Slamdance, the independent, artist-led film festival that runs concurrently to Sundance each year, has launched a new streaming service that will highlight the lineups of past Slamdance Film Festival lineups but also the lineup for 2022’s virtual festival.
The Slamdance Channel will launch on Jan. 27, 2022 when the Slamdance Film Festival would have taken place in person in Park City before it pivoted to a virtual format. Access to the full festival lineup will be available for $10 through Feb. 7.
After Feb. 7, the Slamdance Channel will be available to the public as a curated collection that will include past festival favorites and award winners. Among them are “My Name is Myeisha,” “Desolation Center,” “Dante’s Inferno,” “Your Day Is My Night” and “Walls of Sand,” which dates back to Slamdance 1996 and was the first contemporary feature film to also be webcast on the internet. Future programming will feature festival showcases from Slamdance Miami and other curated events.
The service will be available for $7.99 per month, $23.99 for a three-month subscription or $74.99 annually. For students with an .edu address, the service is available for $4.99 per month, $14.99 for a three-month subscription and $50 annually. Slamdance alumni and programmers will have annual access to the channel for free and any filmmakers and writers who have submitted their work to the festival will be given a free pass for the year.
The Slamdance Channel will also revenue share and distribute profits fairly among its contributing artist community. The channel will be available on Apple TV, Firestick and Roku, as well as online. You can get a subscription here.
“Slamdance has always looked at ways to overcome industry gatekeepers that block independently made films from being accessible and the Slamdance Channel represents our biggest effort yet,” Slamdance president and co-founder Peter Baxter said in a statement. “We are an anti-algorithm, artist-led collective, continually hellbent on sharing original film work with a wider audience. We’re looking forward to seeing how our Channel develops and fits into the bigger picture of a decentralized media future. The future of film, like any art form, depends on truly unique voices that defy simple classification and transcend analytics. We are celebrating these voices on the Channel who push the boundaries of what’s possible in storytelling.”
Slamdance was founded in 1995 and has been the launching pad for filmmakers such as Rian Johnson, the Russo Brothers, Christopher Nolan, Lee Isaac Chung, Ana Lily Amirpour, Gina Prince Bythewood, Jon M. Chu, Merawi Gerima, Ari Aster, Bong Joon-Ho and more.
2022’s Slamdance Film Festival will be virtual this year and will run from Jan. 27 – Feb. 6. The full lineup for this year’s festival can be found here.