'The Lost World of Mr Hardy', a quirky new documentary feature film about a much loved and slightly eccentric old family fishing tackle company is coming to the big screen in a UK first. The film will be released in cinemas using a new form of people power called 'crowd-sourcing'. It's an idea which has taken off on the U.S. indie film scene. It could be a great new way for those fascinating little films 'that could', to push their way onto big screens normally way beyond their muscle power. The idea is that communities use their own web power to vote to see the films they want, films that reflect their own interests rather than just the usual Hollywood heavyweights.

The way it works is this, users go to a film's website and 'request a screening' by entering their postcode. This is mapped and when a big enough cluster forms in any area, the film's producers book a local cinema then email the cluster back with the screening details. It can even work for
clubs, societies and university screenings.

Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier, the filmmakers behind The Lost World of Mr Hardy chose this route because despite fantastic critical reviews, film festivals were turning them down saying, "we can't show your film because angler's don't go to the cinema”. "That was very frustrating and very chicken and egg" says Andy, “especially as we know there are millions of anglers out there”.

The filmmakers then noticed how successful crowd-sourcing was becoming in the States as well as just how hard it is for indie films to get into the cinemas using the traditional film distribution methods. The new Do It Yourself route looks like it could be a real winner, and who knows, maybe this is one way to fill up the smaller rural cinema with the kind of speciality film that can
really appeal to local people.