Microcinema's Joel Bacher deliberately focuses on non-commercial artists and projects, leaving anime and more mainstream efforts to mainstream distributors.

Since the company's founding in 1996, it has overseen "Independent Exposure," a touring show of independent work screened at festivals and alternative venues. According to Microcinema's website, Independent Exposure has appeared in 44 countries and presented the work of more than 2,000 creators.

With clients like Bill Plympton, Signe Baumane and Patrick Smith (and some 25% of his business coming from animation titles), Microcinema's Joel Bacher is well situated to talk about the distribution market for independents.

Twenty-five percent of Microcinema's business comes from animation titles, including Patrick Smith.

"Animation defines the independent spirit, because it's a solo art form. From a commercial perspective, it's important to us that the artist has a strong body of work that's relevant and unique." Bacher deliberately focuses on non-commercial artists and projects, leaving anime and more mainstream efforts to mainstream distributors. "We're trying to represent the unrepresented -- we like to give them a boost in the relatively speaking 'commercial world,'" he says, while admitting the company would like to distribute kid-friendly animation too, "but not typical TV stuff."

Microcinema describes itself as "very selective" when it comes to choosing titles for distribution, favoring already "published" (i.e., existing DVDs) over works that have yet to leave the artist's reel; would-be clients are advised to contact the company before submitting any material.