ew York has always been the offbeat alternative to Hollywood's polished blockbusters. This remains true as film moves online. One new company, shortfest.com, is preparing a grab bag of funky films with an alternative sensibility.

When Dan Holton-Roth, co-founder of shortfest, answered the door to his expansive loft in SoHo at 10 a.m. last week, he had that, "it's too early to speak" look on his face. But after a cup of java, Holton-Roth, 23, and his business partner Adam Orman, 24, (who was equally rumpled) perked up as they discussed the imminent launch of their Web site.

Every month shortfest.com will showcase 25 short films, chosen by five curators. The works will be a mix of genres from animation to digital films to avant-garde to narrative pieces.

When shortfest goes live at the end of the month (they haven't chosen a date), it will join a growing number of film sites, which range from fancy Flash technology creations to film malls that accept submissions from anyone.

"Even as somebody who loves short films, I got tired of trying to find something on iFilm or Atom that I liked," says Orman, referring to the two major online film sites. "It was a matter of chance whether I was going to find something good."

Shortfest will be like a film museum site. Each curator will provide program notes and an introduction to the films. For the launch, the site will feature black and white 1940s animation and several campy French shorts, as well as a calendar of screenings in New York and film reviews.

People don't flock to the Internet now for films, but with faster technology on the way and the expanding Internet distribution channels, many people are expecting a boom. But will people come to the Web for 15-minute art films?

Orman and Holton-Roth are expecting to appeal to a niche market, to that independent-minded filmmaker interested in wacky shorts.

"At this stage, we're not banking on shortfest actually making a ton of money," says Holton-Roth. But he and Orman have turned their entrepreneurial eyes toward more revenue-generating endeavors. Once shortfest gets off the ground, they hope to start a digital post-production facility. For now, shortfest.com is working out the technical bugs, fine-tuning their design and getting ready to step into the fray of the online film world.