Interesting article in yesterday's New York Times from David Carr about Joe Swanberg's Alexander the Last and it's simultaneous premiere at SXSW and via IFC Festival Direct, the on-demand service provided by IFC Entertainment that's available on several different cable systems. Though Alexander is a narrative, the distribution plan is certainly applicable to documentaries.

Carr's piece is generally optimistic about the IFC service.

In an era where more and more films are vying for ever more precious big screens, little movies like “Alexander the Last” are beginning to show up on small screens at the flick of the remote. With the multiplex full of $100-million-plus superhero epics and studios pulling back from small movies, independent filmmakers need to dig a new route to their audience: no red carpet premiere, no splashy ad campaign, no Burger King action figure.

While I agree that it's imperative to find new models of distribution, I don't think that Joe Filmmaker should use Alexander the Last as a model to judge how this strategy works. Swanberg's film is a special case. It's his sixth film and he already has a cult following. Plus, given that this is the first match up between SXSW and IFC Festival Direct, the venture is garnering a lot of press attention. Going forward, not every film is going to get a review from  Manohla Dargis in The New York Times and a separate piece in the same paper exploring its distribution strategy. 

The real test for this model will be a bit further down the road when the distribution strategy itself is not news. As more and more films bypass the theater and go the alternative distribution route, will people be able to find them? Will they garner reviews from major critics? Will festivals continue to support these films if they feel that programs like IFC Festival Direct undercut the festival experience?

P&A is a key point of the distribution deal. As "P" morphs as technology advances, "A" becomes all the more important. Because whether a film is in a theater or one's living room, audiences still have to find their way to it.