The groundbreaking Power to the Pixel event at The Times BFI London Film Festival is to include a Project Forum to introduce cutting-edge digital projects to financiers, distributors and promoters.

The forum aims to bring the business models and tools of cross-media film to the market and forms part of a two-day conference (October 22-23) that stresses the here-and-now potential of digital distribution.

The four projects are:

Breathe (Yomi Ayeni, UK)

As The Dust Settles (Arin Crumley, US)

Dark Fibre (Jamie King, UK)

Him (Lance Weiler, US)

The forum fits into a conference with a sense of mission.

'The way independent film is being distributed does not work. In fact there's little or no distribution for the vast majority of films,' says programme director Liz Rosenthal.

The forum she suggests picks out film-makers who have recognised that fact and have found new ways to interact with audiences.

'This is not about fixing the old business or digitising it but about totally new models.'

Those who are making the running in this field, she suggests, are not the existing industry leaders but people who have 'no baggage'. In other words, they are building businesses that start with the internet at the centre, not as add-ons to the theatrical-led model.

The key for these pioneers is connecting to the audience, she suggests, and that is where the missing business models will be found.

The event, supported by Screen International, will analyse a wide range of cross-media storytelling. The first day will look at case studies and expert thinking with the second day workshopping the ideas.

Rosenthal said the practical approach is important in an industry that is struggling to come to terms with digital change.

'Many in the current industry do not have those connections and have limited skills to make them,' Rosenthal says.

The analysis about the state of the independent business turns on its head Mark Gill's much-quoted article about the sky falling in.

He argues that too many films are being made for the available distribution, whereas Power To The Pixel argues that distribution itself needs to change to accommodate the wealth of talent and opportunities.

But Rosenthal says that such thinking fails to see the opportunities on the web for much wider distribution and is framed by the physical restrictions of cinema space.