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Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Shari & Lamb Chop, a documentary about children’s TV trailblazer Shari Lewis who created a sensation with her cuddly and feisty sock puppet Lamb Chop.

Lisa D’Apolito directed the film, which made its world premiere at Doc NYC. Kino Lorber plans to open the film theatrically on July 18, followed by a digital, educational, and home video release. Shari & Lamb Chop is produced by White Horse Pictures and MoJo Global Arts and presented by Concord Originals and Olive Hill Media in association with The 51 Fund, Carlene Laughlin and Chicago Media Project.

“Before Fred Rogers and Jim Henson, there was Shari Lewis, a children’s television pioneer whose whimsical characters and ebullient spirit have guided generations of children as they came of age,” notes a release. “Raised in the Bronx by a proud feminist mother and a professor father...

Whether it’s the Laemmles in Los Angeles, the Angelika in New York, or any of the arthouse theaters in between, Kino Lorber has become a mainstay of international cinema in the U.S. But for president Ed Carroll, there’s a mission to expand that reputation to streaming.

Initially joining the indie distributor as chief strategy officer in 2023 after nearly a quarter century at AMC Networks, Carroll oversaw the acquisition of the streaming service MHz Choice, which offers a collection of top international TV dramas like the German noir series “Babylon Berlin” and the first series from Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio, “Exterior Night.”

Since then, he’s also overseen the expansion of Kino Lorber’s streaming platform, Kino Film Collection, which is available on Amazon.

Kino Lorber has a stake in the Oscars this Sunday, as it distributed “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” a nominee for Best Documentary Feature...

Kino Lorber, a New York-based distribution company specialized in arthouse movies, world cinema and classics, has appointed Karoliina Dwyer as vice president of acquisitions.

In her role, Dwyer will oversee film acquisitions for the company across theatrical releases, pay-vod and partner licensing opportunities, as well as Kino Lorber’s own Kino Film Collection streaming service.

Dwyer will report to chief revenue officer Lisa Schwartz, whose team also includes Nicholas Kemp, senior VP of theatrical distribution and marketing; Rebecca Winter, VP of partnerships and platform management; and George Schmalz, VP of repertory and international distribution.

Originally from Finland, Dwyer joins Kino Lorber from The Yellow Affair, a New York, London and Helsinki-based world sales agent where she has served as CEO since 2018.

Dwyer began her career working in development and production, and she has also consulted on international sales and distribution for several organizations including Tribeca Film Festival and Kino Lorber,...

The Kino Film Collection streaming service is celebrating the annual Sundance Film Festival season with a special January program featuring festival-alum films.

IndieWire can announce that 49 movies that have previously played at Sundance will be part of the Kino Film Collection, including “Prey for Rock and Roll” and “The Disappearance of My Mother” — both new-to-the-platform films begin streaming January 23. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” will also make its streaming debut later this season.

Highlights from the Kino Film Collection Sundance edition include Todd Haynes’ iconic 1991 film “Poison,” Taika Waititi’s breakout “Boy,” Eliza Hittman’s “It Felt Like Love,” and Chloe Zhao’s “Songs My Brother Taught Me.” Alex Gibney’s documentary “Finding Fela” and Nina Menkes’ acclaimed “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” are additionally among the selected titles.

The Kino Film Collection similarly launched a Toronto International Film Festival edition in 2024, with Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Alps” and Pietro Marcello’s “Martin Eden.”

Kino...

This week’s episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast, co-hosted by Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio, is a fun one. We start the episode off with a rundown review of all the firehose of awards nominees, events, winners, and distractions that came this week — from the Gotham Awards live in New York on Monday to nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards and National Board of Review and the winners out of the elite New York Film Critics Circle. Oh, there were also the Gotham Awards on Monday in New York, where “A Different Man” surprisingly won Best Feature over predicted pick “Anora.” Meanwhile, IndieWire hosted our own Honors event Thursday night in Los Angeles, but for context, we recorded this podcast before those were highlighted.

