When faced with the monumental task of trying to help save what’s left of independent cinema — true independent cinema — those movies made by a small band of folks who give up their time and money in pursuit of their passion, all in the name of hope, only to not be picked up and distributed as they once were at film festivals.

Or in this day and age — not to be accepted into a festival at all despite the suffocating number to choose from, one might think that starting a YouTube channel and asking for movie submissions to combat this is about as ludicrous and pointless a response as you could get.

But sometimes the most ridiculous responses, the boldest ones are the polar opposite to the norm. And it’s the Indiewire article referenced yesterday that told us the norm is broken.

When I wrote yesterday conveying my ideas for creating a YouTube channel to monetize the films of people who were seeking an audience and asking for their submissions — as expected, I was met with heated hostility (albeit from two people on Reddit).

But to my surprise, I was also met with curiosity, hope, and optimism.

We had two subscribers on the channel by nightfall and even had our first film Submission! To me, this is a victory.

This tells me there is a tribe waiting and willing to give this a go. Regardless of the size of the tribe, if one person is there to stand up and say ‘this is an independent film movement I want to be a part of — one that celebrates inclusion regardless of experience’ — Then there is hope that we can achieve our dreams of showcasing independent cinema.

It’s in these moments that you realize the loud voices are those of mediocrity, maintaining the average — the status quo.

The voices of change are quiet.

But voices of change will always be more powerful.

The forces of mediocrity, whether they’d like to admit it or not will henceforth face an uphill battle to maintain their broken system. They may have reasons to hold on as tight as they do. Some may have finally have gotten a foothold in an industry notorious for closing its door.

The problem is — the industry exists in a bubble so insular that it can’t even see how irrelevant to the world at large it is fast becoming.

Local markets are emerging in Asia and across Eastern Europe for local movies. These regions are finding their own influence in cinema and they no longer need to rely upon, nor are willing to bow down to what Hollywood is throwing at them.

Starting a YouTube channel, asking for film submissions, hoping to grow and monetize and distribute the funds accordingly to the participating indie filmmakers is about as ridiculous a response to the indie film crisis as you can get.

Or at least, once upon a time, it was.

A YouTube channel can be scaled, we’ve seen this many times over.

Yet, indie films are no longer being sold at the festival markets.

If something can be achieved, as unlikely as it is — is it not our duty to give it a go?

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If you’d like to know more — here is Minnimal Movies — Our open-source YouTube channel .

To Submit your film for automatic inclusion, email: minnimalfilm@gmail.com