“This venture will lower the barrier to entry for independent filmmakers to produce and distribute movies in the HD DVD format,” a HD DVD spokesman told Absolute Screentest.

“The project will provide free authoring and setup services for up to 1,000 selected indie titles.”

The joint collaboration between Amazon.com and Microsoft will also see the Sundance Channel getting involved.

All the chosen indie films will be reviewed for potential broadcast on the network.

The Sundance Channel will also produce its own HD original eco-series, Big Ideas for a Small Planet, which will be available for purchase through Amazon’s HD DVD program.
 
“This collaboration with Microsoft is a great opportunity for independent filmmakers to reach Amazon customers with their films via the HD DVD format,” said Peter Faricy, vice president of music and movies at Amazon.com.

“By working together with Microsoft and using CustomFlix’s proven DVD on Demand model, we can lower the barriers to entry for independent filmmakers and dramatically increase the selection we offer our customers.”

Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Consumer Media Technology Group, said his company’s authoring expertise, the VC-1 codec and HDi’s innovative interactive scenarios would ensure that all the HD DVD titles offered by Amazon had impeccable quality.