The Portable Film Festival is one of the largest online cultural events. Now in its 5th year, it features some of the most innovative film and video being produced today across music, film, fashion and online culture. And it’s completely portable. You don’t need tickets. You can watch it on your iPad, on your mobile phone, on a rooftop or in a park. It’s up to you.
Originating in Melbourne, Australia, the first Portable Film Festival was launched online in September 2006. It featured 67 pieces of content from over 250 submissions. Melbournians Andrew Apostola and Simon Goodrich founded the festival to explore the art of portable filmmaking and viewing. Apostola and Goodrich were already at the time directors of Portable, a digital studio that is interested in creating projects that merge digital and real world experiences. One of the films featured in the 2006 festival included Hungarian director’s Geza M Geza and Eva M Toth’s short, Maestro, that went on to garner a nomination for Best Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards. The second festival commenced on August 1, 2007, and included 150 international entries in five categories in 2007. Samuel Tourneux’s entry, Even Pigeons Go To Heaven, went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film at the 80th Academy Awards. Singapore director Craig Rosenthal’s entry The Trainee, premiered at the festival, picking up the “Grand Hopper” for best short film, subsequently going on to be showcased internationally at the New York City Shorts Festival, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, the Cape Town World Cinema Festival and Cinemanila.
In its third year the 2008 Portable Film Festival showcased over 160 films from 39 different countries, chosen from nearly 550 submissions. In 2009 it grew even bigger with close to 1000 submissions and 200 films.