But as a more refreshing rejoinder to the awards talks we regularly hold on this podcast, Kino Lorber CEO and chairman Richard Lorber...

Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to “Being Maria,” a French movie revolving around the controversial production of Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 film “Last Tango in Paris.”

Directed by Jessica Palud, the movie stars “Happening” breakout Anamaria Vartolomei as Maria Schneider and Matt Dillon as Marlon Brando.

“Being Maria” had its world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it was the only female-directed film selected for the Premieres section. It’s now playing at the American French Film Festival at the DGA. where Kino Lorber’s boss Richard Lorber will be receiving an honorary tribute over the weekend.

The movie charts the turbulent life and career of the late French actress Maria Schneider, who was a promising young actress struggling to break into film when she was cast by Bertolucci, then still rising as a face of Italian cinema, to star in “Last Tango in Paris” alongside an American superstar,...

Reflecting the breadth of her legacy across different continents, French actor Isabelle Huppert was celebrated by the likes of Alfonso Cuarón, Claire Denis, Alejandro Jodorowsky and François Ozon at the 15th edition of the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon where she received a sprawling career tribute on Oct. 18.

Huppert kicked off the festivities as she entered the 3000-seat auditorium dancing to the 1980’s disco beats of “Nuit de folie,” dressed in a shimmery champagne gown.

The joyful ceremony, emceed by Huppert’s longtime friend (and Cannes boss) Thierry Fremaux who runs the Lumiere Film Festival, was punctuated by live musical numbers ranging widely from Camelia Jordana’s singing a capella “I Will Survive,” to Julien Clerc performing his 1978 cult song “Ma Preference” by the piano, and French actor Sandrine Kiberlain playfully singing “Nuit de folie” which was said to be Huppert’s unexpected all-time favorite song.

The most vibrant homage...

The 62nd New York Film Festival (September 27-October 14) got underway Friday with “Nickel Boys”, rookie feature director RaMell Ross’ daring screen adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel. The film spawned strong applause as well as ardent debate on its challenging mise-en-scène from the attendees at Alice Tully Hall. One thing they agreed on was “King Richard” Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s inevitable second Supporting Actress nod.

At the ritual after-party at Tavern on the Green, an annual celebration for the New York film community, Ellis-Taylor admitted she couldn’t watch herself and ran from the theater. She provides the beating heart for this extraordinary and divisive movie. “Every year we spend months talking about what opening night will be,” said NYFF director Dennis Lim at the after-party, “because it sets the tone for the festival. RaMell is a filmmaker we’ve loved and believed in since ‘Hale County [This Morning, This Evening].’ [‘Nickel Boys’] is not a feel-good movie.

Distribution veteran Wendy Lidell will depart Kino Lorber as SVP of theatrical acquisitions and distribution at the end of June after eight years to pursue a new, undisclosed, chapter.

Kino Lorber chairman and CEO Richard Lorber made the announcement on Friday and hailed Lidell as “the rarest amalgam of smart cinephile and canny business executive”.

Kino Lorber chief revenue officer Lisa Schwartz will oversee theatrical distribution and acquisitions in the interim and continue to report to Klmg president Ed Carroll.

Lidell joined the company in 2016. During her tenure she shepherded three documentaries to Oscar nominations – Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire At Sea,...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber SVP of Theatrical Acquisitions & Distribution Wendy Lidell will depart the company at the end of June following a great eight year run at the indie distributor.

The company’s Chief Revenue Officer Lisa Schwartz will oversee theatrical distribution and acquisitions in the interim and will continue to report to President Ed Carroll. Reporting to Schwartz will be SVP Marketing and Communications Nicholas Kemp, VP Press and Publicity Kate Patterson, VP Theatrical Distribution & Repertory Acquisitions George Schmalz, and Director Theatrical Distribution Maxwell Wolkin.

Schwartz and Carroll, former top executives at AMC Networks, joined Kino Lorber in early 2023.

