IFC Films Launching Subscription Video On Demand Channel (EXCLUSIVE)

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – IFC Films will launch a new subscription video on demand channel, Variety has learned. Dubbed Unlimited, it will comprise theatrically released and award-winning titles such as “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” “The Trip,” “Two Days, One Night,” “45 Years” and “The Babadook.” The movies will be furnished from the company’s distribution labels IFC Films, Sundance Selects and genre label IFC Midnight.

IFC Films Unlimited will initially launch on Amazon Prime Video Channels, with a monthly price of $5.99, and its launch will coincide with the Cannes Film Festival, which is fitting given that the company has distributed five Palme d’Or winners. At launch, IFC Films Unlimited will include three of those victors: “4 Months, 3 Weeks 2 Days,” “Dheepan” and “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.”

The company will initially offer several hundred titles. The selection will be routinely updated. In an interview, IFC Films co-president Lisa Schwartz said that the company has quietly been unwinding many of its licensing deals in recent years with an eye towards starting its own service. It will still maintain its distribution pacts with Showtime and Hulu, which have some of IFC’s films in first pay television window. The goal is to start releasing movies on IFC Films Unlimited in the second pay television window.

“This is part of a deliberate strategy,” said Schwartz. “We watched the landscape shifting and realized that we’ve got such a terrific large library that we might be better served by taking some rights back and releasing those films under our own roof.”

Although IFC’s subscription service is launching on Amazon, the company hopes to add other platforms.

“We’re going to continually evaluate as we grow our subscriber base,” said Schwartz. “But our goal is to make this a destination where you can find great films.”