MIFF 2020

We believe that making films with a phone is not a limitation, it’s an opportunity. The mobility, size, and immediacy of a phone allows us to see the world differently.

Watch the films
Stills from films submitted to MIFF 2020

2020 Filmmaker finalists

Watch and celebrate the work of our winning filmmakers, finalists, and honorable mentions.

2020 People's Choice Winner

The Lost Village

Kaelo Iyizoba

Mini Documentary Honorable Mention

Congratulations to this year’s People’s Choice winner! We are really loving the fact that this year’s award goes to an honorable mention. The people have voted and Kaelo is taking home $10,000 in cash, presented by Moment, to fund their next project with.

2020 Filmmakers' Choice Winner

Of Salt and Sand

Kyndra Kennedy

Longform Finalist

Congratulations to this year’s Filmmakers' Choice winner! Kyndra's film, selected by our judges, won $10,000 in cash presented by Shure.

2020 Category Winners

The Himalayan Musician

Vishal Bhanushali

Mini Documentary Winner

The Reef

Sven Dreesbach

Longform Winner

How to Caption Your Movie

Charlie Ainsworth

How-To Winner

We Can't Breathe

Luke Bell

Music Video Winner

The Bird Song

Lawrence Chandam

Narrative Winner

2020 Category Finalists

Coloring Outside The Lines

RJ Bruni

Mini Documentary Finalist

Personal FBI Agent

Sierra Marilyn Riley

Narrative Finalist

Jerry's Dream

Warner Shaw

Music Video Finalist

Caô Cae

Eduardo Ohara

Music Video Finalist

Of Salt and Sand

Kyndra Kennedy

Longform Finalist & Filmmaker's Choice

How to Survive a Pandemic

Sally-Ann Dunn and Bartosz Wozniak

How-To Finalist

How to Build a Leather Whale

Nachhos Nachos

How-To Finalist

Alma

Elizabet Marlo

Longform Finalist

Invasion

Pete Majarich

Narrative Finalist

Claudia.

Michael Glynn

Mini Documentary Finalist

2020 Honorable Mentions

A Letter To George Floyd

Deonte Streeter

Narrative

The Yeti

William Pisciotta

Narrative

A Mano

Daniela Di Salvo

How-To

FaceTime Me Some Love

Andrea Pavlovic

Narrative

The Lost Village

Kaelo Iyizoba

Mini Documentary

Not Balanced Feat. Groovy J. - GOOD VIBES (Official Video)

Julian Schiele

Music Video

Meet The Judges

We’re honored to have some of the most talented people in the industry screening your films and helping select The Filmmakers’ Choice Award.

 Portrait of Andy To

Andy To

Andy grew up in East Oakland and has been making films ever since his grandfather introduced him to his Sony Hi-8 and the stories he would capture on his travels back to Saigon. Learning from his documentary style, he learned to develop his own way of seeing, creating and shooting. He’s been fortunate to find his bliss in creating photos and video; which has given him opportunities to combine his passions for travel and filmmaking into one. His approach is to keep it simple, using just his phone and a gimbal to capture the world around him.

@andyto
Christopher Harpe holding his two boys

Christopher Harpe

Chritopher Harpe is a father to two beautiful boys, Christopher James and Braxton Alexander. He’s worked in food and retail the last 7 years from Restaurants like Pappadeaux to Chick-Fil-A. Harpe is the creator and owner of a brand recently relaunched in April called, “Don’t Cheat The Process”, as well as a producer for a Dallas-based company called Tribe Film.

@chris_harpe
 Portrait of Philip Bloom

Philip Bloom

Philip Bloom is a British DP, director, and award winning filmmaker known for his DSLR filmmaking, blog and workshops. One of his most successful independent projects was “How To Start A Revolution” which won a BAFTA in 2012 and was also awarded prizes at several film festivals including Best Documentary at the 2011 Raindance festival. Philip recently finished filming two seasons of the acclaimed CNN original hour long global documentary series “The Wonder List” traveling all over the globe.

@PhilipBloom
Portrait of Jesse Driftwood

Jesse Driftwood

Jesse Driftwood is an easily excitable, always optimistic, photographer, filmmaker, fun haver, family man from Toronto, Canada. Known for his over the top Instagram stories where he takes day to day tasks and turn them into cinematic pieces, he’s since taken his short form storytelling skills and brought them to brands like Canon, Lululemon and HP.

@jessedriftwood
Black and white portrait of Shantira Jackson

Shantira Jackson

Shantira Jackson is a Chicago transplant currently based in Los Angeles. She's a writer for the new "Saved By The Bell" reboot and has worked as a staff writer for the late-night talk show “Busy Tonight” on E!, NPR’s “Ask Me Another”, and BET's "50 Central". She has been featured on Vulture, Refinery29's "Strong Opinions Loosely Held," and worked as a contributing writer for CNN, the Writer's Guild Awards, The Webby Awards and The ESPYS. She is also an active member of the critically-acclaimed improv group 3Peat.

@tira_tira_tira
Portrait of Sonia Hosko

Sonia Hosko

Sonia Hosko served as producer and co-executive producer on the TV series "Saving Hope" and "Rookie Blue". She also worked with Ilana Frank and ICF Films as co-executive producer on "The Detail" and "Burden of Truth". Sonia was a producer, writer, and director on "Little Films About Big Moments", and was part of Sarah Polley's "Away From Her", Brian De Palma's "Redacted", and Atom Egoyan's "Adoration". Sonia was also a creator of The Lexa Pledge, which serves as a guideline for writing positive LGBTQ storylines.

@soniahosko
Portrait of Vuhlandes

Vuhlandes

Vuhlandes is a photographer from the westside of Detroit, MI whose surroundings have influenced his unique, street, gritty but clean style within his photography. Vuhlandes wants to show the world what he sees through his lens - that it’s not always “sunshine & rainbows”. A different side of the world that some may never see, or know what it’s like to be from. He loves to capture the raw emotion of photographed subjects, and loves to work with and meet new people.

@vuhlandes

The giveaway winners

Congrats to our giveaway winners! They've won $10k in filmmaking gear from our amazing sponsors.