Colombia’s ‘El Fin’ Debuts At The Smart Film Festival

Cellphones and new and affordable technologies can be an incredible promotional tool for aspiring writers and directors to create a short film. Finding new ways to express ideas using audiovisual means seems a never ending task for those who are not financially capable to buy or even rent the equipment required for high-level technology, but with smartphones that advertise themselves to be as good as a professional camera, the possibility to produce a film seems to be more accessible now than ever before. That is the premise of Smart Films Festival, where you can create a short film and find out how to apply for an orange economy in the film industry. This festival is in its third year at the Teatro Cafam de Bellas Artes.

The festival aims to promote the use of smartphones to produce films and thus rejuvenating the industry in countries like Colombia where, only medium sized to large production companies have the resources to create films. At the Smart Films Festival, the use of alternative mediums to obtain funds or to use other technologies that enable creative minds the means to give their message a voice and a face. Small production companies such as El Llamado Films have embraced the media of smartphones to produce interesting stories like ‘El Fin.’

As promoted on their Facebook page, ‘El Fin’ is a short film where time and how it interacts with a group of teenagers are explored. The twist comes with how producers and writers want to create the short film, which came in the for of a responsible audiovisual product that is self-aware of the repercussion it has on audiences regardless the age. It comes as a counter-ideology of what the large production companies do in Colombia, who have exploited themes from cheap comedies to narco-violence. For writer Ivonne Zgaib and director Renne Díaz, it was important to be able to narrate a story that people of any age could relate to and understand.

‘El Fin’ is participating in a contest created as part of the Smart Films Festival, where creativity is not only in terms of narrative but also in how to make a valuable product and how to promote it using the most recent platforms (social media, search engines and so on). The festival also promotes the implementation of the concept of Orange Economy where talent, culture, intellectual property and connectivity are the foundation to boost a national economy, in other words, to make money creating something new.

The Smart Films Festival is taking place from October 9th to 11th where the producer can show their films, and anyone interested in how to apply to the concept of Orange Economy into film-producing can receive advice from experts on the subject. You can have more information regarding the festival as well as to vote for ‘El Fin’ in the contest on the festival website.

‘El Fin’ will be released for the first time at Teatro Cafam de Bellas Artes on this October 10th at 6:00 p.m. on the Star Wars screen.