Budding film-makers of the Illawarra are being urged to make a movie and enter it into the international Smartfone Flick Fest with applications closing on August 1.

North Wollongong legal researcher Divya Murthy has been making use of the commute to Sydney by writing comedy sketches and has entered two shorts in the competition (see below).

“Making films with your phone is so easy now, most of us have access to smartphones, it’s a convenient way to create work and put it out there,” Ms Murthy said.

“[If I won] it would be very satisfying … and a huge encouragement if I did make it a career option.”

The finalist films are judged by a panel of industry judges with winners in 11 categories – the winning film-makers and actors to take home prize packs worth more than $10,000.

The festival was co-founded by former Thirroul local, director/screenwriter Angela Blake, in 2015.

The ultimate winner of this year's festival will also have their film screened in San Diego at the Global Mobile Film Awards in April 2018, an international awards ceremony and event for smartphone filmmakers around the world.

For more information visit: www.sf3.com.au