What began in 2007 as a social networking forum for movie nerds called The Auteurs, MUBI has now evolved into a cinephile-favourite service available in more than 190 countries boasting of more than 9 million current subscribers.

What sets it apart from its rivals, however, is that instead of offering an a la carte collection of hundreds of movies and TV shows, it offers only 30 highly acclaimed films at a given time that are made available for a limited period of 30 days — a modern day version of a theatre with a cyclical schedule.

The company now has its eyes set on the Indian market, despite the fact that it has already been three years since American digital giant Netflix’s launch. The relatively smaller company, which prides itself on being a “curated” service, has chosen a novel approach to make its presence felt in movie-loving India by collaborating with PVR, India’s largest operator of multiplexes.

In a “first of its kind” alliance between exhibitor and streamer, the ‘MUBI GO’ plan offers its subscribers (who are currently being lured with an introductory offer of Rs 199 for three months) one free PVR Cinema ticket every week for a film selected by MUBI. The ticket can be used at any PVR Cinema across India that’s showing the film.

Founder and CEO Efe Cakarel is a firm believer of watching movies on the big screen and doesn’t want MUBI to “replace the cinematic experience” but merely widen its accessibility, teaming up with a company like PVR is a fitting choice.

Digital might be thriving today, but to forget the scores of movie-going audiences in the subcontinent is foolish and MUBI realises that.

Streaming services have often been pitted against traditional theatre-going and even television-viewing for how they have been feared to cut into sales and alter consumer behaviour. But the MUBI-PVR partnership cashes in on the fact that millennials are increasingly spending their disposable income on experiences, and seeks to brand film appreciation as specific cultural experiences in the sea of culinary, travel and retail experiences currently vying for our attention.

Kamal Gianchadani, CEO, PVR Pictures, tells ThePrint, “At PVR, we always try to innovate and push the envelope. This tie-up dispels the myth that cinemas and OTT cannot collaborate.”

He feels the partnership will help break the idea that PVR is only meant for mainstream blockbusters. “Our collaboration with MUBI will help us expose more movie-goers to specialised films and increase their theatrical success.”

Students at 180 schools will be able to brush up on films on the MUBI service for the duration of their course. They can sign up via dedicated student and teacher log-in pages.

“For us, it’s simple: the best films, from the classics to the cutting-edge, should be available to the next generation of filmmakers,” said MUBI’s CEO and Founder Efe Cakarel (pictured, right). “We hope you enjoy this gift, that you get lost in a world of film and that one day, MUBI will be screening yours.”

The initiative is backed by Creative Europe – MEDIA Program of the European Union, Europe’s film support program. It follows a pilot scheme that took place in the U.K. over the past year with the National Film and Television School.

Jon Wardle (above left), director of the NFTS said: “MUBI has proved to be an invaluable resource for our students, we’re so pleased that aspiring filmmakers around the world will now be able to use and enjoy it as our school has.”

MUBI launched in 2007 and is billed as a hand-curated cinema service. It has 30 films at any one time, with a new title added each day. It recently acquired “Bright Nights,” which was at Berlin last year and will be added to the lineup on Feb. 23.

MUBI is also recently acquiring theatrical rights in the UK, most notably Ali Abbasi’s “Border,” which won Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Image Book,” which received a special Palme d’Or at the festival, and Italian-director Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up to “Call Me By Your Name,”, “Suspiria.”

Later this year, PS3 users will have access to a treasure trove of celluloid curated by experts - so that even non-experts can enjoy what might otherwise take a lifetime to discover. MUBI will offer more than 300 films at launch from directors from Audiard to Zeferelli; and they're all going to be available to stream directly to users' PS3s.

PS3 users will need to download the free MUBI application from PlayStation Store. They can then open it up and start watching. Users can find festival gems, classics, famous independent releases and art-house flicks, or discover the work of world-famous directors like the Coen Brothers and Tarantino alongside Latin American directors and restored shorts from international archives. Furthermore, users can share their recommendations and ideas with friends in the PlayStation MUBI community.

