Openfilm.com, the online destination for independent films, shorts and animations, announced today a variety of new tools and features to assist independent filmmakers in showcasing their work and help audiences discover and watch the best Web video in high-definition, for free. The highlights include an improved new look for the site with superior navigation, viewing recommendations and film reviews, advice for filmmakers on everything from production to surviving Hollywood, and a well-organized database of more than a thousand film festivals worldwide.
“Openfilm.com intends to become the community of choice for independent filmmakers and the audiences who want to connect with their work,” said Timothy Pastushkin, Co-Founder and CEO of Openfilm. “These upgrades are another major step in the company’s journey to provide the ultimate online destination for filmmakers and viewers seeking high quality video content.”
A fast growing and thoroughly organized database of film festivals will be especially useful to independent filmmakers. Users can now browse and search over 1000 festivals from around the world by locations, dates and genres, and find detailed information about eligibility, awards, and submission dates.
Other features include viewing recommendations and a video review section by a professional film critic to make it easier for audiences to find the content that best suits their interests. Also new to the site are regularly updated journals by Openfilm staff members who are also filmmakers, including Openfilm Co-Founder Alan Melikdjanian’s blog about the intricacies of film production. Other blogs discuss a wide variety of topics from modern films, web video trends and Latin cinema to advice about cinematography and the struggles of an actor trying to make it in Hollywood.
The upgraded site also features enhancements to provide users with a better browsing and viewing experience. Video playback and channel pages are more comment friendly, customized RSS feeds are available for all categories of videos, channels, blogs and reviews, and a new feature in the video player enables viewers to immediately jump to any point in a film.
About Openfilm.com
Openfilm is a video sharing site and an online community of independent filmmakers, film schools, festivals and audiences who want to discover, watch and share the best web video in high-definition, for free. It combines the best aspects of user-generated films with the content selection, high video quality and rich presentation style of commercial video-on-demand sites. Launched in July 2008, Openfilm.com boasts more than 300 channels featuring 1500 films and animations of all lengths and genres, a database of more than one thousand film festivals, and other tools to help filmmakers market their work. Founders and members of the Openfilm team have produced films and television programs for networks including NBC, MTV, and TLC. For more information, visit http://www.openfilm.com or email to info@openfilm.com.
