For Web-Financed Film Projects, a Curtain Rises

Kickstarter is a concept: a Web site that puts together creative types seeking money with backers willing to chip in micro- and macro-payments, a way to crowd-source the financing of ideas. Started last year, the company has become an unexpected influence on indie culture, a new model for a D.I.Y. generation.

And on Friday Kickstarter will also become a curator, when it hosts the first Kickstarter Film Festival. The event, part of the Rooftop Films series, will present some of the projects that patrons of the site have financed, from features and animation to quirkier stuff like a video of a dance anthropology performance piece.