London-based advertising agency Fallon has come on board as a partner, as ambitious online movie venue/internet distribution platform The Auteurs to develop branding and sponsorship opportinities.

Entrepreneur Efe Cakarel and Celluloid Dreams boss Hengameh Panahi made the announcement here and Fallon joins an impressive group of partners among them the Criterion Collection in the US and Eduardo Costantini's Costa Films in Argentina.

At a time of market-saturation when traditional distribution models are clearly faltering, Panahi is arguing that the new venture may provide an alternative that will appeal to both sales agents and distributors.

'We tie in with sales companies so we can cover their unsold territories and create exposure but we also tie in with distributors in each territory to monetise their rights,' Panahi explained. 'What we are asking is for non-exclusive rights. They don't have to provide us with anything. They don't have to do anything, they don't have to spend anything.'

The idea is that The Auteurs will split revenues on a 50/50 basis with distributors. One of the attractions of the new platform is its transparency. Distributors will be able to see immediately just how successfully their movies are performing.

'Rights owners will be able to log in and see precisely how many downloads have happened in the territories they gave us rights to and how much money they are making in real time,' said Cakarel.

The Auteurs was founded by Cakarel in May 2007 and launched its public beta in November last year. The Auteurs Europe was subsequently founded in partnership with Celluloid Dreams and based in Paris in order to focus on building the business in Europe.

This outfit has already received $768,000 (600,000 Euros) in Media Programme funding to bolster the business further. The aim is to set up a network of strategic partners across Europe.

Figures released this week revealed that the site now has 500,000 users with 500 new users joining every day. Users across different territories can pay in their own currencies.

Unlike previous internet distribution ventures, The Auteurs is not limited to a single territory. Its website doesn't just function as an online shop. 'It is a site that is curated.

Unlike previous internet distribution ventures, The Auteurs is not limited to a single territory. Its website doesn't just function as an online shop. 'It is a site that is curated. We don't want quantity but quality. It is worldwide. It is based on a social community activity - a forum and blogging,' Panahi stated.

'I'm happy to see how The Auteurs is beginning to become what we have thought it should be from the very early stage, an on-line cinematheque, showing the greatest films from any country to audiences all around the world,' commented producer Costantini of Costa Films, an investor/cofounder of the new venture.

The Auteurs built Criterion's 'online cinematheque' . Through the site, all Criterion's films will be available for viewing online. Criterion will also create 'monthly festivals' showing specially curated films.

In addition to pay-per-view and ad-supported screenings, The Auteurs will offer subscribers the chance to pay a monthly fee that will give them unlimited access to screenings on the site. The company is using the Economist's Big Mac index to determine prices in different countries. There are currently 200 films up on the site shown in 192 countries.