Who We Are

B-Side has found a way to:

Capture the audience for independent film.

B-Side provides websites to over 250 film festivals in North America. As part of those sites, audiences can rate the films they’ve seen, share information on those films with friends, and get recommendations from other film goers. More than 4 million film fans have passed through B-Side’s websites to date.

Get films seen by enthusiastic audiences with little or no marketing costs.

In 2006, B-Side created a website that allowed fans, radio stations and local clubs to host their own screenings of a documentary called “Before the Music Dies,” a chronicle of the changing music business over the last 30 years. In 3 months, the film had more than 100 screenings and played to more than 15,000 people. In 18 months, that number grew to 300 screenings in 250 markets.

In 2008, Netflix’s stoner documentary “Super High Me” screened in close to 1000 markets thanks to B-Side’s “Roll Your Own Screening” program. On an $8,000 marketing spend, “Super High Me” went on to outperform other titles on Netflix with 100 times the marketing budget.

Increase and sustain buzz, awareness and revenue for a film’s non-theatrical launch.

B-Side brought the film “Crawford” to Hulu, as its first-ever film premiere. An extraordinary documentary by first-time filmmaker David Modigliani, the film provides a unique perspective on the Bush presidency: through the eyes of the 705 residents of Crawford, Texas. “Crawford” debuted on Hulu in October and, due to the mobilization of B-Side’s festival and film fan network, spent fourteen consecutive days at number one on the site. Based on the viewership its first weekend on Hulu, “Crawford” was seen by more people than either “An Inconvenient Truth,” or “Farenheit 911” on their first theatrical weekends.

Using its experience over the past four years, and formalizing the model created in the process, B-Side is taking the next step towards changing the way independent films find audiences by launching a distribution division. Based out of New York City, the distribution arm will acquire, market and distribute 10 films in 2009.