Just one year ago (January 2007) David Denby of The New Yorker asked whether new generations of movie viewers would be “screen agnostic” contrasting younger movie consumers of a certain age who prefer to watch films on a big screen. He relates his experience of trying to watch Lawrence of Arabia and Pirates of the Caribbean on an iPhone, the latter being more successful as his breathing mimicked roiling seas. You see the screen was small enough to necessitate resting the phone on his stomach while reclining and viewing it.

As recently as 2007, a cell phone film festival seems to answer the question. With 8,400 people logging in to view and vote on the second annual CellFlix entries, one can assume perhaps, that viewers are not troubled by the small format of a cell phone screen.

Dean Dianne Lynch of Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications notes that CellFlix is now in its second year and was a pioneer in the genre.

In the past several years, many film festivals or competitions have proven the format’s durability, though interestingly enough, one of this year’s winners called it a “passing fad” and said he would be using the prize money “to buy a camcorder so he can shoot larger format film.” Moreover, one of the CellFlix judges also said the power of one entry was that “It makes you forget entirely that you’re watching it through a phone.”

CellFlix requires the film to be shot on a cell phone and formatted for cell phone viewing. Other cell phone film fests allow filmmakers to shoot and/or edit on other equipment with the final product designed for cell phone viewing. The top two entries at CellFlix had radically different shooting and editing experiences. Top prizewinner shot in 90 minutes and took ten hours to edit. The second place winner shot in 10 minutes and edited in 10 minutes, too.

In March 2003 The International Herald Tribune cited “the Worlds Smallest Film Festival” as the first hosted by a Los Angeles company called BigDigit in New Orleans.

In 2004 Zoie Films hosted what founder and winner Joe Miale called the “World’s first cell phone film festival.” One filmmaker, the second place winner Victoria Lynn Weston said, “In entertainment, this is the next big thing.” Miale is one of those involved in the mobile phone film festival circuit that believes the format is best suited to animated or commercial applications. Since the inception of the cell phone film fest, advances in phone technology and streaming video apps have made filming and viewing on cell phones easier. However, high speed, fast-buffering viewing options are not yet ubiquitous. Most of these film festivals are geared toward 30 second to 10 minute formats.

In addition to the CellFlix festival at Ithaca College, the Century City Cell Phone Fest held its competition in 2007 to “educate young filmmakers on the intricacies of producing for this important entertainment medium.” According to Patrice Williams CEO/Founder of Minorities in Broadcasting Training Program. The grand prize in this festival was a trip to Sundance. No word on whether the winner’s entry would be submitted to a Sundance panel.