If cameraphones are becoming more sophisticated, then why not push them to their limits? That is just what South African Aryan Kaganof has done in shooting a full feature film, SMS Sugar Man, using a SonyEricsson w900i 3G handset. Having already made one film, Wasted!, using Min-DV, Kaganof decided to move to an even more challenging tool set that yields an interesting film quality when transferred to 35mm.

Kaganof is particularly charged up about the opportunities using inexpensive consumer technologies to produce media creates for artists in less advanced markets:

"We are re-writing the book on cinema here, ...things will never be the same again. From now onwards, all you'll need [to make a film] is a good idea, a cellphone, a laptop and you're off. It opens up a whole world of possibilities for African filmmakers."

Kaganof's project resonates with the emerging trend of consumer-generated content, which we have written about at Social Technologies. This trend is growing as more users get their hands on prosumer-quality tools for creation, production and distribution of content. Device manufacturers have certainly moved to support this trend in their marketing efforts around new devices with media creation capabilities. Will we see a cameraphone-shot epic nominated at Sundance or Cannes in the next few years? Quite possibly.