By Matt Kapko

Story posted: March 27, 2007 - 5:30 pm EDT

ORLANDO, Fla. Six short films were screened here at CTIA Wireless 2007 for the premiere of the second annual Third Screen Film Festival. Each of the films ranged in length, graphic appeal and storyline.

Three films in a live action category, two in animation and one green film were shown before dozens of onlookers at the Mobile Entertainment Expo, launching a two-day period of text voting for the live action and animation awards. However, hundreds of films were submitted for the festival and were available for viewing at the Third Screen Film Festival booth and on Nano Network Inc., which touts itself as Americas first wireless short film channel.

Short form is going to be successful on mobile, said Jon Katzman, one of the founders of the festival. We’re trying to figure out what will be the killer content, but we don’t know, he said, adding that’s one of the biggest goals of the project.

In the live action category Promises by Dino Gallina was leading votes at the conclusion of the screening. Pumpkin by Matthew Daniel Page and Laud Weiner, directed by Philip Euling and featuring David Hyde Pierce, were also shown on the big screen.

In the animation category Finister and Gil are Flakes by Jason Baskin and Dan Fredman were leading initial text-voting results while Stonecutter by Michael Kwant rounded out the pair of films shown at the event.

We want to teach the filmmaking community how to do things right, said Nano CEO Jonathan Nash, who partnered with Katzman for the project. The channel has a diverse roster of established stars ranging from Jim Belushi to Felicity Huffman.

One common thread with any film that launches is if it’s a great story people will find it, said Eric John, a marketing executive at Yahoo Inc., who sat in on the panel.

You start with a great project it will carry, he said. Films are going to find audiences; audiences are going to find films.

John said the biggest opportunities going forward lie in increased distribution for these creative endeavors.

Erik Smith, vice president at Metacafe Inc., said when he worked at MobiTV, the industry was mostly retrofitting content for mobile TV, while it appears the industry has changed course and realized there’s much more value in creating content specifically for the mobile platform.

Longer narrative things don’t play as well, he said when talking about the noticeably more dense Stonecutter submission.

Jon Bukosky, a consultant in the film industry, said mobile pushes content and storylines forward. He compared the medium to cartoons with their quick, almost instantaneous emotional draw. Bukosky added that the mobile film industry is in a semi quagmire right now, and that newcomers to the industry need to understand the legal parameters in which the movie industry operates and that content must be cleared through multiple channels before it’s delivered to audiences. Virtually every guild representing actors, producers, directors, writers, and on down the chain, have entered the fray recently.

I think mobile is what I call the last mile, but it’s a piece of the puzzle, he said.