Given the costs involved in distributing even the smallest film, the term 'independent cinema' was beginning to look like a movie misnomer – until the advent of the internet. Donal Foreman investigates the new accessibility the internet provides, and profiles three of the web's foremost self-distributed filmmakers.

'At this time, a theatrical release still says something about the work,' says Joe Swanberg. 'Having it play in theatres legitimises the film in a lot of people's eyes. There is a level of quality control that exists for films released theatrically. Someone saw it and decided it was of a certain merit.' Swanberg, unfortunately, is right. Theatrical distribution is generally accepted as a seal of approval, something that separates the cinematic wheat from the amateurish chaff – and something needed more than ever in a world where any idiot with a camera and a computer can make a movie. The logic of this belief is somehow left unscathed by the fact that most cinemagoers have come across plenty of 'approved' films they can't believe anyone would ever want to make, let alone distribute. But it would surely crumble completely once one discovers the range of talented filmmakers whose films have consistently eluded distribution.

Thirty years ago such a hypothesis would have been impossible to prove; however, with the advent of the internet, a lot of these filmmakers are now eminently accessible – albeit without the trusted seal of approval. But surely our viewing choices should be defined more by our own faculties of taste and judgment (and those of trusted friends) than the economic calculations of a film distributor. And, in a world where culture is increasingly diverse but media is increasingly streamlined, our viewing choices must equally be defined by our own active searches. The state of cinema can no longer be judged by what reaches our cinemas (or even our film festivals) or gets reviewed in the Irish Times. The democratic free-for-all that is the internet is an unparalleled resource in this regard, and one could do worse than start with the following names.

Rob Nilsson, Caveh Zahedi and Joe Swanberg have, to varying degrees, used the internet to promote and distribute films that would otherwise have had a very restricted life. They have in common distinct and uncompromising personal visions and, while all are American, they are based outside of the LA-New York cultural duopoly. (Interestingly, all of them have also performed in their own films, and each employs some sort of improvisation or unplanned filming in parts of their work.)

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 113.