Unlike the new model day-and-date releases, however, the documentary was available online through DAFilms, the online portal of Doc Alliance, one day earlier than its screening at Art Film Fest. The film was made available for free on-line screening from June 24-27 2013. 

Daniela Chlapikova, a founder of the young Slovak distribution company Filmtopia told FNE, “This is kind of an experiment for us. It’s happening for the first time in Slovakia. We are using the streaming as a marketing tool. We think the same people aren’t going to download as are going to the cinema.” 

Chlapikova said the film, which examines the loss of opportunities for the younger generation in a former mining community, has a target audience of 20-30 year olds. The company hopes the young media-savvy viewers will share comments about the film on social media. The film will also be part of the Slovak travelling cinema Kinobus stopping in villages without cinemas. 

“We call ourselves a laboratory for films,” she said of Filmtopia. The experiment through DAFilms was a natural extension of a developing relationship. Filmtopia is also starting to do acquisitions for them. The company’s own stable of films is a small but select collection of Slovak films, including Velvet Terrorists, a documentary co-produced and co-directed by Peter Kerekes, which will have its world premiere in the East of the West competition at the Karlovy Vary IFF.