Sundance Announces Streaming Deals With Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon And YouTube

Even if you can't make it to Utah this year for the Sundance Film Festival, don't worry: Sundance can come to you.

In a press release, the Sundance Institute announced that it would be expanding its Artist Services program, so that filmmakers in the Institute can easily get their movies online for sale or rental through iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, SundanceNOW, and YouTube. Artists will maintain ownership of their films, though Sundance, and distributor New Video will take a small percentage of revenue.

“When I founded the Institute in 1981, it was at a time when a few studios ran the industry and an artist’s biggest concern was whether their film would get made,” Robert Redford, founder and president of the Institute said in the release. “Technology has lessened that burden, but the big challenge today is how audiences can see these films. The Artist Services program is a direct response to that need. We’re not in the distribution business; we’re in the business of helping independent voices be heard.”

In January, Sundance announced a collaboration with Kickstarter, the online fundraising platform, to help filmmakers raise money for their movies. The Institute reports that it has raised over $650,000 since then. The Institute also has a relationship with Facebook, which helps alumni learn how to promote their films, and build audiences through the site. Sundance also announced that it will offer artists direct marketing tools as well as fulfillment software through Topspin Media.

"It answers some of the challenges the independent community faces most, it endures to provide great content and education around these issues, and it’s also a work in progress. So it can continue to grow and evolve," actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt blogged about the announcement.

The program will launch with two movies from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The first, "On the Ice," directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean gives the story of a seal hunt in Alaska turned unexpectedly violent, and the second, "Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology," directed by Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain offers a personal look at our relationship with technology.

Comments

[amleth]

03:40 PM on 07/28/2011

One of the most decent men in our society is Robert Redford.

I will watch many many hours of Sundance programming.

[missmanners]

07:20 AM on 07/29/2011

I agree.
And we lost another Paul Newman.

[Harrietinthecity]

03:08 PM on 07/28/2011

What bugs me about the tag line on the home page is it pandered to Netflix. I opened the article believing this was an exclusive to Netflix. For those of us considering cancelling our service in August, it's gratifying to know we can get the movies through services OTHER than Netflix. Why not just say Sundance to be made available for streaming and leave it at that. The above title is fine - the home page lead-in is not.

[dana c]

01:09 PM on 07/28/2011

Robert Redford. Such a beautiful man, inside & out, a real gentleman, a renaissance man…love him!!!

[Katco]

12:17 PM on 07/28/2011

Love me some Sundance... Great news!

[Maverickpower]

10:28 AM on 07/28/2011

Bravo Sir . Redford , BRAVO !!!!!!!!!!!!