Sandeep Marwah, the first person to shoot a feature film on a cell phone, has collected an award from New York University's Tisch School of Arts in celebration of his impact on modern filmmaking.

Marwah shot his first film on a cell phone in 2006 and in doing so ushered in a new wave of independent filmmaking in his native India and around the world, giving the next generation a simple way of getting their cinematic voices heard.

"It is a huge honour for me; I am indebted to the United States of America and especially to New York University for recognizing my efforts and devotion towards films and media. This will be a day which I will remember for the rest of my life," said Marwah, accepting the award from Department of Cinema at NYU.

Marwah is the founder of Marwah Studios and Asian Academy of Film and Television - one of the world's top 10 film schools and has been involved in 4500 TV programmes, 124 feature films and 5000 training films. At 2300 and counting he also holds the world record for producer's credits on short films and to date has collected more than 200 awards for his contribution to visual media.