Welcome to the support page of ONLINEFILM. With this list of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) ONLINEFILM would like to make things easier for all users and answer those questions which occur more than others. Please find the questions you would like answered under the following headings:

> Buying / downloading a film
> Selling / uploading a film

> Video tutorial for entering films in the film database

> Video tutorial for creating and uploading of film files

(November 2010)
(ONLINEFILM does not take responsibility for any external links.)


About ONLINEFILM

What does ONLINEFILM offer?

Within the portal of www.onlinefilm.org you will find various German and international trailers and films (mostly documentaries) for Download-to-Own, either for free or for a fee.
If you are a filmmaker yourself, you are given the opportunity through ONLINEFILM to distribute or sell your own films at reasonable cost in your own country, all of Europe and the whole world. As a member of the audience you have a chance to discover films which until now have been difficult to find and even more difficult to obtain through legal channels.
At this point in time there are about 1,000 films on offer (November 2010).

How did ONLINEFILM come to be?

The idea to create a portal for independent films came from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm (AG DOK) (Association of independent German documentary filmmakers). Too many good films are within reach of only a small audience - or get no audience at all.
Independent European filmmakers have an especially hard time getting their work seen in other countries and getting them noticed amongst the masses of other films. This is why ONLINEFILM AG with its partners in Germany and the rest of the world has created a legal distribution platform on the internet.

Who is behind ONLINEFILM?

ONLINEFILM AG was legally founded in November 2000 by 122 originators and film producers as a joint-stock company. The website www.onlinefilm.org was created as a database for independent documentary films. Selling films through this platform began in February 2008.
If you want to know more about the aims of the company, please click here.

Who is Kulturserver?

ONLINEFILM works closely with its technical partner Stiftung kulturserver.de gGmbH. They offer support with technical questions and work constantly on the advancement of the distribution platform. Together we have developed special software modules which make the distribution and downloading of films possible. Our shared basis is the cultural database CultureBase. As soon as you register, your data will be spread within the net using their online tools – your free utilisation of the basis module starts there.
Furthermore, ONLINEFILM uses the network of Kulturserver to promote films which are uploaded to ONLINEFILM at various other portals. An added bonus is that your web–business card will be distributed throughout the network.

Who are the partners and supporters of ONLINEFILM?

The project ONLINEFILM is being realised by partners from the European Union and with support by the MEDIA Programme. There are a number of websites and portals from other countries apart from the German website of ONLINEFILM, which all use the same database and technology. You can now find Latvian, Greek and Italian listings and films along with those in English and German on the ONLINEFILM website.

How can I become a partner of the ONLINEFILM AG?

Apart from their partners and the, by now almost 150, share holders, ONLINEFILM works with a number of other organisations, festivals and other distributors and production companies in Germany and other countries.
You will find various websites here which distribute films offered on ONLINEFILM alongside their own. If you are interested in becoming a partner, or creating your own media page, please talk to us.

How does the affiliate model work?

ONLINEFILM urgently recommends that you make sure all films which you upload are embedded into your homepage as well as on all websites and blogs where you think people might look for your films. This will create a much greater chance of your films being seen and sold.
As soon as our affiliate model has been programmed, there will be the opportunity of making a further 8% every time your film is sold through your own site.

How can I become a shareholder of ONLINEFILM AG?

ONLINEFILM AG was legally founded in November 2000 by 122 originators and film producers as a joint-stock company. If you are interested in sharing ownership of ONLINEFILM AG, please send us an email aktien@onlinefilm.org. If you want to know more, please click here.

Why should I become a shareholder of ONLINEFILM AG?

ONLINEFILM believes that it is important that the marketplace on which filmmakers and producers offer their work to belongs to them. They must ensure that the conditions under which they do business will be determined by themselves, now and in future. This marketplace is the brand ONLINEFILM, the newly developed technology as well as the work offered there.
Once you are a shareholder, you don’t just help decide on the course the company is taking by voting for the board of directors, you also have financial advantages. More about those here.

Where do I find the general terms and conditions?

When you upload or download a film using ONLINEFILM, you accept the general terms and conditions. Please make the effort to read these carefully before buying or offering a film.

What about future developments of the company?

The portal offered to filmmakers and people interested in documentary films has not yet realised its full potential by any means. The developers are working intensively on implementing the many and varied suggestions which ONLINEFILM regularly receives. In future, visitors of the portal will find a system of recommendations for films, their own user area with personalised wish- and shopping lists and finally an opportunity to leave feed-back about individual films. The presentation of films will also change, for example there will soon be an offer of Stream-to-Rent.
Time and again owners of film rights ask ONLINEFILM whether they can offer so-called geoblocking (the excluding of certain territories). ONLINEFILM finds this a difficult decision to make, as it would mean an inacceptable limitation to customers. Unfortunately, within the existing power structure, certain investors, e.g. TV-stations, insist on territorialism and demand geoblocking. In order not to exclude these films entirely from being available on ONLINEFILM, the company will in future offer geoblocking as an option for owners of films. It is nevertheless the aim of ONLINEFILM to find a way of sharing revenue with regard to territories, and thus to convince those wanting to block them that it is better to have a legal offering in the territory and get a share of the revenue rather than to make customers use the black market instead.
The new design of ONLINEFILM also does not match what can be expected of websites today. Thus ONLINEFILM will soon experience a comprehensive relaunch.
In co-operation with its European partners ONLINEFILM will continue to develop and improve technology. It will always be worth your while to have another look at the portal and find out what has been changing.