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The latest film led by online video stars is Man Up, and as of May 28th, it is available through Video On Demand. The film, which stars Kevin Wu as a slacker who must learn how to become a dad and Justin Chon as his crazy best friend, can be purchased for $9.99 or rented for half that price.

In Man Up, announced in March 2015, Martin (played by Wu, who is known as KevJumba on YouTube) must quickly mature after his girlfriend (Galadriel Stineman) reveals she is pregnant. Off the Dock, a digital studio run by production company Lakeshore Entertainment, produced the film, and Supergravity Pictures, a recently-launched studio that works with YouTube stars, handled distribution. Chon, whose film roles include Twilight, directed.

On Vimeo On Demand, Man Up joins several other film projects led by online video stars. Specifically, Vimeo’s premium content library is also home to Taryn Southern...

In 2014, James Rolfe, known online as the Angry Video Game Nerd, released a long-awaited feature-length film in which he brought his irritable character to the big screen. Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie drew a solid reception from among the Nerd’s fans, and now, those viewers a new way to acquire the film. Screenwave Media, the producer of the Avgn movie, has made a DVD version of the film available on Amazon.

The DVD release joins a Blu-Ray option, which was released last year in time for the holiday season. The Blu-Ray sold well; according to Screenwave, it was the second-best selling Blu-Ray comedy shortly after its arrival. The DVD version (which at $19.99 retails for $5 less than the Blu-Ray) looks to add to the Avgn film’s success.

The Nerd's episodic adventures are also available in DVD form. Eight video compilations can be purchased from the Screw Attack store.

In the same week it raised a $24 million funding round and laid off 13 of its employees, Machinima has struck a deal with a prominent web video distributor. The online media company that brands itself as a "many2many" service has teamed with Vimeo for a partnership that will bring content from its 30,000 creators to Vimeo On Demand.

As part of the deal, Vimeo will fund individual projects helmed by creators within the Machinima network in exchange for exclusive distribution on Vimeo On Demand, which allows users to set fixed prices for their work. Machinima also plans to integrate Vimeo into Console, the talent management service it operates for its creative partners.

This deal is reminiscent of the one Vimeo struck with Maker Studios, another company that runs a large multi-channel network. In this case, though, Vimeo is particularly interested in working with gamers and pop culture aficionados thanks to the...

Sundance 2015

Our crew is hard at work covering the Sundance Film Festival. Here is the first batch of review with more to come.

‘The D Train’ promises a fun, twisty ride Sundance 2015: ‘A Walk in the Woods’ will have you running for the exits Sundance 2015: ‘Slow West’ is a tense and thoughtful revisionist western Sundance 2015: ‘Princess’ is one of Sundance’s best Sundance 2015: Maybe the dingos should eat ‘Strangerland’ Sundance 2015: Ben Mendelsohn is the jackpot in otherwise middling ‘Mississippi Grind’ Sundance 2015: ‘Me & Earl & the Dying Girl’ an emotional, honest and hilarious experience Sundance 2015: ‘The End of the Tour’ a quiet, affecting primer on the life of David Foster Wallace Sundance 2015: ‘Cop Car’ is an instant Americana genre film classic Sundance 2015: ‘Girlhood’ rivals Linklater’s opus Sundance 2015: ‘Knock Knock’ sees Eli Roth and Keanu Reeves offer camp glory Sundance 2015: ‘Eden...

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie

Directed by Kevin Finn and James D. Rolfe

Written by Kevin Finn and James D. Rolfe

2014, USA

For the uninitiated, The Angry Video Game Nerd started as a small independent Youtube series of surrealistic sketch comedy. Created by James Rolfe, the show became an internet sensation over the years amassing millions of subscribers and countless imitators. Rolfe’s foul-mouthed, hard-drinking online personality has turned him into a cult star, building a fan base interested in watching, but not necessarily playing, terrible 8-bit video games from the past. There’s a lot of rage, beer drinking, explosions, cursing, and toilet humour – but excessive profanity aside, just about every major online game review show today, owes a little something to Avgn. Rolfe might just be the world’s angriest, crudest retro-gamer but he’s also a man who’s built an empire in his basement, and truth be told,...

Crowdfunding website joins newly formed Vimeo On Demand Publisher Network

Indiegogo and Vimeo unveiled a partnership Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival that will designate the later as a preferred distribution platform for films crowdfunded on the former.