Lidell has been at Kino Lorber since 2016, overseeing all theatrical acquisitions and distribution efforts and shepherding three documentaries to Oscar nominations – Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea, Talal Derki’s Of Fathers and Sons most recently Kaouther Ben Hania’s decorated Four Daughters.

Other theatrical releases on her watch include Long Day’s Journey Into Night,...

Kino Lorber has picked up U.S. rights to Johan Grimonprez’s Sundance-winning documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, which traces how the U.S. used “Jazz Ambassadors” like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Duke Ellington, to build goodwill during the Cold War all while orchestrating clandestine operations to destabilize the Congo.

Kino Lorber will partner with specialist streamer Kanopy on the U.S. release of the film. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat marks Lorber’s second collaboration with Grimonprez following their 2010 release of his hybrid doc-drama Double Take, which stitches together clips from Alfred Hitchcock’s films and TV work, together with 50s news footage and commercials, to tell a fictional story of Cold War paranoia.

“Johan Grimonprez is a master of making political history feel newly alive and utterly fascinating, and he’s done it again with his latest film Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” said Richard Lorber,...

Independent distributor Kino Lorber is expanding its Kino Film Collection US streaming business as a direct-to-consumer service and standalone app on Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV and Roku.

The service was launched last November as one of Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, where it will continue to be available. Subscription to the standalone service will cost $5.99 a month.

The Kino collection features hundreds of films from Kino Lorber’s 4,000-title library as well as new releases fresh from theatres and festivals.

To mark its expansion, the service will this month offer a curated assortment of films originally seen at the Cannes festival,...

Kino Lorber is expanding its streaming footprint. The boutique art-house distributor just launched its own SVOD platform, the Kino Film Collection.

The new app is available now as a standalone service on Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku, and it will feature hundreds of movies from Kino Lorber’s film library of more than 4,000 titles. Subscriptions will begin at $5.99 per month.

In November 2023, Kino Lorber launched an Amazon Prime Video channel; you can still access its titles there. But having its own service puts the company in the race alongside other niche streaming options in the space, like the Criterion Channel ($10.99/month) or Mubi ($14.99/month).

As part of the launch, Kino Film Collection curated a selection of titles that showcase auteurs who have played at Cannes; the 2024 film festival is currently ongoing. The collection includes early movies from Yorgos Lanthimos, Jia Zhangke, and Ken Loach, as well as...

New York arthouse distributor Kino Lorber is expanding its streaming service, Kino Film Collection, currently available on Amazon Prime, to include a stand-alone SVOD which will feature hundreds of titles from its extensive back catalog, including features from the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos, Jia Zhangke, and Ken Loach.

Kino Lorber announced the new service timed to start of this year’s Cannes film festival. The stand-alone SVOD, available to subscribers for $5.99 a month, includes several Cannes highlights from years past, including Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary Four Daughters and Thien An Pham-directed drama Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, both winners of the Camera d’Or prize on the Croisette last year; Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, a 2019 competition title; and Palme d’Or winners Winter Sleep (2014) from Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Underground (1995) from Emir Kusturica.

“Cannes and the Kino Film Collection are so intertwined because we share a...

When it comes to the indie movie business, you don’t get more old-school than Kino Lorber. The New York outfit, founded as Kino International in 1977, has been the first source of independent cinema for U.S. audiences. It was the first to distribute films from Yorgos Lanthimos, Aki Kaurismäki, Wong Kar-wai, Andrei Tarkovsky and Michelangelo Antonioni in U.S. theaters and the first to restore and rerelease silent classics like Metropolis, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, and the films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.

In 2009, when Richard Lorber’s home entertainment company Lorber Ht Digital acquired and merged with Kino International, physical media got added to the mix, and the newly minted Kino Lorber became known for its home entertainment releases, ranging from classic (Nosferatu, The Sacrifice) to cult (Mad Max, Emmanuelle). The Kino Lorber library now counts more than 4,000 titles and the company is continually adding to the list,...

Kino Lorber have picked up all rights in North America to Bruno Dumont’s sci-fi farce The Empire after its triumphant debut at the Berlin Film Festival last month, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.

Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the French-language feature, which re-imagines the world of George Lucas’ Star Wars with its epic sci-fi battle of good vs. evil, relocating the action to a sleepy northern France town and filtering the story through the frankly bonkers mind of the director of Slack Bay, Li’l Quinquin and Coincoin and the Extra-Humans. There are plenty of VFX spaceships and lightsaber battles and only a few gratuitous sex scenes (this is a French film after all).

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for L’Empire later this year 2024, followed by a home video, educational, and digital release across all major platforms.

Kino Lorber Chief Strategy Officer Ed Carroll has been named President, Kino Lorber Media Group, reporting to chairman-ceo Richard Lorber.

Carroll, the 30+-year veteran and former COO of AMC Networks left the company in 2021, and joined Kino Lorber a year ago as chief strategy officer helping oversee its expansion into digital, including the acquisition of MHz Choice SVOD and creating a joint venture that includes the Topic streaming service. Last fall, Kino launched a new SVOD service, Kino Film Collection, on Amazon Prime Video Channels.

Kino Lorber has been layering streaming and digital alongside its core theatrical and home entertainment releases. Two from 2023 were shortlisted for Academy Awards – Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters in both the Best International Feature and Best Documentary Feature; and Nancy Buirski’s Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy in Best Documentary Feature. Recent theatrical acquisitions include Agnieszka Holland’s Venice award-winner Green Border,...

Executive joined as Chief Strategy Officer one year ago.

Kino Lorber Chief Strategy Officer Ed Carroll has been appointed to president of Kino Lorber Media Group.

Richard Lorber, who remains chairman and CEO and to whom Carroll will report, made the announcement on Thursday.

Reporting to Carroll will be COO Martha Benyam, who will oversee the MHz Choice and Topic SVoDs and the home entertainment group; chief revenue officer Lisa Schwartz, formerly president of IFC Films, who will oversee content sales and platform distribution as well as Kino Lorber’s film division, which includes the Kino Film Collection SVoD; and Judy Silverman,...

“Green Border,” Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama, has been acquired by Kino Lorber in the U.S. (“Scrapper”) and Modern Films in the U.K. (“Drive My Car”).

An empathetic tale of migrants caught in Europe’s refugee crisis, “Green Border” has earned widespread critical acclaim, winning several prizes at Venice and playing at key North American festivals such as Toronto, New York Film Festival and AFI Fest. Most recently, “Green Border” was nominated for three European Film Awards, including best film.

Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights and is planning a theatrical release in 2024, followed by a home video, educational and digital rollout on all major platforms. Modern Films, meanwhile, has snapped up U.K. rights and will also back “Green Border” for the European Film Awards and the BAFTAs.

The film explores the injustice and terror perpetrated at the Polish-Belarusian border from the perspective of refugees,...

Film geeks, rejoice. Leading indie label Kino Lorber is entering the world of streaming. The company has launched Kino Film Collection, a new subscription video service available in the U.S. via’s Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, many now streaming for the first time. It will cost users $5.99 per month.

Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).

Joining them are entries...

Kino Lorber, a leading name in the indie film scene for over 45 years, just launched the Kino Film Collection. This new streaming service is available in the U.S. on Amazon via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The platform will feature new Kino films fresh from their theatrical release along with hundreds of catalog titles. Many of these films will be available to stream for the first time.

Among the films available will be a new 4K restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist” and key titles like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” and Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.”

Among the older titles available to stream will be classics like Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” and Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin.” The Kino Film Collection will be...

Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.

The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.

Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.

Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...

Kino Film Collection will offer recent theatrical releases and library titles.

Independent distributor Kino Lorber has launched Kino Film Collection, a US streaming service offering new Kino releases fresh from theatrical runs as well as films from the company’s 4,000-title library of classic, international and cult features.

The service, which will be available through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels for $5.99 a month, extends Kino Lorber’s growing digital operation. The distributor has recently acquired North American streaming services MHz Choice and Topic and launched TVoD service Kino Now.

Films from the company’s 4,000-title library already on the service...

Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has officially unveiled streaming service Kino Film Collection, available via Prime Video here.

The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.

New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.

Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...

Kino Lorber has snatched up North American rights to Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, the mesmerizing first feature from Vietnamese director Pham Thien An, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section in Cannes this year, where it won the Camera d’Or for best directorial debut.

The film fulfills the promise shown in Pham’s acclaimed shorts, including 2019 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight winner Stay Awake, Be Ready, which was the inspiration for Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.

The film follows Thien (Le Phong Vu), a prodigal son with little direction in his life who, after his sister-in-law dies in a freak motorcycle accident, is tasked with delivering her body, and his 5-year-old nephew Dao, who miraculously survived the crash, back to their countryside hometown. Thus begins a journey across the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, a journey back into Thien’s own past and a search for his long-missing older brother,...

SPC’s Tom Bernard calls new requirements a “very small step in what needs to change drastically in the qualification process”.

Members of the US independent and specialty distribution community have welcomed the Academy’s rule change mandating theatrical expansions for best picture contenders next season – but have also signalled concerns over the potential impact on the smallest companies and international films.

The Academy said this week that starting with the 97th Academy Awards films must expand their theatrical footprint after the one-week qualifying run in 2024 with a theatrical run of seven days, consecutive or non-consecutive, in 10 of the top...

A new Kino Lorber-led joint venture will manage both Topic and international content rival MHz.

US distributor and streamer Kino Lorber has formed a joint venture with First Look Media that will encompass the companies respective North American streaming services MHz Choice and Topic.

Kino Lorber will be the majority owner of the as yet unnamed joint venture and have management oversight of both MHz, which it acquired late last year, and Topic (Topic Studios is not part of the joint venture). Both services offer American audiences access to international television series such as the MHz’s Detective Montalbano and Topic’s The Killing.

Kino Lorber and First Look Media have formed a joint venture to operate their respective streaming services, MHz Choice and Topic.

The new entity will be run by Kino Lorber, which will also take a majority stake. Programming, marketing and technology will be handled by MHz Networks founder Frederick Thomas. Topic Gm Ryan Chanatry and Jennifer Liang, who oversaw acquisitions for the streaming service, will consult through the transition period. Kino Lorber’s streaming services are overseen by Chief Strategy Officer Ed Carroll, the former longtime AMC Networks exec who joined the company earlier this year.

Programming for both Topic streaming and MHz Choice will be overseen by Lance Schwulst, SVP of Content Strategy for MHz Networks. Monica Bloom, VP of Marketing for Topic, will join the Jv as Chief Marketing Officer for both services.

Topic, which launched as an effort to showcase high-caliber international series and eventually focused in on the crime genre,...

DVD is dead. Long live the DVD. The writing was on the wall for many years, but Netflix’s Tuesday announcement that it will end its DVD-by-mail business still came as a surprise. Just last year, that business made $146 million. Still, Netflix is nothing if not relentlessly focused on the future, so DVDs no longer pass what’s widely known as their “keeper test.” And they’re out. It’s the end of an era for Netflix. Some will undoubtedly also see it as another death knell for the DVD itself.

We’ve read the obituaries before: Blockbuster, Columbia House, and just about every mom-and-pop video store you once pored over each Friday night. At its peak in 2005, the DVD industry was worth more than $16 billion. But between 2008 and 2019, as consumers struggled through the Great Recession and streaming took off, DVD sales plunged more than 86%. In 2022, the market was around $1.5 billion.

April is the cruelest month, but evidently not for one-man shows starring Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes.

The “Schindler’s List” and “Harry Potter” star’s sister Sophie Fiennes directs a film version of “T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets,” the stage production he brought to London and throughout the UK back in 2021. During the lockdown, Fiennes committed to memory the “Wasteland” poet’s four epic poems written during World War II about man’s relationship to time and the divine. His performance, praised as “magnetic” by The Telegraph, was filmed at the end of his run.

IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film version, opening April 28 at the IFC Center in New York City, courtesy of Kino Lorber. An expansion in theaters nationally will follow.

