BigDigits First Annual Worlds Smallest Film Festival" Now Accepting Digital Entries for ‘First-of-Its-Kind Mobile Event

Technology and media conference will precede awards ceremony, offering insights and perspective on new media techniques and trends.

Los Angeles, CA -- January 18, 2003-- BigDigit, Inc. today announced that it is actively soliciting digital film entries for its planned Worlds Smallest Film Festival, scheduled to take place on March 18, 2003 as a special independent event at the CTIA wireless conference and trade show in New Orleans, LA.

Entries are being accepted through March 3, 2003 in eight major categories: Drama, Comedy, Music, Episodic, Instructional, Animation, and Commercial and Extreme Sports. . A panel of judges will rate submissions on a variety of levels, including creativity, entertainment value, ‘real world utility and optimum use of currently-available technology. Attendees at the CTIA conference and exhibition will also have an opportunity to screen and vote on entries as part of the First Annual BigDigit-CTIA ‘best of show awards category, through a special portal and software developed and enhanced just for The BigDigit First Annual ‘Worlds Smallest Film Festival.

The highlight of the event will be an awards ceremony, recognizing the most creative and effective entries in each category, including those ‘films that are developed by corporations as part of an ‘eLearning or service and support function.
The first-of-its-kind festival will showcase a variety of digital content that is created and enhanced for presentation on next-generation wireless phones. The event is sponsored by BigDigit, Inc., a mobile perception and awareness company that is positioned as a highly-active motivator in the personal wireless field. The company brings together the most important players in application development, wireless services, and content development to create high-impact perception campaigns for its clients.
The CTIA spring wireless conference is the premier event in the industry, and is expected to attract more than 40,000 attendees worldwide and 800 members of the press. Speakers at the CTIA conference will include Paul Otellini, President and COO of Intel Corp., Christopher Galvin, Chairman and CEO of Motorola, Len Lauer, President of Sprint Corp.s PCS Division, John Stanton, Chairman of T-Mobile, and Ted Turner, Vice Chairman of AOL Time Warner.

As part of the WSFF program, BigDigit will lead a series of discussions and presentations prior to the awards ceremony that focus on new trends and developments in new media presentations and mobile multimedia systems. Taking part in the discussions will be representatives from some of the top hardware, software and content companies in the industry. Many of these companies will be showing the latest in mobile technology and will be prepared to demonstrate how these new systems and services will usher in a brave new world of mobile entertainment and portable multimedia.

The whole concept behind the WSFF and BigDigits ‘conference-within-a-conference is to demonstrate and discuss what will soon be available in the U.S. in terms of new mobile and wireless technology and personalized mobile content.    Right now, there are close to 138 million wireless subscribers in the U.S (and 900 million wireless service subscribers worldwide). Although most of the digital wireless communications in the U.S. today consists of voice and data traffic (including, most recently, the transmission of full-color digital still images), we will soon have access to technology that allows capturing and transmitting full-motion video and multimedia clips that will usher in a whole new world of personal and mobile entertainment, as well as more business-oriented mobile info-tainment and multimedia eLearning. .

Shipments of next-generation wireless handsets with built-in digital imaging capabilities will reach 151 million by 2006, as users view digital imaging as a major incentive to trade-up their present cell phones to more feature-packed models (IDC Research). These numbers represent an incredible opportunity for wireless service providers, digital content developers, and applications creators. Strong sales are expected to continue throughout the fourth quarter and into the first quarter of 2003, as handset makers in the U.S. unveil an exciting new generation of multimedia and Web-enabled devices featuring improved color screens and a built-in ability to handle high-level graphics.

Companies that are partnering with BigDigit on the Worlds First Smallest Film Festival include LapLink, Inc. (www.laplink.com), LightSurf Technologies (www.lightsurf.com), Stonegate, Inc. (www.stone-gate.com), and Shoreline Research (www.shorelineresearch.com).

Additional details on The First Annual BigDigit ‘Worlds Smallest Film Festival are available on the CTIA Web site at http://wireless2003.ctsg.com/general/first_annual.cfm. Information on submitting digital entries is available from the BigDigit Web site (www.bigdigit.com).

CONTACT:

Beau Buck
Executive Producer
BigDigit.com
310-277-FILM (3456)
beau@bigdigit.com