In 2003, veteran Canadian documentary maker Ron Mann (pictured) and music promoter Gary Topp launched filmswelike to release hand-picked films with personal appeal with limited theatrical runs.

Almost a decade later, they’re both distributor and festival wine bar hub.

It turns out filmswelike’s Mercer street office in downtown Toronto is a stone’s throw from Bell Lightbox, and during the Toronto International Film Festival last year, it became an impromptu wine bar for cinephiles.

“People dropped over to our office and we became the cool kids on the block, where the alternative festival hung out,” Mann remembers of the 2010 edition.

Another filmswelike tradition: Mann hosts an annual dim sum lunch on the opening Sunday afternoon at the Sky Dragon Restaurant on Spadina Avenue for around 200 fest-goers.

“Everyone pays for their own meals, which is in keeping with the spirit of indie cinema, and it’s the opposite of the (Canadian Film Centre) barbecue for people who don’t want to go out there,” he explains.

The wine and dim sum add up to more than a festival banquet.

Filmswelike is launching three film titles at TIFF: Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, his 19^th film, Pearl Jam Twenty, by Cameron Crowe, and Alps, by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos.

It’s all part of Filmswelike’s strategy to become an alternative indie distributor.

“At Filmswelike, we support contemporary auteur filmmakers. We hand-pick films. We’re a boutique, small distribution company, and we hand-pick films from festivals, films that stand out,” Mann explains.

“And it’s important for these films, many from international cinema, to be distributed in theatres,” he adds.

Mann argues recent industry consolidation in indie distribution, including Maple Films being acquired by Alliance Films, underlines the market opening for smaller players like Filmswelike.

Alliance Films and Entertainment One are the two remaining major indie Canadian distributors pursuing a traditional theatrical distributor-exhibitor strategy where films first get a theatrical run, followed by pay TV and DVD sales.

But with Canadian TV networks pulling back from broadcasting local documentaries and other homegrown films, and the DVD business slumping, the safety net that has long underpinned Canadian film distribution is slipping away.

And that presents an opening to Filmswelike and other smaller indie distributors offering an alternative distribution model for Canadian film.

“We’re at 20 releases a year, because these films are fantastic and they really need to be out in cinemas,” he said.

And Mann isn’t disappointed filmmakers might ring Filmswelike if they don’t get any joy pitching first to Entertainment One or Alliance Films.

“I’m glad we’re the last call. I like the fact that the other distributors pick up films. It means that the film is reaching an audience,” Mann says.