Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Thursday, December 16, 2004

IFILM - Online Short Films Channel:  

I stumbled across this treasure trove of films and clips on the web because I'm a Daily Show fan and wanted to watch Jon Stewart's interview on CNN's Crossfire.

IFilm is ad-supported but you can buy a subscription that has no ads, faster streaming and premium content. However the free content is so diverse and intriguing you will end up seeing a lot of (mercifully short) ads. My only beef is the lack of variety in the ads and the AOL pop-ups. The same few ads rotate over and over and it gets old fast. Wouldst the ads they carry were as diverse as the films.

IFILM - Short Films Channel says on their help and FAQ page "Short films are what got IFILM into the online-media business, and we love 'em. Today's short filmmakers are tomorrow's festival darlings, commercial and music-video directors, and video-game developers. We provide a worldwide forum for the work of the most independent of independent filmmakers. In our search for good shorts, we visit and provide information on film festivals. Consequently, we have a huge library of good shorts to watch—including early and independent work from big names like Ben Affleck, Kate Hudson, Kathie Lee Gifford, Jonathan Liebesman and many more."

They even have CNN's Bill O'Reilly's alleged phone sex call.

Budding and established filmmakers can showcase their films on IFILM for a reasonable price as long as they "own or hold the rights to the film and have all the rights and clearances (music, etc.) [and] have not granted exclusive Internet rights to any other company."

See the IFILM submission FAQ for details.

PB