folkstreams.net: Mission & History
Just discovered, via Scripting News:
The mission of Folkstreams.net is to build a national preserve of documentary films about American folk or roots culture. Produced by independent filmmakers, these hard-to-find films give voice to the arts and experience of diverse American groups. They are streamed on the website together with background materials that highlight the history and aesthetic importance of the traditions and the films.
Folkstreams.net makes these films easy to find and to see by video-streaming them on the Internet, and also provides in-depth and reliable contextual materials about the subjects and the filmmaking. Folkstreams.net also encourages alternative forms of filmmaking about subjects neglected by mainstream corporate media.
Folkstreams History
The idea for Folkstreams grew out of attempts by documentary filmmakers to gain greater exposure for their films. Although many of these films have won film festival awards and critical acclaim, they do not fit easily into mass-market outlets like movie theatres, video shops, and broadcast and cable television. The films often have odd lengths, lack “name actors,” and sometimes star people who do not speak “broadcast English.” ——-