User:Psushil/sandbox

= SofyTV =

Sofy.tv is a dedicated short film streaming service offering short filmmakers a free and secure platform for showcasing their work. Its parent company is Largo Films, based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Sofy.tv launched in May 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival. Today there are more than 2000 award-winning short films from all over the world streaming on the platform. After partnering with Samsung TV Plus in November 2020, Sofy.tv now reaches an audience of millions across Europe through the channel, and is set to expand further internationally. The platform uses numerous technologies developed at EPFL, including temp codes - as tattoos embedded in the film footage to prevent piracy.

History
Inspired by the success of video on demand sites such as Netflix and YouTube, a group of passionate short filmmakers including Sami Arpa and Vassilis Kalofolias, decided to create their own solution to the issues they saw with getting funding and distribution for short films.

Their vision was to create a site where short film fans could stream media on demand to their computers and smart devices. The site would also reward filmmakers financially every time their film was viewed, helping to generate income for future projects.

Samsung Expansion/ Partnership
In November 2020, Sofy.tv partnered with Samsung TV Plus to launch a F.A.S.T channel offering a line up of over 200 diverse shorts, refreshed monthly. The channel is also available via the free Samsung TV Plus app on Galaxy smartphones across the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria.

Most recently, Sofy.tv has partnered with Rakuten and TCL to become part of their linear channel slates.

Programming
Sofy.tv is supported by many innovation support programs like Venture Kick, Innovaud, Canton De Vaud, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne University.

Any filmmaker may submit their film for consideration for entry to the platform. Provided the film meets the site’s criteria and guidelines, it is then scrutinized by the selection jury and if approved, uploaded in high-resolution format and made available for members to watch.

= AI Technology = Sofy.tv uses sophisticated AI technology and advanced computer algorithms to create detailed profiles as to exactly what the content of any particular film is. This offers members extremely accurate film viewing recommendations, rather than suggesting films based merely on genre or cast similarities, Sofy.tv recommends films based on the percentage of specific content and themes that a member has displayed a preference for.

This new technology was created with the help of a team of scientists from the Image and Visual Representation Lab at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne University.

The team behind this new technology claims it is the most accurate data analytic tool of its kind in the world today.

Selected short films that have aired on Sofy TV

 * Killing Thyme directed by M J McMahon (Brian Cox, Charlotte Rileym, Joe Reynolds)
 * The Elephone Man (2018) directed by Magarditch Halvadjian
 * Hybrids (2017) Directed by Florian Brauch, Matthieu Pujol
 * Snow Canon directed by Mati Diop.
 * The Stringless Violin directed by Jesse Noah Gruman
 * Sineater Directed by Bertie Brosnan