Sofy.tv Boasts 30 Percent Monthly Growth Rate Within First Six Months, Indicating High Demand for the 'Short Film Revolution'

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Sofy.tv, the first live streaming platform entirely dedicated to short films, has grown an average of 30 percent each month since it was pre-launched at the Cannes Film Festival last year, highlighting the incredible interest in and demand for short films. Since Largo Films—an EPFL spin-off, which is one of the leading science and technology universities in Switzerland—introduced the on-demand entertainment platform in May 2018, it has attracted a significant user base and added over 600 films.

The platform's goal is to become "the Netflix of short films," by adding 10 short films each week—a noble and achievable mission, since very few short films are currently available on popular streaming platforms such as Netflix.

"In the beginning, all movies were shorts. But during the late 1920s and early 1930s, all the major studios ditched short films and began to focus on longer, 90-minute films," says Sofy.tv Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Sami Arpa, who is a computer scientist and also a short filmmaker. "Today we are leading the 'Short Film Revolution' to revive this nearly-lost artform among mainstream audiences, which has been kept alive primarily by film enthusiasts and film festivals, in recent years. By providing a platform specifically for distributing short films, we are finally making it easy for users to discover great short films without wading through the more than five billion hit-or-miss shorts on YouTube."

Most of Sofy.tv's films, many of which are award-winning shorts, are not available elsewhere but can now be viewed for $5.99 per month or $1.99 per film. The first month's subscription is completely free. All films are less than 40 minutes long and available to stream on-demand worldwide, on any Internet-connected device. The platform already includes a number of critically acclaimed short films such as "The Dress on Her" (2017), "Black Clothes" (2017), and the popular "Must Kill Karl" (2014).

"Not only is Sofy.tv the perfect solution for finding high-quality, bite-size films you can enjoy over a coffee or lunch break, but the platform is also a wonderful way to support short filmmakers, for whom securing funding is often nothing short of a nightmare," Arpa says. "Our mission is to create a platform for short film lovers like us, financially reward talented short filmmakers, and reintroduce shorts to the mainstream culture."

Sofy.tv's Proprietary AI Learning System & User-Friendly Interface
Developed by EPFL, one of most prestigious universities in the world, under the direction of Sofy.tv Scientific Advisor and Professor Sabine Süsstrunk, Sofy.tv has designed search tools that enable users to easily find the films they want to watch. The easy-to-navigate interface helps match users with their ideal content through an initial AI-powered quiz based on neural networks, as well as by displaying glossy images with brief summaries of each film. They call this system as a "movie recipe" technology.

"A film is not only comedy, horror or drama," Arpa says. "It is a mixture of all these ingredients within a planned order. Our AI finds the recipes of the films and mines the secret ingredients that have the power to conquer the heart of the audience. But our recommendation system is just the beginning. We can do much more with this technology to mark a new era in the movie industry."

Sofy.tv also incorporates a proprietary AI learning system that detects adult and violent content, giving users the ability to block or unblock this kind of content in any short film, making the platform uniquely family-friendly. The AI learning system also analyzes users' behavior and preferences to offer them better, personalized film recommendations.

In addition, Sofy.tv's AI learning system powers an "Artificial Jury" that helps Sofy.tv rate each film uploaded by short filmmakers, to automatically evaluate its overall quality. The "Artificial Jury" rates the value of each film based on categories including cinematography, audio and editing, to ensure no short film is added to the platform unless it meets Sofy.tv's basic standards. This feature does not exclude human-based curation, which plays a central role in continuously refining and cultivating Sofy.tv's growing catalog.

Sofy.tv has already gained the support of numerous companies and organizations, including Canton Vaud, VentureKick, and InnoVaud, and was awarded funding by the Fondation pour l'Innovation Technologique, in recognition of it being one of the most promising new startup companies. In addition, Sofy.tv has created the Ouchy Film Awards, an annual awards competition held in Lausanne, Switzerland to encourage emerging moviemakers worldwide by recognizing their short films.

For more information, visit https://sofy.tv and http://largofilms.ch.

About Sofy.tv
Sofy.tv is the first livestreaming platform entirely dedicated to short films. Created by Largo Films in May 2018, the on-demand entertainment platform was founded by short filmmaker and computer scientist CEO Sami Arpa. Sofy.tv is devoted to leading the "Short Film Revolution," to reintroduce shorts to the mainstream, create a platform for short film aficionados, and financially reward talented short filmmakers. Most of Sofy.tv's films—many of which are award-winning shorts—are not available elsewhere but can be viewed anywhere in the world for $5.99 per month or $1.99 per film. All films are less than 40 minutes long and available to stream on-demand on any Internet-connected device.

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