Smart [Phone] Filmmakers >> Smart [Political] Actions

This chapter analyzes mobile and smartphone films in connection to self-representation and questions of identity. It examines the role of digital moving images in the creation and promotion of new forms of agency and identity within the wider field of visual culture. The chapter outlines the alternative approach offered by the mobile-menta and examines its potential as beyond an emerging technology and an emerging industry. It presents smartphone filmmakers demonstrate an emerging form of agency that critically interrogates representation and brings images from the periphery to the center. Mobile and smartphone filmmaking developed in interdependency with the rise of video streaming websites, the recognition of 'user-generated content' and more generally the World Wide Web. The chapter offers the evolution from mobile filmmaking's aesthetic development of personal and intimate representations towards developing smart political actions in the form of self-representation through community-engaged projects. Mobile and smartphone filmmaking embraces open frameworks including more collaborative and reflexive storytelling approaches.