If you’re a true independent film fan, Fandor may be the streaming movie service for you. Fandor has a catalog of over 2,500 great indie movies available for instant streaming. You can stream Fandor through their web site on your computer, Google TV (via their web site, no app yet), or through their recently added Roku channel. An iPad app is also rumored to be in the works for Fandor.
Fandor is not for those who are just casual fans of indie flicks with broad appeal and success, like many of the indie titles on Netflix. No, Fandor is a service for true independent film connoisseurs- those who enjoy art films, film noir, and international films. With film genres such as “Psychotronic”, “Chalk”, “Culture Jamming”, and “Anarchic Comedy”, it’s obvious that Fandor is aimed at those whose movie taste might be considered eccentric by the average Netflix subscriber.
Fandor on Roku
Fandor has added a social feature they hope will help viewers spread the word about hidden gems of independent cinema. They have a built in clip creator on their site that allows subscribers to snip any 60 second scene from a film and share it with friends via Facebook. As most indie film fans don’t utilize traditional methods for discovering new movies, social recommendations such as clip sharing look to be a great way for fans to discover new viewing material.
The Fandor Channel in web browser
One other cool feature of Fandor is The Fandor Channel. Instead of searching for a specific film to watch, Fandor subscribers can just click over to The Fandor Channel and enjoy a constant stream of carefully pre-selected independent movies. The Fandor Channel also has a schedule, and each movie in the lineup has a link so you can always just click on over and watch any film on demand instead of waiting for it to show on The Fandor Channel.
A Fandor subscription will run you ten bucks a month (their Roku channel is included with web site access), and only nets you roughly one tenth of the amount of movies offered by Netflix (although the majority of Fandor’s catalog is not available in Netflix). Fandor, however, has a more carefully curated collection than Netflix- and gives 50% of it’s revenues to the indie film makers themselves- thus giving them incentive to continue creating great movies and art. Knowing that half of your subscription fee is going directly to the creators of indie films you love might be reason enough for die-hard arts supporters to sign up.
I’ve been using Fandor for the past few days and must say I’m really enjoying it. The picture quality is great, although not all titles are available in HD. I would recommend Fandor to hardcore indie movie fans who don’t mind paying a higher subscription fee than the norm (but knowing their money will help support the arts). This is definitely not a mainstream service, and if you’re not one of those aforementioned “hardcore fans” you may be disappointed with the selection of titles available. If you’re on the fence, or just want to check out what Fandor is all about, you can sign up for a free two week trial here and check it out for yourself.
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