Can digital downloads save foreign cinema?
At filmfestivals.com we have always believed that the Internet could offer new avenues for indie films facing the bottlenecks of film distribution.
We have been evangelists of that idea to the extent of raising money from VC and funding a VOD platform for indie films from festivals on filmfestivalsTV.com. So what?If all of this does sound familiar to you, and not even newsworthy, I should add that we did this in 1999...OoopsBig mistake in the "time to market".
Since that episode we have followed very closely the developments in that industry and spotted an interesting article in a recent blog post from Anthony KaufmanI suggest you read this.
Bruno Chatelin Can digital downloads save foreign cinema?
It's a loaded question, because who would even want digital distribution to be the main outlet for international and independent film? (We want our movies in theaters, damn it). But the reality is that the vast majority of movies don't get released in the U.S., so what other options do they realistically have? In this article in indieWIRE today, I look into new player Jaman as well as the video-on-demand operations of Netflix and GreenCine.
This weekend, on the contrary, happens to be a particularly fruitful one if your tastes lean towards world cinema. From Abderrahmane Sissako's anti-globalization critics' darling "Babako" to Bosnian Berlinale 2006 stunner "Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams" to the Israeli girls-in-the-military melodrama "Close to Home" to middlebrow French comedy "Avenue Montaigne," it's a rich period for the theatrical releases of foreign-language film. But that's in New York, of course. Most art-movie fans around the country have to settle for their Netflix.
Or, perhaps, for their Jaman or GreenCine digital downloads. It's still early yet for the model. And has been noted elsewhere, there is still a lot of resistance to downloading and watching movies in this way. But then again, whether we like it or not, it's the future, so a company like Jaman -- if it can last in the meantime -- appears to be getting a head start.... Anthony Kaufman
More on Anthony's blog
