Fandor


Fandor was an American subscription film viewing service and social video sharing platform in operation from 2011 to 2019.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company was established in 2010 and officially launched on March 9, 2011 at the South by Southwest festival and conference in Austin, Texas.
Fandor "specializes in independent films, classics, silent films, foreign films, documentaries and shorts". Most of Fandor's more than 6,000 films are outside mainstream channels and hail from a variety of cultures, time periods, and genres. The service streams content to home theaters, through devices like Roku, computers, mobile devices, and tablets, like Apple Inc.'s iPad. It was previously available through Sling TV, but was dropped on July 2, 2019.
In September 2013, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Fandor announced that the site was launching to audiences in Canada. In 2018, the company laid off its entire staff and sold its assets to an undisclosed investment company.

Business model

Fandor employs a revenue-sharing business model, whereby a portion of all subscription revenue is paid to the filmmakers and distributors whose content Fandor licenses.
Fandor did co-licensing agreements with MoviePass and Costco in 2017 and 2018.

''Keyframe''

Keyframe was the digital magazine of independent and international film hosted on the Fandor site. It published interviews, film criticism, video essays, and other scholarly works pertaining to the art of filmmaking.
On May 1, 2012, journalist David Hudson, formerly of GreenCine and Mubi, joined Keyframe as chief correspondent.
In May 2017, Fandor ceased all Keyframe operations. David Hudson and other editorial staff left the company.

History

Fandor was founded in 2010 in San Francisco, California, by Dan Aronson, Jonathan Marlow, and Albert Reinhardt. Former Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly has been a member of the Fandor board of directors since 2011.
In January 2014, Ted Hope, independent film producer and former director of the San Francisco Film Society, joined Fandor as CEO. In January 2015, Hope departed to run Amazon Studios' original film division, and Chris Kelly became interim CEO. In September 2015, Larry Aidem, former Sundance Channel head, joined Fandor as CEO, taking over from Kelly.
In September 2018, Larry Aidem stepped down as CEO with Chris Kelly taking over as CEO. Fandor subsequently failed to get a round of funding to secure its financial obligations. In December 2018, the company laid off its entire staff and the assets were sold to an undisclosed investment firm.