability representation. It’s built on the belief that great cinema shouldn’t be gated by gear, budgets or geography, only imagination.
And that belief shows on screen. This festival isn’t just accessible, it’s limitless; the creativity on display isn’t chasing trends, it’s defining what comes next. Sixteen finalist films, sixteen moods and a spectrum of stories set the tone for a night that made one thing unmistakable: Smartphone filmmaking isn’t the fringe anymore. It’s the frontier.
Judging a festival like SF3 can’t be easy. The films swung from raw personal stories to inventive comedies, with flashes of horror, social commentary and some sci-fi thrown into the mix, and with several contenders being first-time filmmakers, each one pushed the smartphone format in completely different ways, delivering some of the festival’s boldest, most inventive work.
My taste always leans toward strong narrative and savvy acting with great sound and dynamic editing. Cactus by Brandon Geoffrey Fairly and Steve Wilson-Alexander (NSW Aus) was the whole package, and a crowd favourite for a reason. An elegantly filmed, quirky yet affecting look at a man battling addiction, sparked by a cactus originally meant as a parting provocation.
Another standout was Skin Hunger by Thomas Finch and Lena Fellows from London, UK, a beautiful, understated piece built around the deeply private and tender rituals between an agency carer and their patient. It’s quiet, precise, and exquisitely edited. Similarly, Sundown Syndrome by Claudia Carmen and Livia Hendricks hit hard with its portrayal of dementia’s shifting realities, past and present folding into each other through sharp editing and thoughtful colour choices and tone.
Squashbox by SJ van Breda-Ballito from KZN, South Africa, swept the major awards. Best Film, Cinematography, and the coveted Black Magic Camera prize, and it’s easy to see why. Shot over 1.5 years across South Africa and Europe, the documentary is visually breathtaking, with elegant drone work and a cinematic eye that feels far bigger than its smartphone origins. Not many documentaries manage to take home Best Film, but Squashbox earns it.
The 5-Minute Empire by Tez Frost (VIC Aus) took out the Best AI Film Award and pushed the lineup into new territory. Filmed entirely with AI, it uses both its story and its techniques as a clever bite of irony, skewering fake worlds, fake personas and the hyper-constructed universe of influencer culture.
Co-founders Angela Blake and Ali Crew have spent eleven seasons proving that accessibility isn’t a trend but a philosophy, building a festival for anyone with a story and the courage to tell it, whether they’re shooting from a bedroom, a village, a rooftop or halfway across the world
In 2026, inclusivity isn’t just shaping the future of filmmaking; it’s powering it and reinforcing the way. And with technology evolving at breakneck speed, 2027 could be the year SmartFone Flick Fest cements that the future of cinema isn’t coming, it’s already here and accelerating.
Reviewed by: Faith Jessel