I graduated from Columbia University School of the Arts in February with an MFA in Filmmaking. Admittedly, you don't need film school to make movies. There were reasons I chose to attend film school and spend five years and a lot of money there. My original plan was to work on movies, and thus learn about the filmmaking process, then spend my money on making a movie instead of school. As part of my plan, I worked on about two dozen shorts as a location sound recordist or boom operator. These were all low budget shoots, generally financed out-of-pocket by the film's director. Some were quite good and quite interesting, and included early shorts by filmmakers like Michael Kang, who just finished his first feature film, The Motel - in festivals now and will soon be released.
It's sounds a bit odd, but it can only be a good thing for young, aspiring filmmmakers in Idaho: an empty Ford dealership in Driggs, Idaho is being converted into a full-on film school. A joint venture between Idaho State University and Stephens College, the newly minted Idaho Film and Television Institute will begin training new writers and producers as soon as the rennovation is fully realized. 
Here is a novel idea, how about a film festival where all the entries are shot via cell phone, well that is
just what the CellFlix Festival is aiming to do. The festival is being put on by Ithaca College (a place I am just a
little familiar with) and is backed by a $5,000 prize for the best entry. The rules are simple, put together the best
30 second film with nothing more than a video enabled cell phone and enter it via the festivals website. The deadline
for entries is January 10th so get out there and start shooting, well until you get interrupted by an incoming call.
