Fandor is a film streaming service, dedicated to independent films, documentaries, international titles, and classics, and is a division of the American entertainment company,
Cinedigm. Relaunched in 2021, Fandor offers thousands of films, ranging from
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
s from the earliest years of cinema, up to current festival films. Fandor is offered as an
Advertising Video on demand (AVOD)/
Subscription Video on demand (SVOD) streaming service available on
web,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Android, and
Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
; an
Amazon Prime add-on channel; and is available on
Comcast Xfinity X1,
Xfinity Flex
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
, and
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel f ...
.
History
Fandor was founded in 2010 in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, by Dan Aronson, Jonathan Marlow, and Albert Reinhardt. Fandor first announced its initial launch in 2011 at
SXSW. Leadership has included former
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
chief privacy officer
Chris Kelly;
Ted Hope
Ted Hope (born 1962) is an American independent film producer based in New York City. He is best known for co-founding the production/sales company Good Machine, where he produced the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Nicole H ...
, independent film producer and former director of the San Francisco Film Society; and Larry Aidem, former
Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to:
* Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States).
* Sundance Channel (Canada)
* Sundance Channel (Netherlands)
* Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to:
* Sundance TV, formerly kno ...
head. In 2018, Fandor announced the layoff of its staff and the sale of its assets to an undisclosed investment firm.
In January 2021,
Cinedigm, the American independent entertainment company, announced the acquisition of Fandor, with plans to relaunch the independent streaming service and digital editorial publication, Keyframe.
Cinedigm announced that Fandor would relaunch under the leadership of
film producer, film archivist, and President of
The Film Detective
The Film Detective is an American classic film restoration, distribution, and streaming company based in Rockport, Massachusetts, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cinedigm. Launched in 2013, The Film Detective offers an ext ...
, Philip Hopkins.
Fandor returned to
SXSW, ten years after its initial launch, to announce the next chapter of Fandor and the return of the service, dedicated to
cinephile culture and
independent filmmakers.
In October 2021, Fandor launched its revamped independent
streaming service, with a focus on
independent films,
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
, international titles, and classics.
The app is available on
web,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Android, and
Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
. Fandor has remained available as an add-on channel on
Amazon Prime since its initial launch in 2016. In November 2021,
Cinedigm announced Fandor’s launch on
Comcast Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex.
Services
Fandor offers over 1,300
independent films from dozens of
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
s and
subgenres
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
ranging from
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
,
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
, and
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
favorites, to
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
,
creature feature
A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...
,
film noir,
j-horror
Japanese horror is horror fiction derived from popular culture in Japan, generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horror. Japanese horror tends ...
,
LGBTQ+
' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...
, and
vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
.
Fandor is available to stream for free with ads or via a paid premium subscription on the Fandor app, available across
web,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Android, and
Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
. Fandor is also available as an add-on independent film focused channel on
Amazon Prime, available for $3.99/month following a 7 day free trial. Fandor is also available on
Comcast Xfinity X1, Xfinity Flex, and
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel f ...
.
Films and episodic titles available on the Fandor service include
independent films,
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
favorites,
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
, international films, and classics. Films throughout the entire history of cinema are available on Fandor early
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
s starring
Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
,
Buster Keaton,
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...
, and
Charlie Chaplin, up to current festival films and independent titles including thrillers like ''Into Schrödinger's Box''; star studded features like ''
Distancing Socially'', starring
Rory Scovel
Rory J. Scovel (born August 6, 1980) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He released his first stand-up comedy album ''Dilation'' in 2011. He has since released the stand-up specials ''The Charleston Special'' (2015), ''Rory Scovel Tries ...
,
Jessika Van
Jessika Van is an American actress, singer-songwriter, pianist and dancer. Van is most known for playing "Becca," the ringleader of the Asians or the Asian mafia in Season 2 and Season 3 of MTV's '' Awkward.'' She also played Kim, a Hong Kong Po ...
,
Alan Tudyk
Alan Wray Tudyk ( ;; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor. His film work includes roles in '' 28 Days'' with Sandra Bullock (2000), ''A Knight's Tale'' with Heath Ledger (2001), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'' with Vince Vaughn (2004 ...
