by Larry Richman
January 15, 2008 2:44 PM

If there's one single thing I wish more than anything it's that independent films reach a wider audience than they do today. Any attempt to turn what are now undiscovered gems into discovered ones is a worthy pursuit as far as I'm concerned, and that's why today's announcement from IFC excites me.

"We still see a lot of movies out there that we're not sure make sense as theatrical titles," said IFC Entertainment head Jonathan Sehring. "We know that there's an audience for these films as a supplement to our existing day-and-date program."

IFC already has a decent track record when it comes to video-on-demand (VOD) offerings, which currently number about 25 a year. Adding a new channel for the purpose of exposing indies to the cable TV audience is a win-win for everyone involved. I see so many films at festivals that never see the light of day. Hopefully the appropriately named Festival Direct will change all that.

The channel will premiere on February 29 with Ken Loach's It's a Free World. "European films that find a ready audience in Europe and many other parts of the world often seem to struggle in US cinemas," said Loach. "While we can all speculate on the reason for that, the initiative by IFCE seems to me to be enterprising and bold. We hope to reach the audience that more conventional distributors ignore and widen the choice of films available to cinephiles and the general public alike."

The initial slate of films will also include Baltasar Kormákur's Jar City, Ken Loach's It's a Free World, Nicholas Roeg's Puffball, Chad Lowe's Beautiful, Ohio, and James Franco's Good Time Max. Time Warner, Comcast, Cablevision and Cox cable systems will offer the Festival Direct titles for $5.99.