With the proliferation of cheaper and cheaper high-def cameras and filming equipment, the doors to independent filmmaking have been wedged open wider and wider in the last decade. Well, that’s not entirely true — sure it’s easier than ever to self-fund and film a movie, but the digital revolution has done nothing to help get these films in front of interested viewers. While the creation of indie films has proliferated, the distribution channels to actually get them out to the world have grown even more stringent and restricted.
That’s what someone like IndiePix Unlimited aims to address. The portal has been created to allow true cinephiles to stream and download libraries of some of the best the independent film industry produces. The subscription video store offers over 200 independent films, featuring premiers for recent Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, and Sundance award winning films (like that of the above French action film Assault, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last week). Up to 500 titles will be up on IndiePix Unlimited by early summer during its launch period over these next 10 weeks, closing out at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 30. Most of their titles are not available on any other streaming subscription site.
The interface is well done, clean and simple, and the variety of movies will keep you entertained for days — you just hover your cursor over a movie’s thumbnail and a short profile pops up with running time and synopsis. You can then watch the trailer with a click, and then stream it instantly. Films like American/Sandinista, a doc about American volunteers in Nicaragua in the 1980s during the country’s bloody civil war. Or Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry, a documentary about the life of the most famous and iconic tattoo artist in America’s short history. There’s everything from horror (Everything Good Thing To Rust, Exhibit A) to biographies (Dominick Dunne, champion arm wrestler John Brzenk, hip hop photographer Johnny Nunez) to quirky feature films (Lions of Punjab Presents, Happy Holidays) included, all broken down by category and genre. Think of it as an indie Netflix really, starting at $6/month.
