Director Edward Burns faced a well-known problem after premiering his latest film, Purple Violets, at the Tribeca Film Festival back in April -- "lukewarm distribution offers," according to a new article in The New York Times.

Instead of going the usual route and watching his film sink into oblivion due to a lack of public awareness, he decided to do something completely different. As a result, Purple Violets will be the first full-length film to debut exclusively on iTunes; it won't play in a single theater.

James L. McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said in the article that iTunes was primarily a vehicle for selling Apple's media-playing devices like iPods and iPhones.

McQuivey said in the Times report that Apple is in a bit of a crisis. "If they can't get the content soon, which may be why they're doing all sorts of attention-getting content deals now--they need to show they have some traction in the video space--they stand to lose whatever momentum they've gained," he said.

Facing Competition, iTunes Revs Up Its Film Section [NYT]