Click here for the press conference in with Robert Redford announced a new partnership between the Sundance Institute and the GSM Association to commission six filmmakers to create short films for the mobile platform.

From a piece by James Allan Miller in Smart Phone Today:

Six filmmakers have been commissioned by the GSM Association and the Sundance Institute to create five short short films just for mobile handsets. The purpose of what’s called the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project is to extend independent filmmaking to what the institute’s president and founder Robert Redford refers to as “the ‘fourth screen’ medium, after television, cinema and computers.”

The two organizations believe this is the first time independents have been given the task of of creating orginal stories for a mobile environment. All of the chosen directors for the pilot program have shown movies at the Sundance Film Festival in the past.

These include Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the two filmmakers behind the current release ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, in addition to Justin Lin (‘Better Luck Tomorrow’), Maria Maggenti (‘Puccini for Beginners’), Cory McAbee (‘The American Astronaut’) and Jody Hill (‘The Foot Fist Way’).

They’ve all been given a limited budget to create 3-5 minute short films for the ultra-small screen.

Redford added, “We feel this experiment embodies fully, our quarter-century dedication to exploring new platforms to support wider distribution of independent voices in filmmaking.”

Sundance’s director of programming & creative director John Cooper is overseeing The Global Short Film Project. Cooper said the project takes the institute “into the realms of a uniquely intimate new medium, one which holds tremendous promise for maximizing the impact and international reach of the short film genre, and in doing so serving the artists.”

The premier of the short films is set to occur at next year’s 3GSM World Congress, which takes place in February. Attendees will be able to download the films directly to their cell phones at the conference, with broader release occurring after when it is over.