Created by Davide Nardini (rights and contracts officer at BFI and formerly Sideways Films Sales, X-treme Video and acquisitions executive for Cubovision/Cameo) and Markus Duffner (Locarno’s Carte Blanche project manager and programmer for the Voices Festival and the Montecarlo Comedy Film Festival) together with Swiss Cyber Com SA, the new Hebe Media Distribution venture aims to fill the gap in TVoD distribution, focusing on titles aimed at the “digital natives”, or “netizens”, who have never known a world without digital.

Hebe’s stated aim is “to work with young directors, fresh original stories and also genre films that rarely find their way into theatres in most countries and are barely available via streaming – not even illegally”, according to Nardini and Duffner. They added: “The idea is to have a live streaming event premiere for each title that features a presentation and a Q&A with the director (viewers will be able to ask their questions with a simple chat tool), in order to recreate a similar experience to the festival premiere, which will be enhanced by extra content, such as that found on the offline DVD supports. Hebe gives the films we support the opportunity to find their public.”

Hebe’s strategy is to tailor each release according to its potential audience, and it is aware that not all titles will be screened on the same platform. Each title will be made available on its own dedicated website, giving the Hebe team the opportunity to customise each marketing plan according to a target audience. Furthermore, Hebe features an innovative and unique tool that aims to effectively enhance word-of-mouth and build up the film’s advocates.

The first acquisitions are planned towards the end of the year, and a number of filmmakers and festival programmers are already on board with the project.

A range of different release strategies is in place and will be adapted according to the target audience of the respective projects. “This will allow Hebe to provide a service for producers and filmmakers seeking a range of worldwide TVoD distribution opportunities for their products.”