The YouTube Screening Room has launched as a step away from "football in the groin" phone-filmed vids toward a hosting and promotional site for independent film makers. The new offering currently features four short indie films: The Danish Poet (a 2007 Oscar winner for Animated Short), Our Time is Up (with Kevin Pollak), Are You The Favorite Person of Anybody? (by indie phenom Miranda July and starring John C. Reilly) and Love and War (dubbed as the world's first animated opera).

It's a good bet this is the beginning of YouTube hosting full, feature-length indie movies and possibly even getting into Hollywood mainstream. The early success of sites like Hulu (nearly 400,000 unique visits per month, according to Quantcast) proves that users are willing to spend extended periods of time watching movies and video on the computer, even with "limited commercial interruption." And YouTube should have no problem getting submissions - think LonelyGirl15.