Vimeo has committed to an ongoing creator fund for certain film campaigns on Indiegogo. In exchange, the latter promised exclusive distribution via Vimeo On Demand. Also, Indiegogo has signed up for its new partner’s Vimeo On Demand Publisher Network, placing a VOD storefront on the crowdfunding site. The favor will be returned on Vimeo’s website.

Also Read: Sundance Party Report...

James Rolfe is famous for reviewing video games on his Angry Video Game Nerd web series. Now, Rolfe is taking his alter ego into films with the just-released-to-vod Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, a comedy in which he tries to find out if Atari really did bury millions of the copies of the notorious E.T. video game at a landfill site in Alamogordo, N.M.

One notable sequence in the film finds Rolfe’s Nerd being attacked by zombies at an “EeeTee”-themed carnival. “Our zombie carnival scene was probably one of our tougher days of shooting but...

It has been more than two-and-a-half years since James Rolfe raised $325,327 on Indiegogo for a movie based on his Angry Video Game Nerd character. Now, at long last, that movie is available for download. Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie has arrived on Vimeo's On Demand platform, where it is available for digital download. The movie continues the Nerd's quest to play and comment on the worst video games in the world. For his big screen debut, the Nerd travels to New Mexico to dig up a copy of E.T., the infamously bad video game adaptation of Steven Spielberg's classic film. Along the way, he accidently becomes an enemy of the Us government and must fight for his life. This premise draws from real-life events; a longstanding rumor in the video game community claimed that Atari buried all remaining E.T. cartridges in the desert. A 2014 dig, conducted while the Avgn movie sat in post-production,...

James Rolfe created the Angry Video Game Nerd character and webseries after putting together a few short videos complaining about old Nintendo games, such as Ljn releases. Soon, as popularity grew, Angry Nintendo Nerd had to be changed to Angry Video Game Nerd so his character could delve into a larger oeuvre of terrible video games from the past. A lover of film and a director of shorts himself, Rolfe and his team often develop creative references to classic films throughout the videos, though still keeping the tone juvenile. Now, Avgn videos are just one of several series and columns on Rolfe’s website cinemassacre.com

His feature length-movie, about hunting down the long-rumoured stockpile of E.T. Atari cartridges buried in New Mexico, had its international premiere at Fantasia 2014, with co-director and longtime friend Kevin Finn in attendance with the Nerd himself. Rolfe took a few moments out of his...

This will be my third year attending the venerable Fantasia International Film Festival here in Montreal, and this year’s slate does not disappoint. I was asked to pick the five movies I was the most excited to see. This proved to be a difficult task, seeing as how my original list had upwards of thirty titles. But here are the five that have got me the most intrigued.

The Zero Theorem

Directed by Terry Gilliam

USA/UK/Romania/France, 2013

Even though this movie has been finished for a while and already released in certain territories around the world, there’s a sense that a new Terry Gilliam movie is some form of minor miracle. Stories of Gilliam’s distended budgets, lost projects, and squabbles with producers lend the director a kind of bizarre mystique. But by all accounts, this was the easiest time Gilliam had making a movie in a while.

Following previous announcements of their film lineup, the Fantasia International Film Festival has released their full lineup of movies to be shown at the 18th Annual festival, starting July 17.

New additions to the lineup include 2014 Cannes Selection When Animals Dream, directed by Jonas Alexander Amby and the return of Fantasia’s showcase of animated films, Axis.

Tickets for the festival go on sale starting July 16, and the festival runs through August 5.

View the whole press release of additional announcements below:

Fantasia Celebrates Its 18th Birthday

With Over 160 Feature Films Montreal, Thursday July 10, 2014 – 2014 is the year that Fantasia turns 18. We can’t believe it either. Fantasia’s 18th birthday means over 160 features and something in the neighborhood of 300 shorts, many being shown for the first time on this continent, a good number screening here for the first time anywhere in the world.In addition to being stacked with a multitude of breathtaking debut filmmaker discoveries,...

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival will be taking place once again in Montreal and the first wave of programming has been announced, revealing an eclectic mix of genre films from around the world:

“Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime, here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year, Ray Harryhausen, filmmaker and stop-motion special effects pioneer, passed away at the age of 92. Mr. Harryhausen created some of the most beloved and innovative fantastic film imagery of all time in such classics as The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad...

