The Secret To Connecting Your Film With Those That Want It Most

Resources: Community, Identity, and Faith-Based Distribution Innovations -- Part 2 of The Non-Studio Industries' Distribution Innovations

Today we add another element to the first component of my look at Cinema Distribution’s Innovations outside of the Studio Industrial Complex, the ones that were built by the people and communities. Previously we looked at Filmmaker-Led Collectives and together, with today’s dig in to Community-Based Distribution , they help make up what forms the ideological and historical foundation of non-industrial cinema distribution — the innovations that came from the people that made films and watched films, not those that were really in it for the money and wealth. Love rules all, right?

We’ve got eleven great examples from the past for you, but perhaps FilmStack has even more to suggest…? Let me know please. With your help too, I’d like to build the list of those currently building such bridges. Let me know what you know please. Thanks!

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Community, Identity, & Faith-Based Distribution Innovations

1. The Cross and the Switchblade (1970) – Directed by Don Murray
   Distributed through churches and religious bookstores, pioneering a direct-to-congregation model for faith-based films. Based on the life of David Wilkerson. The film was a box office success aired in 30 languages in 150 countries.

2. Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977) – Directed by Mariposa Film Group
   One of the first nationwide grassroots queer documentary tours, screened at LGBTQ+ centers and colleges. Made by people from the community, it also went cross-platform generating a book from the interviews done for the film.

3. Sankofa (1993) – Directed by Haile Gerima
   Self-distributed through Black-run venues—churches, bookstores, cultural centers—outside of the studio or corporate systems.

4. Cinema Politica (2003–present) – Founded by Ezra Winton & Svetla Turnin

   A non-profit exhibition and distribution network for socially and politically engaged films, run by volunteers across more than 100 chapters globally. Launched at Concordia University in Montreal, Cinema Politica provides a decentralized model for community-powered screenings outside commercial systems. It curates and licenses independent documentaries and activist media—primarily from BIPOC, feminist, and decolonial perspectives—and offers hosting guides and frameworks for local organizing. It’s one of the longest-running radical film circuits globally, demonstrating the power of grassroots, issue-driven exhibition as a mode of distribution. In 2020, CP also launched its own streaming platform for select titles.