Comedy drama, which raised most of its P&A through Kickstarter, could be the UK’s first on-demand theatrical screening through crowdsourcing platform Tugg - if it sells enough tickets.

Borrowed Time, a cross-generational comedy starring Phil Davis and shot on a micro-budget, could be the first UK release to use Tugg, a crowdsourcing platform that empowers individuals and organizations to host screenings in local cinemas.

The film will screen at the Prince Charles Cinema in London’s West End on Oct 29 if at least 100 tickets are bought on its Tugg page by Oct 21. The move could mark the advent of ‘cinema on demand’ as a model for small independent theatrical releases. 

The Tugg screening is hosted by one of the backers of Borrowed Time’s Kickstarter campaign.

The film was the first in the UK to part-raise its distribution budget via the crowd-sourcing platform with the amount matched in turn by the BFI via their “New Models” fund. 

Katie Ellen, senior distribution manager at the BFI said: “We are very pleased to be supporting the innovative release strategy behind Borrowed Time and now are looking forward to see how audiences respond to the concept of cinema on demand, introduced here by Tugg.”

It is the latest innovative move from the production, written and directed by Jules Bishop and produced by Parkville Pictures

Following its premiere at the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it was selected for Best of the Fest, the producers chose to raise the P&A costs themselves.

Parkville launched its month-long Kickstarter campaign in January and raised £21,721 from 360 backers. Released theatrically in the UK on Sept 13, the film has gained further support from the BFI’s New Models Award.

International sales rights to the low-budget feature - the seventh to be funded by Film London’s Microwave scheme - are handled by High Point Media Group, which first saw the feature at Film London’s annual sales event LUFF (London UK Film Focus).

Produced by Olivier Kaempfer of Parkville Pictures, the film stars Phil Davis (Vera Drake) and Theo Barklem-Biggs (The Inbetweeners Movie) as a grumpy old man and teenage would-be burglar odd couple.

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