SnagFilms Launches SnagLearning

Free Platform Provides Education Community with Relevant Documentaries and Discussion Resources

August 26, 2010 09:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20100826005185/en

Coinciding with the start of the 2010 school year, SnagFilms today launched SnagLearning, an online platform dedicated to presenting high-quality documentary films as educational tools to ignite meaningful classroom discussion.

Selected from SnagFilms' award-winning library of over 1,500 documentaries, SnagLearning launches with 125 films that are appropriate for students from middle school to college. Titles cover nearly every classroom subject and come from top filmmakers and trusted production companies. The platform features documentaries particularly valuable as engaging educational tools.

"SnagLearning is a natural extension of the SnagFilms brand and our higher calling to enable first-rate documentaries to find a wider audience. This effort will enable educators and families to select films that further a student's understanding of a subject --anywhere there is an internet connection," said SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen. "From SnagFilms' launch two years ago, teachers have championed our slate of films, which students can stream for free as a means of supplementing their learning. As classrooms stretch their boundaries, SnagLearning will be there -- at home or in school -- to serve our ever growing community of teachers, students and parents."

Films will be arranged by subject matter, grade level, and channel, allowing teachers, parents and students to browse through the films and select those that best complement a student's education. SnagLearning worked with education partner ePals to create a set of learning questions for each film, ePals connects over 600,000 classrooms around the globe in a safe and secure online environment that encourages collaborative, purposeful learning. SnagLearning also enables teachers to submit lesson plans, quizzes and homework suggestions through the platform.

"We know from experience that great digital content about 'real world' issues will motivate students to think deeply and critically in ways that reading a textbook cannot. The documentary films provided through SnagLearning will provide teachers and students with compelling new content, ideally suited to catalyze the kind of informed debate and discussion on complex issues that has always been the hallmark of effective education," said Nina Zolt, chief learning officer and co-founder of ePals, Inc. "We look forward to making SnagFilms available to our global community of K-12 learners."

"Each day our mission will be to bring topical and meaningful films to the education community. We will create daily blog posts on our films, as well as about other documentaries not currently highlighted as part of SnagLearning. We will also single out teachers within our community who are teaching their students in extraordinary ways. Additionally, we will explore filmanthropy case studies -- stories of how a documentary film has righted a wrong, or furthered a cause of benefit to society. We want to cultivate a discussion around films as they relate to current events, as well as history," said Stephanie Sharis, Executive Vice President of SnagFilms.

Initial films include:

· In The Eye Of The Whale -- This film follows one man's personal journey to draw attention to the plight of the whales.

· 3 Points --A film about Tracy McGrady's travels to Darfur to learn about the ravaging effects of the recent ongoing genocide.

· Inca Mummies: secrets of the lost world -- A documentary that chronicles startling new revelations about the extraordinary Inca civilization.

· Jack Johnson's Music Lessons -- Series of short films with Jack Johnson explaining how music can be a beautiful way to approach problems and deal with important issues.

About SnagFilms

SnagFilms features free ad-supported viewing of more than 1500 award-winning titles from some of the greatest names in documentary film. All films are shareable across the web. Since its launch in July 2008, SnagFilms' library has been featured on over 2 billion web pageviews, via more than 100,000 affiliates, and is distributed throughout AOL channels, and the websites of the Miami Herald, the Chicago Reader, IMDb; portals like Hulu, Fancast and Daily Motion; hundreds of non-profits, special interest sites and blogs; and thousands of social network pages. OVGuide has twice named SnagFilms a Top Site and MovieMaker Magazine named SnagFilms to its annual list of "50 Best Websites for Moviemakers."

The company was founded and is majority owned by digital entrepreneur, documentary film producer, professional sports teams' owner and philanthropist Ted Leonsis, and is additionally backed by AOL co-founder and Revolution LLC Chairman, Steve Case; philanthropist and former digital executive Jean Case; operating executive and philanthropic venture capitalist Miles Gilburne; a group led by Ted and Jim Pedas, founders of Circle Films; and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The SnagFilms family also includes indieWIRE, for more than 14 years the web's top source of news, reviews and information about independent film.

Contacts

SnagFilms

Noah Black, 202-295-8797

noah@snagfilms.com