The Digital Art House: Independent Film Distribution in the Online Era

By examining independent film distribution between 2010 and 2020, this dissertation argues that a new cycle of precarity in independent film history led to the rise of digital distribution methods such as self-distribution, the day-and-date release, and the acquisition and distribution of independent films by streaming platforms. After observing the rise of digital distribution, independent films can be seen in retrospect as one of the initial products exploited in the negotiation of power between theatrical and digital distribution. This negotiation of power is not only economic, but also cultural, with issues of legitimacy, curation, and inclusion at its forefront. Streaming has since triggered an entirely new definition of what it means to be an independent film in the online era, one defined less by theatrical exhibition, a culture of prestige, and an “art house” niche audience, and more so by an “anytime, anywhere” viewing culture, new structures and qualifications at film festivals and awards ceremonies, and algorithm-based viewer targeting methods that further narrow the “art house” audience from niche to individual. However, this dissertation challenges the notion that Netflix and Amazon are “disruptors,” and instead argues that streaming platforms adopted practices already implemented by independent filmmakers and distributors in the decade prior. Advancement in technological capabilities, and with it, the symbolic value of digital distribution, allowed technology companies to capitalize on simultaneous or exclusively digital release methods and target independent film properties because of the evidence that digital delivery was already successful for these products. Through interviews with independent filmmakers and distributors, a critical reading of industry trade press, analysis of the algorithms and interfaces that deliver these films, and a close look at the distribution of films like Four Eyed Monsters (2005), Margin Call (2011), Manchester By The Sea (2016), and Justine (2020), the dissertation that follows will illustrate how the practices of independent filmmakers, distributors, and streaming platforms are changing to adapt to new norms. Therefore, this research is part of the evolving history of independent film and represents a continuation of the ever-changing definition of what it means to be “independent.