,
Melanie Chandra,
Sarah Levy,
Connor Paolo
Connor Paolo (born July 11, 1990) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Eric van der Woodsen on The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' and Declan Porter on the ABC drama series ''Revenge''. He has also appeared in two Oliver S ...
,
Andy Buckley
Andrew P. Buckley Jr. (born February 13, 1965) is an American actor and financial analyst best known for his role as David Wallace on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' from 2006 to 2013.
Early life
Buckley was born in Salem, Massachusetts, ...
, and
Jim O'Heir
Jim O'Heir (born February 4, 1962) is an American actor and comedian, perhaps best known for portraying Jerry Gergich on the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation''.
O'Heir first became active in Chicago theater and improv during the late 1980s ...
,
dramas
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...
like ''
A Girl Like Her'' and ''
Our Father
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
'', shorts like ''Turducken'', and documentaries like ''How to Start a Small Business'' and ''Opeka''.
The Fandor Festival Podcast
The Fandor Festival Podcast is a podcast dedicated to independent filmmakers, film festivals, and the exploration of cinema and is available on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
,
Apple Podcasts
Apple Podcasts (known as simply Podcasts in Apple operating systems) is an audio streaming service and media player application developed by Apple Inc. for playing podcasts. Apple began supporting podcasts with iTunes 4.9 released in June 200 ...
,
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, and across multiple major podcast platforms. The podcast blends the talents of veteran morning radio personality and producer Hooman Khalili; entrepreneur, producer, and former Fandor executive
Chris Kelly; and executive producer Bryn Nguyen.
The Fandor Festival Podcast features weekly episodes with a new interview every week, racing from
RogerEbert.com CEO and publisher
Chaz Ebert, Noir Alley host
Eddie Muller
Eddie Muller (born October 15, 1958) is an American writer based in San Francisco. He is known for writing books about movies, particularly film noir, and is the host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Early life and education
Muller ...
,
Cassandra Peterson aka
Elvira
Elvira is a female given name. First recorded in medieval Spain, it is likely of Germanic (Gothic) origin.
Elvira may refer to:
People Nobility
* Elvira Menéndez (died 921), daughter of Hermenegildo Gutiérrez and wife of Ordoño II of Leó ...
, filmmaker Camille Griffin,
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
head football coach
Jim Harbaugh, and celebrity chef
Tyler Florence
Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is a chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina, campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was later given a ...
.
''Keyframe''
Keyframe is Fandor’s digital publication dedicated to independent and international film. An extension of Fandor’s
independent film streaming service, Keyframe publishes
film reviews, written interviews,
video essay
A video essay is a piece of video content that, much like a written essay, advances an argument. Video essays take advantage of the structure and language of film to advance their arguments.
Popularity
While the medium has its roots in academia, ...
s,
podcast episodes, and other written and video works connected to the art of
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...
.
Fandor features written and video works from a global community of filmmakers, film writers, film reviewers, video essayists, and cinephiles. Keyframe offers viewers curated recommendations in Weekly Watchlists, covering topics from director
George A. Romero, to
grindhouse filmmaking,
spaghetti westerns
The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most of ...
, and
1980s slashers.
Fandor Exclusives
In addition to over 1,000 film, episodic, and short titles, the Fandor streaming service offers exclusive films to premium subscribers. Fandor exclusives range from poignant
dramas
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...
to
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
, and
ensemble comedies. Fandor exclusives are available to stream on the Fandor
independent film streaming service on
web,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Android,
Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduced ...
,
Amazon Prime,
Comcast Xfinity X1,
Xfinity Flex
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
, and
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel f ...
.
See also
*
Cinedigm
*
The Film Detective
The Film Detective is an American classic film restoration, distribution, and streaming company based in Rockport, Massachusetts, and is a division of the American entertainment company, Cinedigm. Launched in 2013, The Film Detective offers an ext ...
References
External links
*
{{VOD services
American websites
Subscription video on demand services
Independent films
Streaming films
Documentaries