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Many cinephile tears were shed when Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks announced the end of streaming service FilmStruck last month.
Say It Ain’t So: FilmStruck’s Demise Threatens Future Of Niche Content In Streaming
Film lovers and filmmakers have put up a valiant fight to revive FilmStruck with 11,000 signatures and counting, but its demise seems inevitable.
Sponsor WarnerMedia: Keep FilmStruck Alive https://t.co/5djS47aeUH
— Alfonso Cuaron (@alfonsocuaron) November 1, 2018
The beloved but ultimately niche art movie streaming service was essentially a combination of the Criterion Collection and the Turner Classic Movies archive, stocked with forgotten films that have little interest for the binge-watching viewers of today.
However, if you love arthouse, indie, foreign and cult films, turn that frown upside down because there are other film streaming services that offer similar movies in their vaults.
Fandor
For those wanting to rediscover and engage with classic, international, non-fiction, and lesser-known works, we are offering FilmStruck users an annual Fandor membership for only $24.99.
Redeem here: https://t.co/QokBR0ENsm pic.twitter.com/A0lMexP6Vg— Fandor
Fandor is one of the longest-running streaming sites (dating back to 2011) with a solid library of 6000-plus films. They also give back to indie film with a revenue sharing model that pays a fair share to filmmakers.
Docsville
Docsville is a global online platform dedicated to documentaries. The on-demand documentary streaming site caters to the ever-growing factual film crowd with a motto that “the best stories are always true.” Among the selection is the true crime mystery Biggie & Tupac as well as Rats, a tale starring New York’s finest rodents.
Shudder
Horror fans are like a cult who worship at the homepage of Shudder. The sick and twisted content includes a vast collection of horror, sci-fi, suspense, and avant-garde cinema that ranges from Asian horror to Italian giallos to the feminist thriller Revenge.
Interactive Entertainment: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Episodes Are The Hot New Streaming Trend
byNWR
Nicolas Winding Refn is a movie renaissance man who has graciously opened up his personal film library to audiences. The Drive and Neon Demon director refers to his newly launched, free streaming site as an “unadulterated expressway for the arts.” byNWR slowly rolls out movies in volumes with similar themes, the latest being “Hillbillies, Hustlers, and Fallen Idols.”
MUBI
MUBI is described as an online cinematheque. The global VOD service focuses on international arthouse cinema (a.k.a “movies with subtitles”). The expertly curated site operates as a sort of online indie theatre with 30 rotating film selections, including a new movie daily, which is available for 30 days until it’s gone.
CHOPSO
If you loved Crazy Rich Asians, why not expand your horizons by signing up for CHOPSO, a global content site that is hailed as “the world’s first all Asian, all English-language streaming service.” Among the titles in its growing library are Fast and Furious director Justin Lin’s debut Shopping for Fangs, the inspirational Jeremy Lin documentary Linsanity, and film festival favorite TAG.
