SIFF ING | Stories Beyond the Festival: Mobile Filmmaking in Continuum

Cinema in the palm of the hand, where new stories come to life. On June 17, the "Mobile Filmmaking Camp" of the 2026 SIFF ING Section (hereinafter referred to as the "Camp") at the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival successfully concluded in Shanghai, while the stories born through the Camp continue to unfold beyond the festival grounds.

As a new featured section of the 2026 SIFF ING, 10 outstanding young filmmakers were selected through an open call for submissions for the Camp. Selected filmmakers received professional iPhone filmmaking equipment, production funding, and technical mentorship, creating a complete pathway spanning concept development, filming practice, screenings, and industry exchange. The program encouraged emerging filmmakers to explore and refine their own cinematic voices through hands-on creation.

Throughout the program, the 10 young filmmakers used mobile phones to capture the subtle textures of everyday life and shifting nuances of light and shadow. Moving beyond conventional storytelling boundaries, they explored cinematic languages uniquely their own. Their works reveal the immediacy and creative richness distinctive to mobile filmmaking, as well as the emotional resonance embedded in everyday life, while inspiring young filmmakers to experiment boldly and explore new possibilities in visual storytelling.

Emerging Voices in Focus | Paving New Paths in Mobile Filmmaking

The 10 selected short films were showcased both on-site and online during the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival, offering audiences a direct encounter with the distinctive perspectives of these emerging filmmakers and an immersive experience of the immediacy, intimacy, and emotional resonance inherent to mobile cinema.

(The films below follow the stroke order of the directors’ surnames in Chinese.)

Director: Ding Ding

Title: One Way Out

Logline: After years of drifting through the city with no future in sight, Cheng Yi unexpectedly sets off on a surreal journey after picking up a special passenger one day.

Director: Li Chenxi

Title: The Lobster

Logline: A fleeting encounter between carbon-based life and silicon-based life.

Director: Yang Xiaoman

Title: A One and A Two

Logline: The daughter went with her mother to sort through her father's belongings, never expecting it would be another reunion with him.

Director: Wu Xinyu

Title: Days With You

Logline: Two women pretend mother and daughter for three days before heartfelt parting confessions.

Director: Stray Chen

Title: Till Death

Logline: After a brutal fight with his terminally ill wife, an AI humanoid secretly chooses to decay with her, embracing death side by side.

Director: Bonnie Chen

Title: Mentors

Logline: Twenty years after being torn apart from her rhythmic gymnastics mentor Lily, Bonnie remains haunted by unresolved emotions. Now an actress, Bonnie meets her acting mentor Jim and invites him to help create a theatrical healing process in search of reconciliation with Lily.

Director: Xu Xiang

Title: Live Photo

Logline: On the last day of the divorce cooling-off period, Yan revisits old Live Photos in a desperate attempt to save his marriage with Qi, only to find the memories inside them rapidly collapse.

Director: Tu Hailun

Title: The Unscientific Disappearance

Logline: A driver gives an elderly stranger a ride to the hospital, but the man mysteriously disappears midway through the tunnel, alongside a series of unsettling incidents begins to unfold.

Director: Han Yuqi

Title: Hide and Seek

Logline: As his parents avoid talking about death, eight-year-old Lin Xu is left to navigate alone the grief and confusion following his younger sister's passing.

Director: Harry Cai

Title: Amour

Logline: When her period arrives on the same day as her ex' s wedding invitation, she hides her heartbreak in the ocean breeze, while the man beside her quietly keeps her company.

Driven by a commitment to nurturing emerging talent, this year’s SIFF ING Mobile Filmmaking Camp gave young filmmakers the opportunity to explore storytelling, cinematic language, and creative expression. Through mentorship grounded in mobile filmmaking practice, industry professionals brought firsthand experience into the program, establishing a platform that seamlessly connected concept development, production, and on-site screenings. Each film presents a personal and distinctive vision of the world, infusing the evolving landscape of mobile cinema with renewed energy and creative momentum.

28th Shanghai International Film Festival

SIFF ING Section

SIFF ING aims to tap the creative potential and enthusiasm of young filmmakers in the new era, providing a broader platform for young filmmakers and bringing together fresh, eclectic young creative forces from different cultural backgrounds.