Subcinema: theorizing marginal film distribution

Between the multiplex and the art house lays a terrain of global film culture, which is inadequately accounted for in much contemporary film theory. Piracy operations, diasporic networks, cult markets, popular video industries--circuits such as these operate outside and alongside conventional channels of film distribution. Profit-oriented, non-resistant and largely informal, they deliver vast amounts of media to audiences every day. But how are we to study them? This article seeks to trace the outlines of a theoretical approach to film distribution, a field of study which Sean Cubitt has recently described as being only 'in its infancy'. A model of 'subcinema' is proposed here as a new way of conceptualising those forms of subterranean audiovisual exchange which do not show up on other maps.