Los Angeles woke up this morning to an Oscar announcement that reverberated all the way to the streets of Cairo, where Egyptians were still awaiting the full results of a referendum on a new constitution. THE SQUARE, which was listed on Slated just a few weeks before being unveiled at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, is now one of the five non-fiction features nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary that will be handed out on March 2nd. Our congratulations go out to everyone involved in this extraordinary film, from director Jehane Noujaim and her producer Karim Amer, to executive producers Mike Lerner and Alexandra Johnes, to editor Pedro Kos and to the Sundance Institute that helped start the financing ball rolling on this film with a 2012 grant from its Documentary Film Program and Fund.

Justifiably proud of their achievement, Jehane and Karim have been quick to share the acclaim and recognize the talents and sacrifices of their many collaborators and subjects. “We are just the representatives,” tweeted Karim to Slated’s Twitter followers minutes after hearing the news, “this nomination goes to an incredible team in #egypt and to those who call #tahrir home.”

The Square’s theme of convulsing change could not have been more appropriate on a day when the Oscars marked a few revolutionary milestones of its own. This is the first time that a woman – equity financier Megan Ellison – has produced two Best Picture nominees in the same year, American Hustleand Her. It also marked the start of what will be ever-greater industry recognition for digital distribution platforms and their increasing investment clout. After winning three Emmys last year and a Golden Globe earlier this month, Netflix can now boast its first ever Oscar nomination as the North American distributor of The Square. Not to be outdone, The Weinstein’s company’s VOD platform, Radius-TWC, has two documentary nominations of its own this year, for Cutie And The Boxer and also 20 Feet From Stardom.

That this should all happen on the day that the 2014 Sundance Film Festival officially kicks off is not entirely coincidental. As this article in The New York Times noted earlier this week, those digital platforms represent the best hope of finding a paying audience for the majority of the 117 feature-length films that will be showcased in Park City. On-demand platforms are where the independent action is right now, a fact underscored by a series of bellweather announcements over the last few days: ex-IFC Films marketing chief Ryan Werner is joining Cinetic Media, bolstering that company’s digital distribution services that include FilmBuff and Producers Distribution Agency; digital movies aggregator GoDigital is merging with theatrical counterpart Variance Films to create an all-rights company called Amplify; and Ted Hope, previously executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, will now become CEO of Fandor, the curated online streaming service with its own ambitions to “remake the film ecosystem.”

As was the case at last year’s Sundance, where Slated-listed THE WAY, WAY BACK landed the biggest distribution deal of the festival en route to a $23 million global theatrical gross, there will always be room for the occasional big screen breakout – even if VOD considerations drive those theatrical calculations. Indeed, a Summer theatrical release has already penciled in for the first dramatic competition film to be grabbed out of Sundance this year, the comedy-drama Happy Christmas that was co-produced by Alicia Van Couvering. Under their joint acquisition agreement, Magnolia Pictures will handle US theatrical and VOD distribution, while Paramount will handle physical home entertainment and all international rights.

A select handful of other deals are likely to follow in the days to come. As a prelude to festival, Indiewire named ten films tipped to sell big at this year’s Sundance. All but but one, we are delighted to note, have connections to Slated’s community. On that sales hotlist are:

Sure enough, just hours before one of those films, Whiplash, kicked off the festival to enthusiastic reviews on Thursday evening, international rights to the $3.3 million drama were snapped up by Sony Pictures Worldwide. A North American deal for the film, which stars Miles Teller as a jazz drummer, is expected to follow shortly.

Slated itself has been in the media spotlight. Paste magazine has just named us its “Big Film Idea of the Year” after a 2013 in which the dealmaking and networking platform “really achieved critical mass” and a resulting “signal-to-noise ratio that is admirable.” In the accompanying interview, which you can read in full here, co-founder and chairman Stephan Paternot discusses the historical lack of an efficient introduction system in the film industry. Simply put, filmmaking teams need to be more easily matched with money, partners and other talent. “To build a marketplace,” notes Stephan, “it’s all about having liquidity, and that means enough supply and enough demand at any given point so that there’s always something of interest for each party. We’re primarily an introduction platform right now. The goal is to go from being just an introduction platform to a full beginning-to-end transaction engine.”

It’s a quiet revolution all its own, one where the industry gates are not so much brought crashing down but rather made more accessible, see-through and friction-free. Onwards, comrades.

DGA NODS FOR LUCY WALKER, JEHANE NOUJAIM

Both Lucy Walker (THE CRASH REEL) and Jehane Noujaim (THE SQUARE) were among the five filmmakers that The Directors Guild of America announced as nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries. Also nominated are Sarah Polley (Stories We Tell), Zachary Heinzerling (Cutie And The Boxer) and Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing).

