las-vegas-reviewjournal-tricks-of-the-trade

Not playing at a theater near you. Yet that film festival favorite or world premiere may be as close as your flat-screen TV, your computer monitor, even your iPhone. At a time when independent films have a tough time playing (and staying) at local multiplexes, a variety of video-on-demand programs -- on the Internet and/or cable TV -- have sprung up to fill the gap. As a result, there's a wider world of movies available to audiences than ever before. Just not in movie theaters. The irony isn't lost on industry veterans, who have seen independent films disappear from theaters even as independent filmmakers have capitalized on the digital revolution. "It's never been easier -- or less expensive -- to make a movie," observes Mark Lipsky, president of Gigantic Digital Cinema, which streams new first-run independent and foreign-language movies on its Web site (www.giganticdigital. com). "But it's never been more difficult to find the audience for them." In part, that's because truly independent films -- movies made outside the Hollywood studio system, with miniscule budgets and without name stars and filmmakers -- are a tougher sell at the multiplex. <a href="http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/10/15/4426404.htm" target="_blank">Read more</a> 2009-10-16T11:37:00-04:00 2 90 Las Vegas Review-Journal: Tricks of the Trade published true 1 2009-10-16T11:37:12-04:00 24