Array Alliance

Overview

Array Alliance is the US nonprofit arts and education organization founded by filmmaker Ava DuVernay in 2010. Originally known as AFFRM (African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement), Array operates multiple interconnected programs: theatrical and digital distribution for films by people of color and women, the Array Creative Campus (a community arts space in Los Angeles), Array Now (an advocacy and activism program), and educational initiatives that connect underrepresented filmmakers with audiences and industry opportunities.

Array's distribution work is its most directly industry-significant function. The organization releases films that would otherwise lack meaningful distribution -- works by Black, Indigenous, and other filmmakers of color, and by women, whose films are systematically undervalued by conventional distribution channels. Array's distribution releases have introduced audiences to films including Amma Asante's A United Kingdom, Dee Rees's Pariah, and numerous documentaries and independent features that found their audiences through Array's community-connected release model.

Array's Distribution Model

Array's distribution approach combines theatrical release in art house and independent cinemas with digital distribution on streaming platforms, and specifically targets community organizations, universities, and historically Black colleges and universities as exhibition partners. This community exhibition strategy reflects Array's conviction that building audiences for diverse independent cinema requires going to where those audiences are -- in communities that may not be served by conventional art house cinema distribution.

The organization's relationships with streaming platforms -- particularly Netflix, which has distributed several Array-supported films -- have evolved as streaming has become the primary window for independent distribution. Array negotiates distribution deals on behalf of the filmmakers it represents, providing a collective bargaining and distribution function for independent filmmakers who lack the infrastructure to negotiate directly with major streaming platforms.

Array Creative Campus

The Array Creative Campus is a physical community arts space in Los Angeles that provides screening facilities, production support, and community gathering space for diverse independent filmmakers and artists. The Campus hosts screenings, workshops, community events, and production activity that creates a physical home for the independent filmmaking community that Array serves.

For emerging filmmakers from underrepresented communities, the Campus provides access to professional resources -- screening rooms, equipment, and community -- that support the development of careers that conventional industry infrastructure systematically underserves.

What Filmmakers Should Know

For independent filmmakers from underrepresented communities seeking distribution, Array's acquisition process and distribution approach provide an alternative to conventional distributors whose acquisition criteria may systematically disadvantage diverse independent work. Understanding what Array looks for in acquisitions -- and how its distribution model works -- helps filmmakers assess whether Array is the right distribution partner for a specific project.

For producers and studios making genuine commitments to diverse storytelling, understanding Array's work -- and how it models an alternative distribution infrastructure for diverse independent cinema -- provides practical evidence of what changes in distribution approach can accomplish.

See Also

For comparable independent distribution approaches, see A24 and Neon in this directory. For advocacy organizations working in similar spaces, see Women in Film (WIF) and Film Independent in this directory.