Lots of acquisitions recently! Here they are, in alphabetical order:
As reported in indieWire, former Warner Independent Pictures colleagues Paul Federbush and Laura Kim, along with investor Ron Stein, announced a newly launched distribution company, Red Flag Releasing, along with their first acquisition, Reed Cowan's 8: The Mormon Proposition, which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Red Flag will handle theatrical and VOD releases for the film, which is slated to premiere this spring.
Magnolia Pictures acquired the North American theatrical rights to Lucy Walker's Countdown to Zero, about nuclear proliferation in the 21st century. Countdown to Zero is produced by Participant Media, which also handled Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. and Alex Gibney's Casino Jack and the United States of Money, which Magnolia will release in April. Countdown to Zero, which will also air in History in the future, will arrive in theaters this fall.
Sweden-based NonStop Entertainment will distribute Marina Zenovich's Emmy Award-winning Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired in Scandinavia.
As reported in Screen Daily.com, HBO snatched up broadcast rights to Adrian Grenier's Teenage Paparazzo, at the European Film Market in Berlin. Grenier stars in the series Entourage, which also airs on HBO.
North American rights to Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze's Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak comes out on DVD March 2 through Oscilloscope Laboratories to coincide with the DVD release of Jonze's cinematic rendering of Senadak's classic Where the Wild Things Are. The documentary will air on HBO later this year.
The Weinstein Company acquired theatrical and DVD rights to Amir Bar-Lev's The Tillman Story. A&E Indie Films, which produced the film, will air the film.
Film Movement picked up Beadie Finzie's Only When I Dance for a theatrical and VOD release this summer.
Finally, New Yorker Films, which ceased operations in March 2010 after an impressive 44-year run, got a reprieve last week in the form of Aladdin Distribution LLC, a Los Angeles-based company launched in late 2009 by David Raphel, a former president of Twentieth Century Fox International; Christopher Harbonville, a producer formerly associated with the Cambridge Film Group; and Hani Musleh, a former investment banker. Aladdin acquired New Yorker Films, along with its library of some 400 titles, which include such documentaries as Claude Lanzmann's Shoah; Nicolas Philibert's To Be and To Have; and Nathaniel Kahn's My Architect.
Jose Lopez, former business partner of New Yorker Films founder Dan Talbot, has been named president, and Peter Marai has been hired as Acquisitions Consultant. According to an article in indieWire, Talbot will focus on the exhibition side of things, overseeing his Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. "I started as an exhibito and I'll end as an exhibito," Talbot told indieWire.
New Yorker Films is committed to continue releasing quality art and independent films from around the world. The company plans to acquire six to eight titles each year for theatrical release. The non-theatrical and home video departments, both integral parts of the company, will continue acquiring and releasing numerous films.
New Yorker Films has a legendary legacy, boasting a long-standing track record in foreign film distribution, bringing a staggering number of international auteurs to American movie theaters for more than four decades. The company's illustrious roster of directors whose films were released by New Yorker Films includes Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Louis Malle, Wim Wenders, Errol Morris, and many others.