Greenwich Village art house Quad Cinema has launched a new program designed to offer filmmakers without a distributor, or who have chosen to self-release, the opportunity to launch their films in the vital New York market.

For one set fee, the 4-Wall Select program includes a one-week theatrical run at the Quad (the filmmaker keeps the entire box office gross), two morning press screenings, inclusion in the Quad’s ads in the Friday New York Times and the Village Voice, a DVD sales program, and an online digital system set up with Amazon to allow the film to be streamed and downloaded. 4-Wall Select also includes promotion on the Quad Website and in the Quad Cinema E-News (7,000 subscribers), advertising discounts in major media and access to the Quad’s publicist at a preferred rate (who will make sure the films are properly reviewed and publicized).

“I’ve come across more and more high-quality films without a distributor,” said Elliott Kanbar, president of Quad Cinema. “I know filmmakers spend a good deal of money and time to make a film. It’s heartbreaking that, much too often, the filmmaker’s hopes and dreams crash simply because they couldn’t hook up with a distributor.”

A New York institution, the Quad Cinema, which has been showing independent, foreign and documentary films since 1972, was Manhattan's first four-screen theater. Family owned and operated, the Quad employs unionized projectionists and managers, each with over 25 years experience working at the theatre, located on W. 13th St. Besides independent titles, the Quad books films from major distributors including Miramax, Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight, Focus, Paramount, IFC, Weinstein, MGM, Warner Bros., Universal and Lionsgate.