The Tunnel is a story based in the real-life networks of tunnels under Sydney, Australia. Created many decades ago, the tunnels were originally intended to house a rail network but construction was discontinued and they later became U.S. General Macarthur’s headquarters during the Second World War.

Although the tunnels were later abandoned, a film crew decided to go down there, and so the story begins. From the trailers available, it looks pretty eerie.

In a little over 2 months, The Tunnel will be released worldwide and, true to the plan from the beginning, that premiere won’t take place in bricks-and-mortar, admission-charging theaters but on BitTorrent – for free.

Simultaneously, The Tunnel will also be released on DVD which will include two hours of exclusive footage including an alternate ending and a behind the scenes documentary. Distracted Media have just secured a physical distribution deal for that product but considering the movie’s key BitTorrent model, one of the companies now partnering them will certainly raise an eyebrow or two.

Transmission Films and Paramount Home Entertainment Australia, who work together on film acquisitions, have just confirmed they will be backing what they describe as “the film that captured the imaginations of internet users globally.”

TorrentFreak caught up with producer and editor Enzo Tedeschi and asked about this interesting partnership, particularly since Paramount – like most Hollywood studios – have shown much hostility to BitTorrent over the years, particularly in the recent and ongoing AFACT v iiNet case in Australia.

“Our experience with Transmission Films and Paramount has been positive, and we’re impressed with how forward-thinking they’ve been on considering our specific project,” Enzo explained.

“From day one we’ve maintained that The Tunnel is not supporting or condoning piracy, but instead trying to incorporate a legitimate use of peer-to-peer in our distribution strategy internationally.”

While some might be suspicious of Paramount given their track record, the Internet community in particular constantly calls for change and for the studios to embrace – not fight – new ideas and distribution models. Being associated with The Tunnel project certainly seems like a step in the right direction.

“So much of the debate at the moment is caught up around what has been happening in the past, but that’s not what The Tunnel is about,” co-producer Julian Harvey told us. “We’re trying to look ahead. We have a film and we’re trying to find an audience.”

The Tunnel will do just that, May 19th on a BitTorrent tracker near you.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Their upcoming movie, The Tunnel, which is set for a release later this year, was badly in need of an Internet Movie Database listing. Unfortunately IMDb didn’t want to play ball.

From a standing start in June this year, Enzo and Julian had submitted their upcoming horror movie to IMDB on a number of occasions, five to be exact, but to no avail. Despite having backing from Zapruder’s Other Films which already have IMDb listings, the Amazon-owned company continually denied The Tunnel a listing.

Earlier, Enzo told TorrentFreak that he suspected that it’s the movie’s BitTorrent-only distribution model which caused this negative reaction from IMDb.

So, in a last-ditch attempt to bring the movie listings site onside, the makers of The Tunnel penned an open letter to IMDb last week. That seems to have had the desired effect.

“We won!” shouted an excited Enzo to TorrentFreak in an email a few minutes ago.

Indeed, as can be seen from the official listing, The Tunnel now has pride of place on IMDb.

“I would say it’s a small victory for the project, and a bigger win for people power, which is what this project has been about from the start,” Enzo told us. “If the support the project is receiving continues, hopefully it can set a successful precedent.”

No reason has yet been given for the sudden turnaround, but those behind the movie are grateful nonetheless.

“It may seem like a small thing to IMDb, but it is an indispensable tool for us to be able to market our project effectively and help ensure it’s success,” wrote Julian and Enzo in a thank you message to IMDb.

“It’s also reassuring to see that after 20 years of operation, that you are still able to listen to your user base. We’re sure that the online clamour made by our fans and supporters has not been lost on you.”

The Tunnel will be released on BitTorrent late 2010.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

In order to drum up publicity for the forthcoming release, creators Julian Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi (who together form Australia-based Distracted Media) have been trying to get their movie listed on the Internet Movie Database. It has proven to be an impossible task.

Last week Enzo contacted TorrentFreak and explained the process he had been going through with IMDb for some time now and his frustrations at getting absolutely nowhere with the Amazon-owned site. Despite being submitted five times, in various correspondence with IMDb the site continually denied The Tunnel a listing.

In June, IMDb told the team that if a movie is not set up with a production company with a history of theatrically released movies, getting it listed at the early stages of development would not be possible. However, The Tunnel has backing from Zapruder’s Other Films which already have IMDb listings.

