So what’s up with the NFB premiering a film on YouTube in the US?

One of the most exciting things happening at SXSW this week is the launch of a new music doc we have coming out about the brilliant Montreal musician and artist, Socalled.

Why is this exciting?

We’ve launched films at SXSW and other major film festivals before – but this is different because instead of launching the film exclusively to festival audiences in a theatre – available only to a couple hundred SXSW attendees and industry professionals – we’re partnering with YouTube to make the film available to all Americans for 99 cents. This is part of a new YouTube Video-on-Demand initiative which, for legal reasons, is only being launched in the US for now. In some ways, this is a true US premiere – available to the whole country. And the net result for this Canadian film is greater access.

Why should anyone care?

This is exciting because we’re experimenting with new ways of launching and distributing films. We are a public institution but we have an obligation to our co-producers to help them make money on their films. YouTube is a great partner and we’re excited to be a part of this experiment. We hope it succeeds, but if it doesn’t it will be a valuable learning experience at no cost to the Canadian taxpayers – and in the meantime the film and the filmmakers are the big winners because of all the great exposure they get as part of this launch.

Whatever… when is the film coming to Canada?

The film will be launched in Canada very soon. So stay tuned…

More about reFrame Films, makers of The SoCalled Movie here.