The second SmartFilms Summit Fest 2026 announced its short film winners in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, after a two-day festival celebrating cinema created entirely with mobile phones.
More than 1,200 people gathered for the event, where short films Carpe Diem by Diego Pinales and Desandar by Alerick Jiménez earned top honours in the Amateur category.
Carpe Diem received a full scholarship to study Film and Multimedia Production at Universidad Iberoamericana, known as UNIBE. Desandar was awarded a cash prize of 400,000 Dominican pesos.
Universidad Iberoamericana is a private university located in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. Founded in 1982, the university offers higher education programs across multiple disciplines, including cinema, communication, and digital media production.
Amateur and category award winners
In the Ruta Peliculera category, the top award went to Morir soñando, directed by Yessy Lebreult. The film title references a traditional Dominican beverage prepared with fresh orange juice, milk, sugar, and ice.
Switch, directed by Stiven Marte, received a special mention in the Youth category. The festival awarded Best Actress to Shanisse Rojas and Best Actor to Paul Ovalles.
Genre categories recognized several distinct works. Erick Moreta won the Smart Comedy prize for Amor a primera Olla, while Aníbal Báez earned the Smart Drama award for Mañana. Rayniel Solano received the Photography prize for I Didn't Mean To.
Lía Gil won the Best Poster award for Bonitas y al día, and Manuel Méndez took the Original Concept prize for Embutidos sentimientos. The Audience Award went to Igual que la primera vez by Caryoralin Brito, while Lary Santos secured the Screenplay award for Albatroces.
Chester Mejía took the Production Design prize for Atabey, and Stiven Marte received the Essence Award for his short film Mamá.
Nationwide workshops and guest speakers
The festival concluded a three-month initiative that delivered educational workshops across 36 cities in the Dominican Republic. Colombian actor Claudio Cataño participated as the international guest speaker for the program.
Cataño is best known for starring in Netflix's television adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, the celebrated 1967 novel by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. The literary epic chronicles the multigenerational story of the Buendía family in the fictional village of Macondo.
Industry personalities from film and television joined the event agenda to share technical knowledge and discuss ongoing transformations in the audiovisual sector. Over two days, the festival brought together directors, actors, students, professionals, and emerging creators for panel discussions and collaborative activities that extended beyond the film competition.
Democratising cinema with mobile technology
Producers Evelyna Rodríguez and Danilo Reynoso organized the second edition of the festival to promote accessible filmmaking. Rodríguez and Reynoso said the event aimed to democratise cinema and demonstrate that impactful storytelling depends on creative ideas and individual vision rather than large budgets.
Mobile phone filmmaking uses smartphone camera technology to shoot, edit, and distribute motion pictures. As mobile video sensors and software have advanced, festivals worldwide have emerged to showcase short films produced without traditional movie studio equipment.
