Call it what you want, but whoever was behind the iPhone Film Festival should be commended for their stroke of marketing brilliance.

Commemorating its recent launch, device carrier KT kicked off the world’s first film festival Wednesday that requires all competing entries to be filmed using Apple’s latest iPhone 4.

All 12 of the shorts, directed by both emerging directors and veteran cinematographers, were screened Wednesday night during the opening day of the month-long event.

Undoubtedly, the event is an occasion to showcase to the public the 720p HD video recording capabilities the fourth generation iPhone boasts.

The timing is just right too, as the newest iPhone garnered record numbers of advanced pre-orders since August from Apple’s enthusiastic fanbase.

Reflecting the popularity of the phone in Korea, writer and director of 2004 box office smash “Marathon,” Jung Yoon-cheol, whose stop-motion short is competing at the festival joked during the opening day press conference, “I was filming on top of Gwanak Mountain late into the night with just myself and my doll and thought, ‘what the heck am I doing right now? All this to get an iPhone 4.’”

Jung was joined by fellow filmmakers Bong Man-dae (“Cinderella”), Lee Ho-jae (“The Scam”), Lim Pil-sung (“Antarctic Journal”) and cinematographers Kim Byung-seo (“A Good Rain Knows”), Kim Ji-yong (“Bittersweet Life”), Jeong Jung-hoon (“Sympathy for Lady Vengeance”), Jo Yong-gyu (“Running Turtle”), and Hong Kyung-pyo (“Mother” (2009)).

Art director Lee Hyeon-wha and music video director Hong Won-ki rounded out the participants.

All entries were also cut using the iPhone’s editing application.

Not everyone was satisfied with the phone’s performance however.

Writer-director of “The Scam” Lee Ho-jae told the press that he had difficulties with setting the white balance and anticipating unpredictable focus shifts of the phone’s lens.

“There were problems with setting the white balance and getting the auto-focus to keep steady and consistent but that was taken care of by an application called Almost DSLR, Lee said.

By Song Woong-ki (kws@heraldcorp.com)