#tagged
2017 · 12m · Netherlands
Directed by Martijn Winkler
Tones: provocative, tender, tense
Told entirely from the perspective of a smartphone screen, #tagged follows 14-year-old Elise through 24 hours as a party invitation she posts on social media spirals out of control, exposing both the intimacy and destructive power of digital life.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Smartphone-POV teen-girl panic — innovative in 2017, since reduced to a TikTok aesthetic. Credit for the unbroken-take craft, but the moral panic about screens is exhausting.
The screen-life conceit (Searching, Unfriended) is already a small genre, but Winkler's commitment to live, uninterrupted phone-as-camera predates its imitators and reportedly powered a full series afterward. A formal experiment worth visiting.
Eleven minutes shot entirely from a phone POV with long uninterrupted takes and no VFX — just live app interfaces and camera footage — is the kind of formal commitment that either works or completely fails. The fact that it spawned an award-winning Dutch TV series (SWIPE) shot the same way suggests the conceit holds.
Reviews
A unique short film about the sweet intimacy and destructive power of social media – told from the point of view of a smartphone. Selected in competition at over 40 international film festivals and winning 12 awards.
The film uses long, uninterrupted takes and no special effects, with everything being live and actually happening, providing an intense viewing experience that truly envisions the role of mobile phones for 14-year-olds today.
Festivals
- New Media Film Festival 2017, Grand Prize
- Dublin Web Fest, Best International Short Film
- ÉCU – The European Independent Film Festival, Best Director
- Rose d'Or Awards, Nominee
- Japan Prize, Winner
- Webby Awards, Winner