Film buffs can breathe a sigh of relief today. Amazon Video Direct (AVD) announced that it will now be offering over 100 films from the Toronto International Film Festival. According to Amazon, the films will be part of the company’s recent Film Festival Stars program.
The announcement comes with a significant focus on how much AVD will pay rights holders. The announcement states that “$5.8MM in cash bonuses” will be paid to rights holders. Prime members worldwide will have access to Toronto International Film Festival award winners and favorites. The list includes:
- Luk’Luk’l (Winner, “Best Canadian First Feature Film”)
- Félécite (Winner, “Toronto Platform Prize”)
- Ex Libris – The New York Public Library (An Oscar-shortlisted documentary)
Supporting Indies
Amazon launched Video Direct early last year in an effort to help content creators get their original stories directly to Amazon Prime Video users. As stated on the company’s Video Direct website, “Amazon will distribute a share of $1,000,000 per month as a bonus to the top 50 movies, top 10 TV seasons and top 25 digital content providers (aggregate of titles) published in Prime Video through Amazon Video Direct.” The bonus encourages smaller production companies and content creators to essentially submit their work to Amazon for free. Content creators, however. can monetize their videos. Besides traditional methods, such as rentals, Amazon Prime also supports advertisements.
The huge influx of new films through Video Direct is a huge plus for Amazon. In November, the company announced 15 Sundance Film Festival titles would be available to Prime members thanks to Video Direct.
Sam Cook is a full-time content strategist by day, a part-time freelance content writer since 2015. In another life, he was a high school English teacher for nearly a decade. Based in sunny New Orleans, he writes long-form educational content on technology, including Insurtech, Fintech, HRtech, and content streaming. He loves whittling down complex ideas within these areas that make decisions easier for buyers. When he’s not reading books with his son Miles and playing video games with the family, you can find him immersed in his growing collection of Euro-style board games.