Undeterred by this setback, the creators decided to have another attempt at a listing once filming proper was underway, but all that resulted in was a further rejection in August.

Thanks for your new title addition to IMDb. Our title managers have recently examined the information which you supplied and it appears this title will not qualify for inclusion until it is in an advanced stage of production or completed, sorry.

The rejections continued, even though the team providing several trade magazine listings, news articles and other supporting material to show the film is legitimate. Then in September, and despite the Australian Director’s Guild recognising the movie’s online marketing campaign with an ADG Award nomination, IMDb rejected The Tunnel again saying that they can find no evidence to suggest the movie exists.

Enzo told TorrentFreak that he believes that it’s the movie’s distribution model which has caused this reaction from IMDb. The third rejection letter from IMDb says:

Hello. Please provide distribution info or evidence it will be released in 2010. Thank you.

“Seeing as we announced our distribution plan via torrents, a method that is completely within our control, we can’t see what ‘distribution info’ we could provide,” Enzo told us.

“There is no official deal in place to make that happen, as it isn’t controlled by a ‘distributor’ as such. The only conclusion we can reach is that in the absence of a ‘proper’ distributor, they won’t list us.”

Enzo believes that either IMDb are being difficult due to the chosen distribution path for The Tunnel, or their review process need to be looked at. Several other movies are listed on the database which don’t meet the site’s criteria (he believes The Tunnel does).

“The number of times we have been rejected is absurd, given that we address all major criteria for listing. I’ve helped out on student films over the years that have gone nowhere and have had an easier time getting listed,” he notes.

Of course, IMDb is owned by Amazon, so some might put two and two together and say that a BitTorrent distribution model might not be helpful to their business. Interestingly, it seems that the BitTorrent-based movie Pioneer One is also lacking an IMDb listing.

That said, with an open letter to IMDb now published by The Tunnel team, maybe they can bridge their differences and come to an amicable solution.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

While that is Hollywood’s prerogative, others are beginning to realize that being able to exercise that level of control is probably a thing of the past and are exploring means to embrace disruptive technologies such as BitTorrrent by embedding them into their creative projects.

One such endeavor is a horror movie set to be released for free later this year by Julian Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi who together form Australia-based Distracted Media.

The Tunnel is a story based on the real-life networks of tunnels under Sydney, Australia. Created decades ago, the tunnels were supposed to be used as a rail network but construction on them was discontinued. Twenty years later they became U.S. General Macarthur’s headquarters during the Second World War but were later abandoned. A few years ago they made the news again when Sydney ran short of water and plans were made to utilize the flooding in the tunnels.

“After much fanfare the proposal mysteriously vanished… and so the story begins…,” tease the filmmakers.

The funding for the film is being handled by the ’135K project’ – a reference to the 135,000 frames that will be present in the finished 90 minute movie. A freshly launched website invites people to invest directly by buying a single frame of the movie for $1, 25 frames (1 second) for $25 or a minute for $1,500.

“The funding / distribution concept is an extension of something I was a part of on my last film, a feature doco titled Food Matters,” Enzo Tedeschi told TorrentFreak. “We deliberately did not seek out a theatrical release, and instead decided to market directly to our niche audience online with direct-to-DVD and VOD. It was a huge success, and even now 2 years after its first release, we are still breaking into new territories and have sold around 120,000 DVDs.”

No media these days is excluded from becoming available on the Internet, and Enzo’s previous production was no different.

“It just takes a quick Google search to see the endless torrents for that [Food Matters], too. The production company was nowhere near big enough to even try and fight it, so it was accepted that it would happen. So this time around I figured we should try and embrace that huge potential audience and make it a part of our strategy,” he told us.

“The Internet was meant to be a tool to connect us. It was meant to break down borders and liberate. Now we have an entire generation who are being labeled criminals for using that tool. But perhaps rather than wasting millions of dollars fighting a losing battle against internet piracy, we should try and find a way to embrace the possibilities that this new world brings.”

An added twist for investors is that one lucky frame-buyer will be selected to receive 1% of the profits from the movie – Enzo is confident that the film will be making money.

“People always ask ‘But how will you make money?’. It’s because they are stuck in a old way of thinking. We’re confident we can turn a profit on this film doing it this way, and I think people will be surprised to see how this works,” he concludes.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.