With the rise of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, the past year or so has seen the rush of social networking not only become fodder for feature films (look at David Fincher’s Facebook creation story, THE SOCIAL NETWORK), but has also become the source of financing for films ranging from the smallest of indies, to David Lynch’s next film.

Through sites like Kickstarter, filmmakers have now found a brand new source of financing, in the form of the very people who will be watching their films.

Well, according to a press release issued this week, one of the foremost independent film related websites, indieWIRE, will be joining forces with one of today’s most gifted filmmakers for his next film, along with two other talented young film directors.

Harmony Korine, director of films like GUMMO, MR. LONELY, and this writer’s favorite film of 2010, TRASH HUMPERS, will be taking donations, along with filmmakers Ho Yuhang and Alexis Dos Santos, made to the online social network known as Cinema Reloaded.  At Cinema Reloaded, viewers are given three different film projects, which are presented to them for them to make respective donations to.  Each film has a minimum budget of  €30,000, all to be made possible by fans.  Known as “co-producers,” people who donate to the film will be given access to things such as regular updates from the filmmakers, the ability to view the film’s premiere in streaming VOD, and even get your name attached to the film’s end credits.

This will in fact be Korine’s next film, which will follow the feature film TRASH HUMPERS, as well as the rather superb short film, ACT DA FOOL.  While we don’t know anything about Korine’s film yet, we do know what Dos Santos’ and Yuhang’s films will follow.  Here are the descriptions from Cinema Reloaded:

Alexis Dos Santos

Another World: Rocky + Lulu (working title) The maker of the refreshing debut Glue and follow up Unmade Beds delves yet deeper in modern youth culture with Another world. In this film two protagonists from different corners of the world will meet in the virtual one.

Ho Yuhang 

Untitled ProjectMalaysian multitalented Yuhang seeks co-producers for this slightly absurd war story in which six very angry Indonesians declare war on Malaysia. Will they get their revenge on all the crimes committed?

Personally, while these two films both sound really great, particularly Dos Santos’, who is a filmmaker I’ve been quite a fan of since GLUE, I can’t help but have a massive amount of interest in Korine’s film.  He is a massively gifted filmmaker, with a visual eye, and narrative style, that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  Throw in the added bit of crowdsourcing, and you may have one of the biggest examples yet of where this new style of financing is going.

What do you think? Here’s the press release:

40th International Film Festival Rotterdam

January 26 – February 6, 2011

-      IFFR to continue film finance by the audience

-       Harmony Korine and indieWIRE join Cinema Reloaded

From 8 September, filmmaker Harmony Korine (Gummo, Trash Humpers) and respected American film site IndieWIRE will be involved in Cinema Reloaded, the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s online crowd funding initiative for film projects. The films by Korine, Ho Yuhang and Alexis Dos Santos to be made with donations made to Cinema Reloaded, will première at the 40th IFFR.

Cinema Reloaded is a world’s first online social network for the finance of films by donation set up by a film festival. IFFR’s Cinema Reloaded was born of a belief that film festivals, with their pool of enthusiastic audiences and professional contacts, need to investigate and support this new way of making and distributing films. Changes in the film industry owing to digitalisation and new online channels are offering filmmakers, film festivals and their audiences new ways of financing, making, distributing and watching films. IFFR has been the initiator of much emulated initiatives in the past, such as the Hubert Bals Fund and CineMart, which have since gone on to develop and flourish.

Writer and filmmaker Harmony Korine will collect finance for his new film through the Cinema Reloaded initiative. He introduced the project with an exceptional video message on www.cinemareloaded.com. Korine (1974, USA), referred to by Werner Herzog as ‘the future of American cinema’, entered the film industry in 1995 – at the tender age of nineteen – as screenwriter on Larry Clark’s film Kids. His sizeable and varied oeuvre has since confirmed his reputation as one of the most controversial filmmakers currently working. Korine made his directorial debut in 1997 with Gummo. His provocative Trash Humpers (2009) screened at festivals in Toronto and Rotterdam.

IFFR is pleased to welcome indieWIRE as a new partner in Cinema Reloaded. The American site, devoted to filmmakers, professionals and enthusiasts, will be devoting a permanent place on its homepage to Cinema Reloaded. Also, a new Cinema Reloaded blog by Korine, Ho and Dos Santos will be part of indieWIRE's popular blog section and coverage of Cinema Reloaded will be included in the new Filmmakers Toolkit section.

Alongside the main objective – to help realise three films by fantastic filmmakers – Cinema Reloaded aims to build expertise among filmmakers and enthusiasts. On the basis of initial experiences, and thanks to support from the VSBfonds, it has been decided to take Cinema Reloaded to the next level. Six months on from the launch, the three film projects now have more than five hundred co-financiers.

Cinema Reloaded is linked to a simple crowd funding system that works on the basis of donations. A 5 euro donation is enough to become a co-financier of one or more of the film projects – from 25 euros, you will also be listed on the credits. The filmmakers have until 31 December 2010 to finance their projects through Cinema Reloaded. Harmony Korine, Ho Yuhang and Alexis Dos Santos will keep their co-producers informed through blogs and video updates. Pipilotti Rist, one of the original Cinema Reloaded filmmakers, has withdrawn her project owing to other commitments. Her Cinema Reloaded co-producers will be given the opportunity to re-allocate their finance to another of the projects.