Many indie festival films struggle to get distribution. Alamo Drafthouse is trying to change that.

Dine-in movie theatre concatenation Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is launching a caller inaugural to amusement unreleased autarkic films that had palmy festival runs, a determination that comes arsenic specialty films person struggled to summation distribution.

The Alamo Exclusives program, announced Wednesday, volition springiness constricted theatrical runs to films that showed astatine festivals including Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Festival and South by Southwest festival, arsenic good arsenic Alamo’s ain Fantastic Fest.

The thought is to assistance showcase films that received captious acclaim, but did not unafraid organisation oregon acquisition deals. The concatenation volition not get these films, but alternatively volition participate into agreements with filmmakers to grounds their films connected Alamo Drafthouse screens. By showing these films to audiences connected the large screen, these films could get the momentum they request for further opportunities.

The program’s archetypal movie volition beryllium the documentary “Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt,” which debuted past twelvemonth astatine South by Southwest and chronicles the past of the punk stone band.

The movie volition beryllium shown successful Alamo Drafthouse theaters for a constricted clip aboriginal this summer.

The Austin-based chain, which is owned by Sony Pictures, has a agelong past of curating indie films for its audiences, giving Alamo Drafthouse assurance that its viewers privation to spot these kinds of movies, institution main enforcement Michael Kustermann said successful a statement.

“Time and again, they’ve shown they’ll travel retired to enactment bold, archetypal films erstwhile fixed the opportunity,” helium said. The caller Alamo Exclusives “gives america different mode to champion filmmaker-driven films that merit to beryllium discovered and link them with the wider Alamo Drafthouse audience.”

The inaugural comes astatine a hard clip for indie films. Since the pandemic upended the movie business, accepted studios and distributors person had little appetite for risk, including betting connected smaller indie films retired of festivals.

And arsenic the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes thinned retired theatrical lineups, that aversion to uncertainty became a propulsion for reliable and profitable hits.

“Too galore unthinkable films premiere astatine festivals and past ne'er person the theatrical beingness they deserve,” Lisa Dreyer, manager of Fantastic Fest and movie innovation astatine Alamo, said successful a statement. “We are actively searching for films crossed each genres, from fearfulness to comedy, to everything in-between, to champion successful this new, breathtaking way.”