Secret Santa for Film Nerds

What’s a better holiday present for film lovers: two special edition Blu-Rays or access to an entire streaming library for a year? While the essence of how humans experience time undoubtedly factors into the decision, at the same $60 price tag, consider an annual subscription to Sundance Now for the friend, family member or loved one who’s struggling to find room in the media cabinet for that box set of Dziga Vertov rereleases.

Focusing on independent, foreign and classic films, Sundance Now offers a cord cutting counterpart to the Sundance Institute’s greater mission; in other words, think of it as Sundance TV without the ads or the Sundance Film Festival without watered down Stella Artois.

The collection includes a range of titles from directors as diverse as Canadian queercore provocateur Bruce LaBruce and Hollywood kitchen design specialist Nancy Meyers – though on second thought, maybe there’s some overlap in the audiences here.

There are consensus classics like Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, more debatable indie classics like Todd Haynes’s David Bowie homage/critique Velvet Goldmine, and polarizing masterpieces like Leos Carax’s mystical limousine fable Holy Motors. Foreign film lovers can enjoy works from directors like Jean-Luc Godard, Ming-Tsai Lien and Xavier Dolan, while the documentary titles feature notable works like Alex Gibney’s torture exposé Taxi to the Dark Side and Banksy’s groundbreaking Exit Through the Gift Shop.

In addition to the extensive film library, Sundance Now also streams a host of TV series, with original and exclusive content such as the art world thriller Riviera from award-winning filmmaker Neil Jordan. Because icon fatigue is real, Sundance Now is available as an add-on to Amazon Video; the service also allows subscribers to submit requests for films and shows (and no, we don’t know if they take hardcore porn titles seriously). For that person in your life who still calls it the cinema, Sundance Now is a great idea for a digital stocking stuffer.

Click here to start a gift subscription to Sundance Now!