THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just when you thought independent filmmakers in India will always have it rough, comes a platform that strives to give them something worth celebrating. Muvizz.com, an online channel for aspiring filmmakers, was established for just that — to give the indie filmmakers of India, and even other countries, to reach out to their audiences without having to go through a complicated process of selection.
Founder of the company, Abhayanand Singh explains, “When multiplexes came about, there was a general cheer in the film fraternity that independent filmmakers would now get the opportunity to showcase their films to a larger audience. But over the years, these multiplexes too favoured mainstream cinema. Then came the digital age where again there was hope for these indie filmmakers, but there’s still a gap between them and their audiences. We founded Muvizz to bridge that gap.”
In simple term, Muvizz is a streaming website, a lot like Netflix, even though it’s currently in its nascent stage. “We have a library of independent films across
languages — Hindi, English, regional films, and some foreign ones too,” Singh explains, adding, “All these films are curated; we have a committee that reviews these films and approves them for the website. We are also open to independent filmmakers approaching us to host their films, which will of course be reviewed by the panel first.”
The idea is to also make the audiences aware of films that hardly get talked about. “Take for example the film Court by Chaitanya Tamhane. No one had heard of it till it went for the Oscar nominations. There are many such similar films that deserve a much better platform, and people need to be informed about them,” he says.
Apart from streaming films, the website will also be a media for cinephiles to discuss films. One can follow other members and get recommendations from them, or simply open up discussions to talk about cinema.
“We would also like to focus on current issues, and will open conversations online, linked with a film of course,” Singh adds. At present one can either view few of the films that are available for free, or get a subscription to watch any number of films in a month, or even opt for the pay per view option where one literally rents the film for about 72 hours to watch it online. “We are constantly working towards upgrading our technology. We are also launching our app within a month as well,” he says.