FREE SPEECH and CINEMA

The Lost Pen Pays Poetic Homage to Free Speech in Sydney Film Festival

Beraat Gokkus’ short film about exiled journalists dominated Sydney’s prestigious international film festival featuring mobile movies.

A scene from The Lost Pen features the chief actor Karam, a poet from Syria.

A film starring actual journalists and shot by a journalist/director at a place that hosts exiled journalists from all around the world in Paris dominated the mobile moviemaking festival in Sydney last weekend as the industry gears itself for an impending shift to more mobile ways of filmmaking in the foreseeable future.

SmartFone FlickFest (SF3), Australia’s International Smartphone Film Festival, launched its premiere online last week due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s physical restraints. Found by two film nerds, the festival is featuring 70 films from across the world while its award section contains 16 finalists that competed for the best film, best director, and other cherished spots that attest to the talents of enthusiastic directors.

The Lost Pen, a French film directed by Beraat Gokkus, won three awards, including best film, best director, and best actor. Shot in a single plan for the span of the entire 14 plus minutes, the film is a testament to the growing appeal of mobile…