There are few rules, plenty of room to be creative, and almost $50k up for grabs. Yes, the Olleh Film Festival is back and is accepting submissions from February 1^st – 28^th 2013. And this year for the first time, international entrants are being accepted, in an attempt to globalize the event going forward.

Olleh, the wireless division of KT (one of Korea’s three national telecoms conglomerates), is sponsoring the film festival. All submissions must be made through the official website, which has an English version, and can be found here.

The festival director, Lee Jun-ik, who was behind box office ‘King and the Clown’, believes that smartphones have “democratized cinema”. In South Korea, where over 60% of the population own a smart phone, it is not unusual to see toddlers using the high tech devices and as Lee says; “It’s amazing. Even a three-year-old kid can make a video using a smartphone”.

June-Ik Lee in action with a smartphone at the 2012 awards

Through the festival Lee hopes to encourage aspiring filmmakers and amateurs who might have great ideas, but do not have access to expensive production equipment.

Post editing (PC or Smartphone) is permitted, but the regardless of the techniques used to produce the films, the essence of cinema – good storytelling – remains the over-arching basis for the judges. “We are looking for compelling stories and good storytelling,” claimed the festival director. “Our winning films last year were so good that they were invited to the Shanghai International Film Festival.”

So if you fancy yourself as a great director, but don’t have the Hollywood budget, here is your chance to prove yourself. For more information, just follow this link.

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