Still from 'Moonlight' via A24
Public libraries have proven time and time again that they're the absolute best—the latest proof you need a library card is that one now provides access to nearly a full collection of A24 films accessible via Kanopy, a free video streaming app primarily used by public libraries and educational institutions. According to the Verge, 72 titles from the production and distribution company A24 were added to the platform last week. That's big news since those titles include gems like Moonlight, Lady Bird, Ex Machina, The Spectacular Now, and Spring Breakers. You can sort through them by genre, including Oscar winners and nominees. (The newest A24 releases, like Hereditary and Eighth Grade, are not up yet, nor are titles that are still in theaters like Mid90s.)A24 has been an indie powerhouse for some time now, regularly releasing critical successes, most notably the Oscar-winning Moonlight. Though it had a box office hit with Lady Bird, the company's oeuvre of films includes a ton that only the most dedicated of cinephiles may have heard of—especially because many of these films weren't screened widely when they were officially released. Most of them were available on iTunes or Amazon, but people may not want to spend $5 on a film like A Ghost Story because it looks so ridiculous. (It's about a dead man haunting his family in a very literal white-sheet-with-eyeholes ghost costume. It's a heartbreaker.) Putting these films on such an accessible platform has the upside of exposing an entirely new audience to films with more brains than your average blockbuster.To stream them, all you need is the app and a library card, which is a relief at a time when consumerism is going into overdrive thanks to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As the New York Public Library pointed out, the best Black Friday deal is libraries because all books are free!
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