Indiewire
 | |
| Web address | indiewire.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | filmmakers. biz. fans. |
| Commercial? | yes |
| Type of site | Independent filmmaking news |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Content license | All rights reserved. Use permitted with copyright notice intact. |
| Owner | Snagfilms |
| Launched |
Newsletter:15 July 1996 Website:January 12, 1998[1] |
| Alexa rank |
 5,581 (February 2014)[2] |
| Current status | Online |
Indiewire is a daily news site for the independent film community and a leading source of information on independent films. It covers independent, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews. The website has sections for high-profile film festivals, film information and release dates, critic ratings of films (criticWIRE), filmmaker and industry blogs, as well as resources and tools for emerging and established filmmakers. The blog network houses entertainment blogs such The Playlist and Shadow & Act, the video blog Press Play, as well as veteran writers Anne Thompson and Leonard Maltin. Two-time winner of the Webby Award for best film website, Indiewire was lauded as a "must read" by Variety, branded the "online heartbeat of the world's independent film community" by Forbes, and dubbed "best indie crossroads" by film critic Roger Ebert.
Personnel
- Dana Harris, Editor-In-Chief
- James Israel, Publisher
- Peter Knegt, Senior Writer and Awards Editor
- Eric Kohn, Chief Film Critic and Senior Editor
- Alison Willmore, Television Editor
- Nigel Smith, Managing Editor
- Paula Bernstein, Technology and Filmmaker Toolkit Editor
- Bryce J. Renninger, Contributor
- Tim Papienski, Product Manager
History
The indieWIRE newsletter launched on July 15, 1996, billing itself as "the daily news service for independent film."[1][3][4] Following in the footsteps of various web- and AOL-based editorial ventures, indieWIRE was launched as a free daily email publication in the summer of 1996 by New York and Los Angeles based filmmakers and writers Eugene Hernandez, Mark Rabinowitz, Cheri Barner and Roberto A. Quezada.[5] Initially distributed to a few hundred subscribers, the readership grew rapidly, passing 6,000 in the fall of 1997.[6]
In January 1997, indieWIRE made its first appearance at the Sundance Film Festival to begin their coverage of film festivals. It offered indieWIRE: On The Scene print dailies in addition to online coverage. Printed on site, in low tech black and white style, the publication was able to scoop traditional Hollywood trade dailies Variety and The Hollywood Reporter[citation needed] due to the delay these latter publications had for being printed in Los Angeles.[citation needed] Due to a zealous staff that was willing to print and distribute said dailies at all hours of the day and night,[citation needed] often handing them out to audiences waiting on line for films,[citation needed] indieWIRE was soon dubbed The School Paper.[citation needed] While the style and look of the print dailies improved over the years, the nickname stuck.[citation needed]
The website indieWire.com launched on January 12, 1998,[1] and indieWIRE announced it would be charging for services. While met with cautious optimism by Wired magazine,[6] the experiment failed and indieWIRE returned to a free service less than a year later.
The site was acquired by Snagfilms in July 2008. On January 8, 2009, indieWIRE editor Eugene Hernandez announced that the site was going through a re-launch that has been "entirely re-imagined".
In 2012, Indiewire won the Webby Award in the Movie and Film category.
Reception
indieWIRE is said to cover lesser-known film events ignored from the mainstream perspective. In Wired Magazine, Janelle Brown wrote in 1997:
- "Currently, indieWIRE has little to no competition: trades like Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety may cover independent film, but from a Hollywood perspective, hidden by a huge amount of mainstream news. As filmmaker Doug Wolens points out, indieWIRE is one of the few places where filmmakers can consistently and reliably keep on top of often-ignored small film festivals, which films are opening and what other filmmakers are thinking."[6]
In 2002, Forbes magazine recognized IndieWire, along with 7 other entrants in the "Cinema Appreciation" category, as a "Best of the Web Pick".[7] describing its best feature as "boards teeming with filmmakers" and its worst as "glacial search engine."[8]
indieWIRE has been praised by Roger Ebert,[9] Kevin Smith, James Schamus, and Tom Bernard.[citation needed]
In 2011, with the launch of a redesign, the site changed the formal spelling of its name from indieWIRE to Indiewire.
Critics Poll
| Year | Best Film | Best Performance |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Death of Mr. Lazarescu | Helen Mirren for The Queen |
| 2007 | There Will Be Blood | Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood |
| 2008 | Flight of the Red Balloon | Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler |
| 2009 | Summer Hours | Tilda Swinton for Julia |
| 2010 | Winter's Bone | Édgar Ramírez for Carlos |
| 2011 | The Tree of Life | Michael Shannon for Take Shelter and Michael Fassbender for Shame |
| 2012 | Holy Motors | Denis Lavant for Holy Motors |
| 2013 | 12 Years a Slave | Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 About us. indieWire.com
- ↑ "Indiewire.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- ↑ "History". indieWire.com. Archived from the original on 1999-10-11. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
- ↑ "'Full Grown Men' Wins 2007 Sundance Channel Audience Award for the 'indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems' Film Series". PR Newswire. February 16, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-05-23. Retrieved 2011-05-22. "The New York Times and Emerging Pictures in Association With the ... IndieWIRE ... is the leading source of ..." (Press release)
- ↑ "Indiewire at 10 and Counting". July 15, 2006. (Press release)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Brown, Janelle (December 22, 1997). "Indie Film News Service No Longer Free". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
- ↑ "Forbes Best of the Web - Cinema Appreciation". Forbes Magazine. March 25, 2002. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ↑ "Forbes Best of the Web - IndieWire". Forbes Magazine. March 25, 2002. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (June 1999). "Rule of Thumb: Best Indie Crossroads". Yahoo Internet Life - Summer Movies Guide (ZDNet) 5 (6). Archived from the original on 1999-11-13. Retrieved 2011-05-22.