Laptop icons and film reel icons on blue background.

Modernizing Digital Distribution for a 150-Member Film Collective

New Day Films is a filmmaker-run cooperative founded in 1971 that distributes award-winning educational documentaries to educators, community groups, libraries, and institutions worldwide. Their collection includes Academy Award winners and Emmy recipients.

Centarro partnered with Kalamuna to modernize New Day's digital commerce and streaming platform. It handles complex licensing structures, multiple authentication systems, and bespoke streaming functionality while maintaining the democratic, filmmaker-first values that define the cooperative.

Custom licensing and access

Built automated license provisioning with multi-modal authentication to serve institutions and groups.

Marketplace functionality

Filmmakers can create their own promotions and view analytics.

Strategic partnership

Demonstrated effective collaboration between specialized agencies.

Light and dark modes for the home page of New Day Films

A unified commerce architecture

New Day Films operated two Drupal 7 websites. Their main content site housed the film catalog and promotional materials, while a separate commerce site handled transactions and licensing. This approach made cross-selling difficult, limited content integration, and required maintaining two separate codebases.

We helped Kalmuna implement a unified architecture that lowered technical debt and decreased maintenance costs. This combination enables a better content experience for both editors and customers. Rich content allows better search and cross-selling opportunities.

Custom licensing and digital rights management

No existing third-party streaming service could accommodate New Day's complex requirements. Most platforms are designed for individual user access, lacking the institutional licensing and access management required by libraries and universities.

Our implementation uses the Commerce License module to handle multiple license types simultaneously—from individual 14-day rentals to lifetime institutional access—while ensuring secure content delivery and proper revenue attribution. The system ensures that filmmakers receive proper compensation while institutions get the flexible access terms they require, supporting New Day's cooperative business model.

Advanced authentication systems

Educational institutions require flexible access methods to accommodate diverse user scenarios. A university library needs to serve students on campus, faculty working remotely, and visiting researchers with varying technical setups. Accessing a purchase should be frictionless and as easy as turning on Netflix.

The new website determines the appropriate authentication method based on user context and maintains security and licensing compliance. It supports:

IP Address Range Validation: Automatic campus network recognition and access provisioning
Email Domain Authentication: Institutional email verification with secure token generation
Proxy Server Integration: Seamless compatibility with institutional proxy systems

Kalamuna built a custom streaming platform from the ground up to handle these authentication requirements. As a part of their work, they plugged into Commerce License to allow authenticated users access to the correct films. Customers get a user experience they expect from modern streaming platforms.

Marketplace analytics and reporting

New Day's cooperative business model requires detailed analytics for both content creators and institutional purchasers. Filmmakers need to understand their audience reach and engagement, while librarians and educators need usage data to justify renewal investments and demonstrate ROI.

We leveraged Drupal Commerce's order and customer data to provide meaningful insights for all users.

Filmmaker Revenue Dashboards: Sales performance, geographic distribution, and audience engagement metrics
Institutional Usage Reports: Student access patterns, content utilization rates, and license value analysis
Cooperative Performance Metrics: Platform-wide statistics and member contribution tracking

Film page showing add to cart button for New Day Films

A collaborative partnership

A complex project requiring specialized technical specifications sometimes requires a more diverse team. Kalamuna led the technical implementation for the streaming platform, planned the new information architecture, and brought deep design expertise. Centarro contributed Drupal Commerce specialization. Together, we created a unique solution that optimized for New Day’s budget and delivered a superior product.

Ready to modernize your digital commerce platform?

Centarro specializes in complex Drupal Commerce implementations that solve real business challenges. Whether you're consolidating legacy systems, building custom marketplace functionality, or creating innovative customer experiences, we help organizations achieve their digital commerce goals.

Services

Data migration
Drupal Commerce best practices
Order workflow design
Solution architecture design