Fiennes’ filmed performance of Eliot’s masterworks is a co-production between The Bath Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Lone Star Productions, Amoeba Film and Lonely Dragon Films.

Charades has secured a further raft of international deals, including to Italy, Japan and South Korea.

Kino Lorber has taken North American rights to Charlotte Regan’s diretorial debut Scrapper, one of a number of new sales confirmed on the Sundance World Cinema grand jury prize-winner that will open Sundance London this summer.

Sales agent Charades has also closed a raft of new deals on the father-daughter story, selling to Italy (Lucky Red), Scandinavia (Angel Films), Japan (King Records), South Korea (Green Narae), Adriatics (Megacom), Israel (Lev Cinema), Turkey (Mars), Taiwan (Filmware) and India (Pictureworks). Aardwolf has taken airlines rights.

Kino Lorber has picked up all rights in the U.S. to a trilogy of stylish Italian crime movies — Diabolik, Diabolik – Ginko Attacks! and Diabolik – Who Are You? — based on the popular Italian comic book of the same name.

The series follows the adventures of Diabolik, an infallible, ruthless master thief. All three films are directed by Italian brothers Marco and Antonio Manetti (Love and Bullets). The first film, released in 2021, features The Old Guard and The Eight Mountains star Luca Marinelli as Diabolik. Italian-Canadian actor Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey’s Anatomy) plays the master thief in the 2022 sequel Diabolik – Ginko Attacks! Monica Bellucci (The Matrix, The Apartment), Eva Kant (The Invisible Witness) and Valerio Mastandrea (Perfect Strangers) are among the European ensemble cast. Diabolik – Who Are You? is currently in post-production.

“Diabolik is one of the most beloved characters in Italian pop culture, a sharp and stylish master thief who...

Kino Lorber has acquired all rights in the U.S. to “Diabolik,” “Diabolik – Ginko Attacks!” and “Diabolik — Who Are You?” from Beta Cinema at the European Film Market in Berlin. The movies are based on the smash-hit Italian comic-book series about a ruthless master thief, which has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.

The stylish crime-comic adaptations are written and directed by Marco and Antonio Manetti. “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Marvel’s Avengers” actor Giacomo Gianniotti stars in “Diabolik — Ginko Attacks!” and “Diabolik — Who Are You?,” and Luca Marinelli (“The Old Guard”) in the first installment, “Diabolik.” Monica Bellucci stars in the role of Altea, Miriam Leone as Eva Kant, and Valerio Mastandrea as Inspector Ginko.

Richard Lorber, president and CEO of Kino Lorber, said: “’Diabolik’ is one of the most beloved characters in Italian pop culture, a sharp and stylish master thief who has entertained audiences since his comic book...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired all North American distribution rights to Four Quartets, the film version of the Ralph Fiennes-starring stage adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s seminal poem.

Directed by Sophie Fiennes, the film will get its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival later this week followed by a theatrical release this spring.

One of the giants of modern literature, the poet, playwright, critic, and editor T.S. Eliot is best known as one of the central figures of the Modernist movement in poetry. Consisting of four poems published over a six-year period – Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages, and Little Gidding, each titled after the landscape that inspired their writing – Four Quartets is widely considered Eliot’s masterpiece and the culminating achievement of his career as a poet, offering four interwoven meditations on the nature of time and the quest for spiritual enlightenment.

Kino Lorber hired former AMC Networks execs Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz to bolster its executive suite.

Carroll becomes chief strategy officer at the New York-based arthouse film group after three decades at AMC Networks, which included a stint as COO and overseeing series like The Walking Dead, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Schwartz, who worked for two decades at the premium cable channel, most recently ran IFC Films and becomes chief revenue officer at Kino Lorber.

The departures of Carroll and Schwartz from AMC Networks coincided with the recent exit of CEO Christina Spade and company-wife layoffs as chairman James Dolan assumed control of the restructuring media player on an interim basis.

