This is Not a Love Song

Regardless of its artistic merit, This Is Not A Love Song has a permanent place in British film history thanks to its innovative distribution. Between 5 and 19 September 2003, alongside a conventional theatrical release, it was simultaneously made available for paid digital download over home broadband networks. Around 100,000 people took up the latter option, and while much of this figure can be explained by interest in the medium rather than the message, this was nonetheless a much bigger audience than a low-budget film of this type would normally be expected to get.
British film premieres online

A low budget British movie from the Oscar-nominated writer of The Full Monty will today be the first in the world to be given a premiere on the internet.

The thriller will be streamed online today at 6pm, as well as simultaneously being shown in a handful of cinemas.

Filmmakers will take note. One of the major downfalls of the UK film industry is the difficulty of getting distribution for the movies that are produced. It means often their only outlet is to go straight to video.

But now British movie bosses are keen to see how much interest there is in watching movies on the internet as it could become a way of making them more widely screened.

Paul Trijbits of the UK Film Council, which funded the movie, said: "We are keen to use it as a test bed now the technology is there."

The film will be premiered at www.thisisnotalovesong.com and will be streamed and available for download.