YouTube Screening Room - The way forward in modern cinema?

Imagine what the largest movie theatre in the world, well this is kind of it! Unveiled in June 2008 YouTube Screening Room is a viewing platform for the latest independent film, with four new movies released every two weeks.


The Chestnut Tree - As it appears on YouTube Screening Room



The Chestnut Tree - Hand drawn animation set to piano music by Chopin. A film by Hyun-min Lee.


With shorter films originally taking most of the slots in the YouTube Screening Room, it is interesting to see that there is a shift towards more long-form content taking place. With films such as Wayne Wang's new film, The Princess of Nebraska, debuting in the YouTube Screening Room.

Although there was some debate originally regarding how independent filmmakers would make money from the Screening Room, press releases explained that YouTube would try to integrate "Buy Now" buttons, and allow filmmakers to link to websites that sell DVDs and digital downloads of their films, which certainly gives the impression that the YouTube Screening Room is here to stay.

With movies such as The Princess of Nebraska giving us all a view of the way things may be moving, could this be how we will be watching all movie premiers in the future? I would think probably not, but it’s still quite interesting to think about.