In their new roles, Carroll and Schwartz will work with Kino Lorber chairman and CEO Richard Lorber and COO Martha Benyam to shape the film group’s content and distribution strategies and push further into digital spaces.

Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has recruited former AMC Networks executives Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz to respectively serve as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, the company announced Monday.

The news comes just two months after Kino Lorber acquired North American streaming service MHz Choice. The distributor said that both Carroll and Schwartz will help shape the company’s content and distribution strategies, including an “accelerated expansion into digital spaces.”

Before joining Kino Lorber, Carroll had a three-decades-long career at AMC Networks, where he oversaw the development of many successful television series, including “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead,” “Portlandia,” “Killing Eve” and “Inside the Actors Studio.” Previously, he was President at Bravo and COO of AMC Networks, where he was in charge of all programming, marketing, ad sales and international distribution. He also helped launch AMC Networks’ streaming channels, including Acorn, Sundance Now and Shudder, and...

An expanding Kino Lorber has brought in two former AMC Networks veterans in key exec roles, installing Ed Carroll as Chief Strategy Officer and Lisa Schwartz as Chief Revenue Officer.

The pair will work with CEO Richard Lorber and COO Martha Benyam to help shape the company’s content and distribution efforts. Along with its longtime presence in specialty film, Kino Lorber last year made a significant streaming acquisition, buying international TV specialist MHz Networks.

Carroll left AMC Networks in 2021 after 34 years at the company, including a lengthy stint as COO. Along with helping to orchestrate M&a deals such as the acquisition of Rlj/Acorn and its equity stake in BBC America, he shepherded shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Portlandia and Killing Eve. AMC Networks’ niche streaming push, via outlets like Acorn, Sundance Now, IFC Unlimited and Shudder, was another Carroll initiative. And when Bravo was...

Longtime top AMC Networks execs Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz have found their new C-suite home: The former cable channel leaders have joined Kino Lorber, with Carroll set as chief strategy officer and Lisa Schwartz as chief revenue officer.

The former colleagues will be working close with Kino Lorber chairman and CEO Richard Lorber and COO Martha Benyam to focus the company’s content and distribution strategies on expanding into digital spaces, an area Kino Lorber has been ramping up on with the recent acquisition of streamer MHz Choice’s parent company MHz Networks.

“Ed and Lisa are a powerful combination and I’m thrilled to welcome them both to the Kino Lorber C-suite,” Lorber said. “Following our acquisition of the MHz Choice streaming service, it’s the perfect time for them to join, as we further innovate our distribution strategies to make prestige international film and TV content accessible to audiences throughout North America.

Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz join after Kino Lorber’s acquisition of MHz Choice streamer.

US arthouse distributor Kino Lorber has recruited former AMC Networks executives Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz as, respectively, chief strategy officer and chief revenue officer.

The appointments come two months after Kino Lorber acquired North American streaming service MHz Choice. The company said Carroll and Schwartz will work with Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber and COO Martha Benyam to shape content and distribution strategies “including an accelerated expansion into digital spaces.”

Carroll spent three decades at AMC Networks, in roles including COO and president of the Bravo network.

French author and now filmmaker Annie Ernaux is having a year. She was just awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize for literature. Her autobiographical L’Événement was adapted by director Audrey Diwan into the critically acclaimed Happening, released last spring. And this weekend, Kino Lorber presents her directorial debut, The Super 8 Years, at Film at Lincoln Center and Dctv Firehouse in NYC, expanding to LA and select markets through January.

The Super 8 Years, a visual extension of Ernaux’s decades-long literary quest to distill the past and future, is culled from home movies taken between 1972 and 1981, after her husband Philippe acquired an 8mm camera that became a family fixture. The film, a collaboration with her son David Ernaux-Briot, had its world premiere at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and screened at Busan, Rome, New York and Zurich Film Festivals. It’s a range of times and places, from holidays and family events in suburban France to trips in Albania,...

The streamer specialises in international series.

US arthouse distributor Kino Lorber has acquired MHz Networks, parent of streamer MHz Choice, a North American SVOD service that screens international television series.

