Case Study: Cinequest's Maverick Approach to Streaming

The significance of this came about from Cinequest’s relationship with Palm, who provided free Tungsten handhelds for Platinum ticket buyers. For a $500 ticket price, enthusiastic film lovers received a $500 Wi-Fi-equipped PDA that could be used to stream trailers, also available through Cinequest Online. This meant festival attendees, while at the festival, "could watch trailers to help determine which films they wanted to see" using a temporary Wi-Fi infrastructure that Hussey scrambled to throw together, he says. From a streaming perspective, delivering video to PDAs is especially interesting, as their small yet vibrant displays are an ideal size for the lower resolution that typically accompanies streaming video.

Many filmmakers initially scoffed at what they perceived as surrendering control of their creations to the Internet. "There was a lot of initial concern, because this was something new," says Hussey. "They’d heard horror stories from the music industry." Those fears proved unfounded, Hussey claims, due to Kontiki’s "secure sharing technology." According to Hussey, Kontiki’s technology prevents copying—and therefore piracy—plus its control mechanisms allow the filmmakers themselves to set licenses with expiration dates and other viewing restrictions.

What really won over filmmakers was the promotional aspect of the site. "Cinequest Online offers an amazing discovery opportunity far beyond a physical film festival. It’s a premium marketing device," says Hussey. "Hard as it is to get a film made, it's that much harder to get it distributed." The initial phase of any movie is promotion. For smaller films, this can mean traveling around the globe attending film festivals, usually before the film begins to generate any revenue. But Internet delivery is something relatively new--certainly to the filmmakersso Hussey "had to explain the benefits as well as the technology."

Still, there's much left to do to turn Cinequest Online into everything that Hussey envisions. First off, Kontiki's system isn’t compatible with Mac clients. Hussey hopes that Kontiki will have a Mac version up and running by the end of the year.

"We're moving into phase two in the site's development," says Hussey, referring to a number of site enhancements that are scheduled to go live on January 1, 2005. Version 2 of Cinequest Online will include opportunities for people to chat, blog, and rate movies. With these enhancements, Hussey hopes to bring in a million online users. "Our focus over the next twelve months is to build a community audience, engaging them in our process," says Hussey. That sense of community is what drew Hussey to the concept of film festivals in the first place, and it translates well into the digital space.