July 25th, 2025Smartphone filmmakers festival
The world’s biggest annual festival for smartphone filmmakers has launched its 11th year. And with the announcement of a venue partnership with the Sydney Opera House, entries are now extended until October 1st.
The hit film fest which regularly draws hundreds of entries from all over Australia and all over the Globe – from filmmakers of all ages – boasts more than $50,000 in prizes, across 5 categories.
This year’s categories are: The SF3 Gala Finals, SF3 Kids, Feature Films, SF3 Mini for films 3 mins or less (with a theme this year of ‘Breath’) and the second year of SF3 AI.
All Gala and SF3 Kids finalist films will screen the weekend Fri- 19 to Sun 22 Feb, 2026 at the Sydney Opera House. It is so exciting to bring films shot on the smallest screens to one of the world’s most iconic venues, the Sydney Opera House.
The Mini and Feature Film Finalists will screen at the Palace Chauvel the same week.
The huge celebration of smartphone cinema will include red-carpet premieres, a film sound masterclass with the team from Major Sponsor Rode, Networking Parties, Screenings and Award Ceremonies. There’s audience voting and the months leading up to the finals also offer free masterclasses on a range of creative and technical areas, including film adaptation, screenwriting and music composition.
There are 36 Awards including the major ‘gongs’: SF3 Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Screenplay, Best Feature Film and SF3 Best Kids Film. Special prizes again include the SF3 & Blackmagic Camera Award, the SF3 & Spineless Wonders Best Adaptation Award, SF3 First Nations Award, the SF3 & WIFT Best Female Creative Award.
