Kickstarter, the powerhouse crowd sourced fundraising engine for an increasing number of creative projects, is poised to have a breakout winter as a film funder, with three of its projects on documentary short lists for the Academy Awards and more than a dozen films headed to the Sundance Film Festival. The recognition has been building but this year marks a big moment for Kickstarter, which is not just helping filmmakers bring their films and documentaries to life, but also providing help to some very high-quality projects.

Two films, Battle for Brooklyn and The Loving Story, were named to the short list for the feature documentary category for the Oscars, which are awarded in February. Another film, Incident in New Baghdad has been shorted listed for the Academy Award’s short documentary prize. Last year, another Kickstarter short documentary project, Sun Come Up, was actually nominated for an Academy Award but didn’t win.

For the Sundance Film Festival later this month, there are at least 14 Kickstarter projects that will be featured, up from five last year. The growing number of Kickstarter projects in Sundance comes after the fundraising platform announced a collaboration last year with Sundance to help provide branding, educational and promotional support to Sundance Institute alumni.

I talked with Perry Chen, the co-founder of Kickstarter about its success as a film fundraiser. Film is the biggest category of projects for Kickstarter, which has more than 4,000 projects dedicated to documentaries, movies and videos. More than million has been raised for film projects out of more than 5 million for all projects. Chen said he was excited about Kickstarter being able to help so many artists with a fundamental problem.

“It’s great. We need content to succeed. When you look up and down at artists, from those starting out to career artists, fundraising is incredibly hard to get. Just because someone has a track record, it doesn’t mean fundraising is easy for them,” Chen said.

Battle for Brooklyn makers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky

Suki Hawley, the co-director on Battle for Brooklyn, told me she turned to Kickstarter twice, first to help finish the film when her grant money fell short and then again to hire publicists after her film was short-listed for the Oscars.

“We couldn’t have finished the film without Kickstarter and it’s an example of bringing the community together and not relying on the 1 percent,” Hawley said. “Going to the community that is interested has been a revelation and a paradigm shift.”

Kickstarter has only been around since 2009, but it’s showing that it’s got a lot of potential as a fundraising tool. The fact that it’s helping push really big projects over the top is just a sign that its model has appeal to all kinds of artists. Will we see a feature film Academy Award winner get Kickstarter funding in the near future? Perhaps not. But Chen said many of the Kickstarter films at Sundance are also feature films as well, so who knows one day.

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Because of so many new technologies altering the way movie reviews and filmmaking are done, the financial environment of independent cinema in Hollywood is changing. It used to be that only a little over 900 production and film financing distribution partners invested in Indie Films through private placement memorandums. Any willing investor could do it today.

Several areas have been influenced: 1) Filmmakers now have online schools where they can get training, learn about filmmaking, and locate a mentor in the industry to work with. 2) Traditional fundraising methods to secure film distribution are becoming outdated, while new funding opportunities for independent filmmakers are emerging.

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Right now, the digital revolution is not only changing the way films are made, but how films are distributed. Independent filmmakers no longer need a large distributor because faster broadband now allows people to watch movies from their computer screens. Anyone can purchase some films from their websites. “The Fall of America and the Western World” is one such film.

Independent filmmakers who are hoping to get their film projects can look forward to the future when these changes increases their opportunities.

There are also online companies that match filmmakers with distributors and/or investor nowadays. Filmmakers from small towns can make use of these kinds of services.

It also helps when an independent filmmaker has good movie reviews from film critics for past film projects. These movie reviews lend credibility to filmmakers when they are seeking investors.

The filmmaker would submit a description of their film for consideration to these online websites. There are many investors registered on the website who can then access the list of projects at their own pace, and review those projects that are in need of funding. They in turn can directly contact the filmmakers, which cuts out any middlemen as was popular for film financing in the past.

Independent filmmakers are also assisted by some non-profit organizations to locate financing and distribution for their projects. They don’t fund filmmakers, but they do offer fiscal sponsorship. Sponsorship allows filmmakers to receive funding from sources that limit their funding to nonprofits.

Independent producers can also post website ads and information abour their projects on other websites that link them to investors.