Video-sharing website Vimeo has re-launched its Staff Pick channel, effectively making it a film festival site, with weekly film premieres and best-of selections from the company’s staff.
The first film to premiere is the short film Curmudgeons from director Danny DeVito, which first debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.
“We’re incredibly excited and honored to share Danny’s film with the world as our first-ever Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere,” Sam Morrill, head curator for Vimeo’s Staff Picks, said in a statement. “A family affair both on-screen and off, Curmudgeons’ colorful characters and colorful language had us laughing and crying the whole way through.”
The films premiering on Staff Picks will be supported by Vimeo both on the site and off and will be chosen by the company’s in-house curation team. Films submitted can be any film that played in competition at an Oscar-qualifying event during the last two years. Vimeo’s Staff Pick channel currently features more than 10,000 films.
“The Vimeo Staff Pick channel represents the most progressive and imaginative filmmaking direct from our community of world class filmmakers,” said Vimeo GM Peter Gerard, in a statement. “The iconic Staff Pick laurel has helped launched the careers of many filmmakers coming up through the Vimeo platform and we’re excited to continue to honor and elevate our Staff Picked filmmakers with two new levels of prestige, while also making the channel a must-watch for audiences tuning in weekly to the new premieres programming.”
Future movies premiering on the channel include Partners from Joey Ally (Oct. 19), Night of the Slasher (Oct. 26) and Burnout (Nov. 2).
The Staff Pick channel will also begin honoring the best film of the month and best of the year, with dedicated marketing by Vimeo to promote the films.
