IFC to Air Short Movies on Its Web Site

By GARY GENTILE

LOS ANGELES – Budding filmmakers will have a new outlet for their work when the Independent Film Channel begins airing short movies initially produced for its Web site.

The new IFC Media Lab is envisioned as an online community for independent filmmakers who want to distinguish their flicks from the growing amount of video posted on the Internet.

Short films of six minutes or less will be posted on the IFC site, and viewers can vote for their favorites. Starting in April, the top five films will air on the IFC cable TV channel in-between scheduled programs.

"Media Lab provides a home and a voice for new, original filmmakers all across the country and showcases great content that might not otherwise get seen," said Jennifer Caserta, IFC’s senior vice president of marketing.

The Media Lab was quietly launched late last year and now has almost 4,000 registered members and 400 films submitted.

The site will grow to include Web journals, links and resources for filmmakers.

Anyone can upload a film, create a home page and rank other people’s movies.

IFC Companies is a division of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.