SnagFilms celebrates anniversary with film festival

Washington Business Journal - by Tucker Echols Staff Reporter

Documentary Web site SnagFilms is celebrating its first anniversary with a premier from its most popular filmmaker.

District-based SnagFilms, founded July 17, 2008 by documentary film producer and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, is holding an online film festival to celebrate its birthday. The SnagFilms SummerFest will kick off with the screening of "The Entrepreneur," a documentary presented by Morgan Spurlock, the creator of "Super Size Me" -- SnagFilms' most popular title in its launch year.

"The Entrepreneur" tells the story of director Jonathan Bricklin's father Malcolm, who attempted to create, from scratch, a new American car company.

"The Entrepreneur" will begin screening July 24 on snagfilms.com, as well as throughout the company's distribution network which includes AOL.com, Hulu.com and Fancast.com, for one week. The festival will continue with more exclusive, one-week showings of documentaries that have not yet been distributed theatrically or on television.

SnagFilms had a busy first year making more than 800 nonfiction films available for free viewing online and having generated more than one billion page views for its film widgets. The most popular films for the service's first year, in order of popularity, were:

* "Super Size Me"

* "Confessions of a Super Hero"

* "Return to Tarawa"

* "End of America"

* "Cracked Not Broken"

* "The Impaler"

* "Asteroids: Deadly Impact"

* "Haze"

* "Darkon"

* "Into the Tsangpo Gorge"

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