IFC & Netflix Team To Stream 53 Indies

A scene from Susanne Bier's "Brothers," part of IFC Entertainment and Netflix's partnership that gives Netflix the U.S. rights titles from IFC Entertainment. Photo courtesy of IFC Entertainment.

IFC Entertainment and Netflix have announced a partnership that gives Netflix the U.S. rights to 53 unique titles from IFC Entertainment. Through this agreement select titles from IFC Entertainment’s library of independent films will become available to be streamed instantly to televisions and computers via the Netflix service.  The deal was announced jointly by Lisa Schwartz, executive vice president for IFC Entertainment, and Robert Kyncl, vice president of content acquisition for Netflix.

“Netflix has always championed independent cinema and has creatively built audiences for films in this genre, and we’re excited to give their customers instant access to this wide-ranging collection of independent film,” said Lisa Schwartz, executive vice president for IFC Entertainment, in a statement. “Our top priority is to make independent film available to a wider audience and this partnership further underscores that commitment.”

The partnership allows Netflix members on an unlimited plan to instantly watch the newly acquired films on their computers or TVs through a range of Netflix ready devices.  The films will be available beginning Friday, November 20th.

“Partnering with IFC Films gives us the opportunity to expand the number of quality films that our subscribers can watch instantly,” said Robert Kyncl, vice president of content acquisition for Netflix, in a statement. “This deal reinforces our commitment to bringing diversity to the library and properties like this collection of titles bring us closer to that goal.”

The deal will include 53 titles, including English-language independents from John Sayles’ “The Brother From Another Planet” and “Return of the Secaucus Seven,” Christopher Nolan’s debut “Following,” Joe Swanberg’s “Nights and Weekends,” James Toback’s “When Will I Be Loved,” and Rebecca Miller’s first film “Angela.”

The library will also feature documentaries by filmmaker Errol Morris, including “The Thin Blue Line” and “Gates of Heaven”.  Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s award-winning “Brother’s Keeper,” and Jim Stern and Adam Del Deo’s political documentary “So Goes The Nation” are also featured.

News » Oscar Noms News » Sundance Winners Features » Critics Speak

In addition, some recent foreign language titles included in the deal: Susanne Bier’s “Brothers,”  Patrice Chereau’s “Gabrielle,”  Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Cannes prize winner “Nobody Knows,”  Lukas Moodysson’s “Together,” Christophe Honore’s “Dans Paris,” Catherine Breillat “Sex is Comedy, Alfonso Cuaron “Solo con tu Paraja,” Kristian Levring’s “The Intended,” and Hou Hsiao Hsien’s “Three Times.” Login to recommend this article » posted on November 20, 2009 |Share Comments 1 bigfattoe says on November 24, 2009 at 9:00pm Um yea. I want to see that movie “Brothers” really badly. I mean it has all these actors in it and looks so intense. Can’t waittttt! Yay to Netflix 2 xixaxx says on November 22, 2009 at 12:15pm Sorry, LEVIELDER, but I just checked again and all seven of those titles appear on Netflix with a SAVE rather than ADD button, which means they can not currently be rented. On the other hand, all seven titles can be rented from a brick-and-mortar Blockbuster store (I’ve checked) or from their website (in most cases either by DVD and/or download). 3 riphug says on November 22, 2009 at 8:47am I wish there were a way to export my entire Blockbuster queue to Netflix rather than doing it one movie at a time. 4 levielder says on November 21, 2009 at 5:26pm actually XIXAXX what you say is not true. 3 of the 5 titles in your list that i checked were available from netflix the other 2 simply had not been released to video yet. where did you get such crazy information? 5 xixaxx says on November 20, 2009 at 4:44pm This is good news, and the deal almost counter balances IFC’s seamy exclusive arrangement with Blockbuster. What do THE CHASER, CHE, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, HUNGER, THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN, JAR CITY, THE LAST MISTRESS and THE DUCHESS OF LANGEAIS all have in common? You can rent them at Blockbuster, but not at Netflix. 6 rodneyuhler says on November 20, 2009 at 3:57pm This is fantastic news. Login to Leave a Comment »