Image courtesy Flickr under Creative Commons licence

Since the story in iSGTW last year about Cinefilia, the grid-enabled film recommendation service, it creator and sole webmaster, Leandro Ciuffo, says his user base has increased by 27% — without any direct promotion or advertising.

Once a user has signed up for a Cinefilia account they can review whether they like or dislike one of hundreds of films on the database. The system then ‘learns’ that user’s preferences and generates personalized recommendations accordingly. (But in order for the results to be accurate a minimum of 20 films must be rated by a user.)  

Ciuffo aims to increase the amount of Brazilian films on the database because 95% of users on his site are Brazilian, possibly because there are currently no recommendation systems for Brazilian films.

Ciuffo is looking for partners to help him improve the recommendation software algorithm and to update his website’s user interface. His service recommendation algorithm is supported by the GISELA grid.

Ciuffo is planning to develop an iPhone and iPod app for January 2011. Soon you will be able to let your phone decide which film to watch on your way home from work — especially if you like Brazilian films.

- Adrian Giordani, iSGTW