The Boulder International Film Festival will have a new sponsor this year - AmericaFree.TV of northern Virginia. BIFF will screen 55 films emerging from 31 filmmakers over Valentine's Weekend, Feb. 12-15, in Boulder, Colo. AmericaFree.TV will be an exclusive Internet broadcaster for BIFF and films shown live at the fest may also be posted to a global audience of 5 million.

Crispin, Porter + Bogusky ad agency of Boulder is an AmericaFree.TV partner and provides creative direction. The agency created the marriage between the Internet broadcaster and the international film community. "We've been working to make AFTV the indy filmmaker's greatest ally - both in generating exposure for great films and in generating fame and revenue for the filmmakers," said Alex Bogusky, partner and executive creative director of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.

AmericaFree.TV broadcasts professionally-produced content on 20 channels that can be viewed over the Internet. The company's business model relies mainly on online advertising to generate revenue. Ad revenue is shared equally with independent filmmakers. AFTV was formed in 2007 by Marshall Eubanks and Mike Smith.

"AFTV will have a big presence as a silver sponsor at Boulder," said Eubanks, CEO. "We plan to replicate the Boulder festival sponsorship at other international film fests for content acquisition and to support the art. Next, AFTV will have our own virtual online movie festival this fall. We will be the first Internet broadcaster to screen film fest movies online for a global audience," he added.

Jeffrey Porro, Ph.D., is the director of content acquisition for AFTV and a screenwriter. His story for The Great Debaters won a national Screenwriter's Guild award last year. The story and screen adaptation were first optioned by Oprah Winfrey and later produced by Denzel Washington. Dr. Porro will help chair a filmmaker's function on Friday at BIFF. He will also select the new AFTV content. Contact Porro at jeff.porro@americafree.tv.

Filmmakers will be able to automatically deliver movie and documentary content to AmericaFree.TV using the "Without a Box" service. AFTV also has created an advertising network relationship with Boulder's SpotXchange ad net for pre-roll ads.