“One of the ten most useful discovery platforms working today — closer to a curatorial body than a marketplace.”
IndieWire
Vol. VI · Issue 03 · Autumn 2024
I AM EIGA
Your story. Your screen. A global home for cinema lovers, filmmakers, and the people who make movies happen.
A note from the editor
A member-led home for independent cinema — and the answer to where do indie films actually get seen, sold, and funded?
For two decades, the question of what gets seen has been answered by a handful of gatekeepers in rooms most filmmakers never enter. We built I AM EIGA to leave a different door open. Founded in Brooklyn in 2019 by producer-director Aiko Tanaka and former A24 acquisitions lead Marcus Reyes, the platform is run by 38 full-time staff — including nine former programmers from Sundance, TIFF, and Cannes — for one purpose: to put independent work in front of an audience that is actually looking for it.
More than 1.2 million registered members in 142 countries. Over 14,800 verified filmmaker profiles. A 2024 program of 2,300 curated premieres. And 312 titles acquired or optioned by distributors in a single year. This is not a streaming shelf. It is a working room — built by and for the people who make films and the people who decide what reaches a screen.
Cited by the publications filmmakers actually read
“What Eiga has built is a quiet, considered alternative to the algorithmic fog — and filmmakers are noticing.”
Filmmaker Magazine
“The pitch-room model alone has changed how independent projects reach the finishing line.”
No Film School
Currently screening
A selection from this season's program.
Four recent premieres from the 2,300+ titles that screened on the platform in 2024 — chosen by our programming desk.
Drama
Road Movie
Documentary
Experimental
We built the room we wished existed when we were submitting our own films — no gatekeepers, no algorithmic fog, just a screen that listens.
Aiko Tanaka Co-founder, I AM EIGA · Brooklyn, 2019
By the numbers, end of 2024
The figures a programmer, sales agent, or acquisitions lead actually asks for.
1.2M
Registered members
Across 142 countries, verified in 92.
$41M+
Raised by member filmmakers
Via integrated pitch rooms since launch.
312
Titles acquired in 2024
By distributors and streamers.
14,800+
Verified filmmaker profiles
Curated by our programming desk.
Official media partner of 14 international festivals, including:
- Raindance
- Tallinn Black Nights
- Busan IFF
- Visions du Réel
- Mar del Plata
- Thessaloniki
Submit Your Film
Free to join. Verified Member Filmmaker accounts review submissions within 14 days.