Yahoo News Fanforce TV Platform Launch Combines Pay-Per-View With Live Q&As
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Australia-based film distributor and multi-territory cinema-on-demand platform Fanforce, this week launched Fanforce TV. It is a streaming service which it positions as a community-led platform, and ideal for use by populations under coronavirus-enforced lockdowns.
Fanforce TV consists of a pay-per-view model combined with live-streamed discussions and live chat to enable global audiences to connect films with those in their community, as well as expert panelists.
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“Community has always been at the heart of what we do at FanForce with our cinema-on-demand releases, but with the arrival of the coronavirus we were forced to reschedule over 250 cinema screenings with Q&As across 37 countries. So, we moved them online instead and rallied the directors and panelists to livestream their scheduled Q&As, and take questions from the audience via live chat,” says FanForce founder Danny Lachevre.
The platform includes a system called Home Premieres, which allows organizations, schools and businesses to host their own screenings and discussions. It also operates a system in which users are paid cash and receive free views for film recommendations that result in a purchase.
Among the titles available at launch are 2020 Oscar winner “Parasite”; Maya Newell’s documentary “In My Blood it Runs,” about a 10-yr-old Arrernte Aboriginal boy Dujuan; and Damon Gameau’s climate change documentary, “2040.” The latter was produced by the FanForce Group, a collective of film distribution, marketing and story consulting companies, and appeared at the Berlin film festival in 2019.
Other titles now available on Fanforce TV include Michal Kondrat’s docudrama, “Love and Mercy: Faustina” from Sonovision in Poland and “Fat Fiction” from WideEye Films in the U.S.
“Our film was planned to run in cinemas in multiple territories and was cut short by the coronavirus,” says Sonovision CEO Konrad Sosnowski. “With Fanforce TV we are now able to reach audiences globally and continue to have communities organize their own screenings.”
“Fanforce TV enables us, as American filmmakers, to reach a global audience easily with scheduled premiere events around the world. Our events scheduled for the U.S., Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand feature livestream Q&As with some of the world’s most respected experts in diet and health,” said “Fat Fiction” director Jennifer Isenhart.
Fanforce’s other film production credits includes “Embrace,” and Gameau’s “That Sugar Film.” It also recently worked with director Cate Shortland on her proof-of-concept pitch to Marvel Studios for “Black Widow.”
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