The grandaddy of all film fests, Fantasia 2014, is set to kick off on July 17th, and we have this year's artwork to share along with the first wave of event and film announcements.

From the Press Release:

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

For this year’s edition and onwards, Fantasia will be returning to the freshly renovated Concordia Hall Cinema as its main base, which now features an even larger screen, new seating, and upgraded projection and sound.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year,...

Genre festival to open with Jacky in the Kingdom of Women [pictured]; other titles include Guardians of the Galaxy, Boyhood, The Harvest and Suburban Gothic.

Riad Sattouf’s Jacky in the Kingdom of Women will receive its Canadian premiere as the opening film of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Montreal-based genre festival runs July 17-Aug 5 and has also announced it will hold a special screening of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Other first wave announcements include six world premieres: Leo Gabriadze’s Cybernatural; Jean Luc Herbulot’s Dealer; Aik Karapetian’s The Man in the Orange Jacket; Sarah Adina Smith’s The Midnight Swim; Dan Bush’s The Reconstruction of William Zero; and Richard Bates Jr’s Suburban Gothic.

Fantasia has also announced six international premieres, including John McNaughton’s The Harvest and Park Jae-hyun’s The Huntresses, and ten Canadian premieres such as The Mo Brothers’ Killers and Mike Cahill’s I Origins.

Richard Linklater’s critically...

It is that time of the year again in which we start preparing for our favourite film festival in the world. For the unfamiliar, Sound On Sight has delivered some of the best coverage of the Fantasia Film Festival since we first launched back in 2008. In the past we’ve published up to 55 reviews, dozens of features and recorded six podcasts dedicated entirely to the three and a half week long event. So be sure to come visit us again and again throughout the months of July and August, as we will surely be all over the 2014 edition. The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is taking Montreal by storm, starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. They’ve just released their new poster and along with the first wave of films, and as expected, Fantasia’s programmers aren’t disappointing. Here’s the press release. Enjoy!

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Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia...

We may never find out if Big Foot exists, who Carly Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” about, or whether Leonardo DiCaprio is dreaming at the end of Inception. But there is one pop culture mystery which might be cleared up in the near future. For decades, it has been rumored that Atari buried millions of copies of its E.T. videogame at a landfill site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Now, the Alamogordo city council has given the Los Angeles-based Fuel Entertainment permission to search the site for a film project and find out if one of the videogame industry’s...

It's no secret that James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, has been working diligently on a feature film for quite some time. His plans for "Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie" were reveled back in 2010 and since then production has sowed down on the Avgn web series.

Last week, James finally revealed a trailer for the film, and you can check it out on his YouTube channel. The feature length film centers on the often disputed burial place of of 1982's “E.T.” game cartridges for Atari 2600. Principal photography for the movie wrapped back in May of this year, after Rolfe gathered more than $325,000 in fan donations to fund the passion project. However, more shooting will be required and though editing has started, it is only in the early stages.

In a recent post on his website, Rolfe says the “film is expected to be completed in the summer...

Big news for crowdfunders — Google announced today that YouTube videos can now be directly linked to projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. (Actually, in Google speak, that’s “Using annotations to help fund your creative projects.”) Given the expansive reach of the user-generated video giant, this means that many more eyeballs will land on projects seeking coin on these platforms.

From Google’s announcement:

Over the past year, crowdsourced fundraising has exploded as great way to raise money for creative projects. We’ve seen lots of you using platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to fund projects, and we want to make it easier for even more of you to use these tools. We’ve teamed up with these platforms so you can now link directly to project pages on Kickstarter or Indiegogo through annotations.

We’ve been inspired by creators who have funded projects through these platforms, like Freddie Wong’s...

Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Tweetable Logline: Highest Funded Narrative Film on a Crowdfunding Website Elevator Pitch: I thought you would be interested to know that funding for "The Angry Video Game Nerd" series to become a movie has now become the highest funded narrative film on IndieGoGo – raising $213,167 so far with 21 days left. Contributors who help fund the project can also gain special perks such as autographed photos, a copy of the film's script, and even their name in the end credits. Production Team: James Rolfe About the Production: "Over the past 7 years, my "The Angry Video Game Nerd" series has amassed a huge internet audience worldwide.