Being An International Film Fan Just Got A Whole Lot Easier. And Cheaper.

Well, here's something that could prove to be rather good ...

Good friend Jiangtou wrote me a couple weeks back and asked if I wanted a free beta testing accoung on Jaman, a new digital rental service for international film. Free film? You bet! I've long believed that the internet could radically change the entire model of film distribution once bandwidth and technology caught up to the potential and, having mucked about on the site a little while now, I've got to say that JAman could very well be a precursor of big, big changes to come.

What is it? Well, put it this way. Tired of waiting for stuff to clear your Netflix waiting list and finally make their way to you? Or, perhaps, constantly importing foreign releases to find the little international films you crave? Jaman takes the waiting out of it. Jaman is a purely digital film rental and purchase system that lets you find the films you want, download them and either play them as many times as you want for a set number of days - the rental option - or keep them permanently - the purchase option - at very low cost. You need to use their proprietary software to do it but, since that software was developed by people who worked on Quicktime for Apple, the audio and video quality is simply excellent.

The library is still a little bit on the small side but it's growing quickly and they already have a healthy selection of Shaw Brothers titles and a growing Latino section. This has got the potential to be something pretty huge ...

Check it out here.