• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 9, 2006

Seeking to expand--or perhaps shrink--filmmaking boundaries, the Sundance Institute on Wednesday announced a pilot project to extend independent short films to the cell phone.

The Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project encompasses commissioning six filmmakers to make five 3- to 5-minute films exclusively for mobile distribution. The six filmmakers chosen have all screened films previously at the Sundance Film Festival and include Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who co-directed "Little Miss Sunshine," released earlier this year.

Joining with the Sundance Institute to sponsor the project is the GSM Association, a trade association of 700 mobile phone operators that adhere to the Global System for Mobile Communications standard and have more than 2 billion mobile customers worldwide. "This project will explore the potential of the mobile medium to deliver compelling, cinematic entertainment to a global audience on an unprecedented scale," said Bill Gajda, chief marketing officer of the GSM Association, in a prepared statement.

The completed mobile films will debut next February on the opening day of the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona and will be available for cell phone download to attendees. Following the event, they will be distributed more broadly through mobile carriers, although details have not yet been disclosed.

The other filmmakers chosen for the project are Justin Lin ("Better Luck Tomorrow"), Maria Maggenti ("Puccini for Beginners"), Cory McAbee ("The American Astronaut"), and Jody Hill ("The Foot Fist Way").