With FilmStruck gone and Fandor recently sold to a new entity, cinephiles would appear to be running out of streaming services catered toward them. Here to fill that void is OVID.TV, a new venture from six different independent film distributors — Bullfrog Films, Distrib Films US, First Run Features, Grasshopper Film, Icarus Films, and KimStim — set to launch in March. In a statement announcing the new SVOD platform, OVID is is said to be “designed to provide North American viewers with access to thousands of mostly un-streamable documentaries, independent films, and notable works of international cinema.”
Jonathan Miller of Icarus Films, who will serve as director of OVID, said, “the time for this kind of partnership is now, as the streaming giants focus on generating fast-turnaround new content, this coalition will offer new access to high-quality catalogs found nowhere else, featuring some of the most celebrated filmmakers and films in the canon.”
At the time of launch, OVID.TV will offer hundreds of documentaries currently unavailable on other services. Among the featured filmmakers are Chantal Akerman, Michael Apted, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Patricio Guzman, Heddy Honigmann, Chris Marker, Ross McElwee, Bill Morrison, Raoul Peck, Jean Rouch, Wang Bing, and Travis Wilkerson.
More films will be added this summer, with a focus on those directed by Bi Gan, Pedro Costa, Claire Denis, Bruno Dumont, Cheryl Dunye, Philippe Garrel, Nikita Mikhalkov, Eric Rohmer, Raul Ruiz, Dominga Sotomayor, Jean-Marie Straub, and Danielle Huillet. After that, OVID will debut curated collections on a monthly basis.
OVID is officially an iniative of Docuseek, a streaming platform geared toward colleges and universities that currently boasts more than 1,500 titles. No subscription details have been announced as of yet.