Nokia does the right thing with Spike Lee

Nokia announced a multimedia film production initiative in association with celebrated director Spike Lee. The handset giant's Nokia Productions division will team with Lee to create a social film generated from user-generated mobile content--according to Nokia, the project will spotlight "the way music tells the story of humanity," with Lee directing the film digitally via the Nokia Productions website while guiding and critiquing submissions as they are entered. Online assistant directors will additionally assist participants in revising and reposting their entries for consideration. Lee will select the winning entries integrated into the final film.

Contestants can submit original content consisting of text, music, video or images in any combination through August 21 at http://www.nokiaproductions.com. The final collaborative film will premiere this fall at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. "The future of filmmaking is changing and mobile-generated art is fast becoming the next medium for film," Lee said in a prepared statement. "In five years, I believe we will be watching films in movie theaters that have been shot on a mobile phone. Today, with state-of-the-art multimedia devices like what Nokia has to offer, you are seeing firsthand the democratization of film. 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."

For more on the Nokia/Spike Lee project:
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