Joining SCEE President Andrew House in Cannes at the unveiling of the service, MUBI founder Efe Çakarel said: "MUBI is the fastest growing online destination for lovers of independent, foreign and classic film. And discovery for PS3 users couldn’t be more fun - from finding out about the films behind the latest buzz at Cannes, to taking the film recommendation of MUBI members like Martin Scorsese."

Andrew House added: "PlayStation is about great entertainment, from PS3 games to content, delivered straight to the living room or enjoyed on the go. Today this ranges from VidZone through to PlayTV. MUBI offers the perfect independent counterpoise to our box-office blockbuster, hi-def, video delivery service, catering for the tastes of an ever broader customer base. Add in PS3’s DVD and PS3 Blu-ray disc player and we have the perfect ticket for film lovers."

This is an online cinema for cinema lovers - a movie service that takes you beyond the mainstream and deep into thousands of views of our world through different lenses - all streamed straight to movies fans' PS3 to turn their living rooms into their own private cinema. MUBI for PS3 will be launched this year in UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Iberia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Nordic countries, Australia, New Zealand.

MUBI subscribers will now have access to Sony movies such as “Taxi Driver,” “Closer,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” “All That Jazz,” “Adaptation,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “Buffalo 66’ and “Snatch.” The Sony partnership follows MUBI’s recent deals with other leading distributors, including eOne, Icon and Studiocanal.

MUBI, which was founded by London-based Turkish entrepreneur Efe Cakarel in 2007, differs from other SVOD services in two respects. First, it specializes in independent, cult, classic and festival films, with an emphasis on foreign-language titles. Second, it is curated by the service’s staff: At any one time there are only 30 films to choose from, with the titles constantly rotating. Everyday a new film is introduced, and one drops off. Each film is available to watch for 30 days. The service is available in more than 200 countries and across multiple devices. The U.K. subscription costs £4.99 ($7.71) a month, or £39.99 ($61.79) for a year.

The Sony deal represents a ramping up of U.S. content on the site. Cakarel said: “MUBI is already curating the best of cinema for its audience. International film has been at the core of our film selection, but this deal will allow us to program some of the greatest and most popular films ever made.

“As our industry and consumer habits continue to evolve, it is increasingly important to ensure film fans have access to high-quality entertainment wherever and whenever they want, and this new partnership with Sony Pictures Television will allow us to deliver an even richer experience for our members.”

The round is led by Consultatio VC Eduardo Costantini, includes existing backers Martin Varsavsky and Alec Oxenford and adds newcomers Aydin Senkut, Georges Harik, Joel Peterson, Bart Decrem and Jose Marin, Vator.tv says.

MUBI shows films like Battleship Potemkin and A Clockwork Orange, plus indie film festival fare, on a PPV basis for $3 and $1 and for a $12/£9.99)-per-month subscription.

As well as merely showing the movies, MUBI goes strong on letting users rate and review them. It’s carried on Playstation 3 as well as web, and could get carried on umpteen more boxes, as the IPTV opportunity unfolds.

The site's tech is as groundbreaking as the content it features. Unlike Apple, which requires iTunes, and Netflix, which relies on a third-party app, Auteurs sends compressed files to your browser's Flash plug-in for instant streams. What's more: Engineers work behind the scenes to boost the viewing experience, painstakingly tweaking the compression settings for each film with a tool chain that includes mplayer, x264, ffmpeg, and mp4box. They also add lush 5.1 Dolby surround sound. "Our office is a combination of film geeks and AV nerds," says Efe Cakarel, the company's founder. "Even if a film is available elsewhere, it's not going to be the same because of the expertise we've brought to encoding." For further quality control, a selection judge from the Venice Film Festival curates the library.

Auteurs currently offers 84 titles from 30 different countries and plans to expand its catalog to 1,000 films by the end of 2009. So while the celebrities are descending upon Cannes, film connoisseurs can kick back and wait for the art house to come to their living rooms.