KING OF POP CHRONICLER IN BAFTA SUNSHINE

In what may well be a first for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Alex Gibney has directed two of this year's five nominated documentaries in the Bafta Film Awards that will be given out on February 16th: The Armstrong Lie and We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks. Alex is involved in two Slated-listed projects. He is the director of MICHAEL JACKSON 1993, produced by Mitchell Block, and executive producer of SUNSHINE SUPERMAN, directed by Marah Strauch. Other Bafta nominees include filmmaker Kieran Evans, for Outstanding Debut with Kelley + Victor, a film part-funded by Film Agency Wales.

LOS ANGELES BRITS CHOOSE CHAIRMAN

And while we are on the subject of the British Academy, Nigel Daly has been elected as the chairman of the board of BAFTA/LA. The Los Angeles branch just hosted its annual Awards Season Tea Party at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, attended by the likes of Helene Cardona, Jonathan Dana and a host of Oscar nominees including Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett.

HOLLYWOOD MAVEN JOINS SLATED

Randy Greenberg, who was named Co-Head of Operations and Business Development at Resolution when Jeff Berg’s talent and literary agency was created last year, has joined Slated. A former Universal Pictures and MGM senior international marketing and distribution executive, Randy arrives with studio greenlight experience and over $5 billion in total revenue and profit/loss responsibility.

INDIE CAPER COMEDY ROUNDS OUT CAST

Ursula Parker, the younger girl from the TV show Louie, has joined Linda Cardellini, Jason Lee and Craig Robinson in the cast of LOST IN AUSTIN. "Based on the final numbers for talent, crew, locations, and composer our new budget is only $850,000," says writer-director Will Raee, who pitches his film as "Fargo meets Little Miss Sunshine." Cardellini has a recurring role onMad Men; Robinson, who will be starring in NBC's show Mr. Robinson this fall, will be seen later this year playing as James Brown's saxophone player in Universal's biopic of the Godfather of Soul.

LESBIAN LOVE STORY FINDS ANGELS

Director Deb Shoval has added two new executive producers to her film AWOL, both of them film investors who have experience in the tech space. They are: James Belfer, co-founder of the the first incubator for indie film producers Dogfish Accelerator, and LA Teodosio, a software entrepreneur who put money into Ira Sach’s LOVE IS STRANGE, a film once listed on Slated that is now about to premiere at Sundance.

ANTHEMIC ROCK BAND ACCOMPANIES HEROIC MOTHER

Director Danny Hiller says that the Northern Irish/Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol will provide the score for his film OUT OF INNOCENCE that stars Charlene McKenna and Bernard Hill. The band has sold more than ten million albums worldwide, including Eyes Open, Britain's best selling record in 2006. Carola Ash, Abbs Abdali and Zach Willis are executive producers of the drama which is based on true events that took place in Ireland during the 1980s.

ARAB SHEIKH-DOWN TALE HUSTLES UP LATIN HEAT

Producer Miguel Govea says he will be going to next month’s European Film Market in Berlin with a revised budget and financials for JEQUE MATE. The Caracas-set film, based on the true story of a talented con artist, is being directed by Henry Rivero, whose latest film Secreto De Confesion has just opened as a box office hit in Venezuela and Colombia. Lead actor Juan Pablo Raba is currently shooting The 33, an account of the Chilean miner tragedy, as a co-star opposite Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche.

A MEDIA REVOLUTION, ROMANIAN-STYLE

London-based producer Mara Adina says she has just secured top European production designer Cristian Niculescut for her documentary thriller CHUCK NORRIS VS COMMUNISM. With over 30 years experience, Niculescut has worked with the likes of Joel Schumacher and Radu Mihaileanu. John Battsek, of the UK's Passion Pictures, is attached as an Executive Producer of the film, which combines interviews and re-enactments to tell the story of how films were smuggled into Communist Romania in 1985 to create an underground screening network that opened a forbidden window on the Western world.

AND, FINALLY..

.. several Slated films are nearing their own finishing lines. Producer Nick Goldfarb reports having a director's cut for LOPIN', ROPIN' AND HOPIN'... Director Raynald Leconte raised another $5,000 for IN THE EYE OF THE SPIRAL a documentary about Haitian artists narrated by Annie Lennox,towards a goal of another $45,000 to complete fine cut... Director R. Stephen Suettinger says he has just wrapped shooting on A YEAR AND CHANGE... And now in post-production too is SAUGATUCK CURES, a film that is gaining topicality by the week in light of the legal tussles over gay marriage being experienced in Utah - the same state that happens to host the annual indie filmmaking crucible known as Sundance.