Spike Lee and Nokia look to “democratize” filmmaking

by Stevie Smith - Apr 25 2008, 12:49

Seemingly not content with ruling the mobile phone roost, Finnish giant Nokia Corp. has announced that it is joining forces with influential director Spike Lee (Malcolm X, Do The Right Thing, Summer of Sam, Jungle Fever) to take a shot at making its mark in the movie industry.

However, Nokia’s partnership with Spike Lee is far from a conventional assault on movies, with Lee set to apply his directorial skills to masses of cell phone footage submitted by mobile phone owners.

“You are seeing first hand the democratization of film,” said Spike Lee in a statement regarding the project. “Aspiring filmmakers no longer have to go to film school to make great work. With a simple mobile phone, almost anyone can now become a filmmaker.”

The film itself will be produced by Nokia Productions and will be themed around the way music conveys the story of humanity. Three assignment-based acts will contribute to the structure of the movie’s overall content, each of them to be revealed online to those budding moviemaking geniuses interested in becoming a part of the final cut.

Nokia outlines that submissions for each assignment should consist of text, music, video or still imagery, while each assignment will run across four-week deadlines spread between now and the project’s close date on August 21.

Submissions will be whittled down to 25 by Nokia, before that content is placed at the mercy of online voters, who will then reduce those 25 submissions down to a final 10. At that point Spike Lee will select the winning submission for each of the film’s three acts before taking up the directorial reins and adding them to the final movie.

Once Lee is finished working his Oscar-nominated magic, the Nokia-produced movie will be premiered in Los Angeles before the close of the year.

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