With the acquisition, Kino Lorber Media Group will have more than 10,000 hours of international series and films under license, the company said.

MHz Networks CEO Frederick Thomas and senior vice president of content strategy Lance Schwulst will continue to lead MHz Networks within Kino Lorber Media Group.

MHz Networks was an early entrant into the boutique streaming market, launching MHz Choice in 2015. The service has screened series including Wallander, Detective Montalbano and Paris Police 1900.

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New York-based arthouse distributor Kino Lorber has acquired MHz Networks, the parent company of MHz Choice, an online streaming service dedicated to international television series.

Under the deal, announced Thursday, Kino Lorber will add its library of more than 5,000 titles to MHz Choice, which specializes in non-u.S. TV series, streaming such shows as Scandinavian crime dramas Wallander and Beck, or French period procedural Paris Police 1900. The entire staff of both MHz Networks and Kino Lorber will remain in place, with CEO Frederick Thomas and SVP of Content Strategy Lance Schwulst continuing to lead MHz Networks within Kino Lorber Media Group.

“MHz’s track record of curating best-in-class series from around the world has helped it build one of the most loyal subscriber audiences in streaming,” said Kino Lorber president and CEO Richard Lorber in a statement. “At a time when Hollywood...

Kino Lorber has acquired MHz Networks, the owner and operator of subscription streaming outlet MHz Choice and a specialist in bringing international TV series to North American audiences.

After the transaction, Kino Lorber Media Group has more than 5,000 titles and 10,000 hours of programming, much of it prestige and arthouse fare. It is the biggest push yet into streaming for Kino Lorber, which was formed in 2009 after Lorber Ht Digital acquired and merged with Kino International, though it has has had a presence in streaming with transactional VOD purveyor Kino Now and virtual cinema hub Kino Marquee. The company has been a fixture of the festival circuit and Oscar season in recent years, releasing films like Martin Eden, Bacurau and Taxi.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Kino Lorber President & CEO Richard Lorber said the sensibilities and business strategy of MHz are a fit with his company. “MHz’s track...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber today announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to Rob Nilsson’s latest film Faultline, as well as his near complete filmography, including his 1979 feature Northern Lights, co-directed with John Hanson.

The Nilsson catalog will be available on Kino Now in 2023. Select titles will also be released theatrically. The deal for Faultline and the Rob Nilsson catalog was negotiated by Kino Lorber President & CEO Richard Lorber.

Faultline debuted at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 11 and will receive a theatrical and digital release from Kino Lorber in 2023. Billed as a hypnotic experience about the raw, messy intimacy of family and the global impact of today’s conflicted society, Faultline is the third and final installment of Nilsson’s Nomad Trilogy, following Arid Cut and Divide. Faultline is written and directed by Nilsson. He also produced the pic with Zhan Petrov, Michelle Allen, Rusty Murphy, and John Stout.

Exclusive: Montreal-based film sales and marketing consultancy Film Associates International has unveiled a slew of international deals on new 4K restorations of the work of celebrated Canadian director Patricia Rozema.

New York-based arthouse distributor Kino Lorber has acquired North America for her second and third features White Room (1990) and When Night Is Falling (1995) and U.S. rights for more recent work Mouthpiece (2018).

Regarded as a classic in the LGBTQ+ cinema canon, the lesbian love story When Night Is Falling revolves around a literature professor in a religious college, in a relationship with a male colleague, who embarks on a passionate affair with a female circus performer.

Following its debut at the Berlinale in 1995, its North American release prompted unexpected controversy after Canada’s ‘The Globe and Mail’ dropped an advertisement for the film showing two women kissing, and in the U.S. the Motion Picture Assn. of America applied an Nc-17 rating.

Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired all rights in U.S. and anglophone Canada to Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s drama The Worst Ones, which was awarded the top prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and will make its North American premiere at TIFF.

Set in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France, the feature captures a film within a film as it follows the production of a movie whose director turns to the local housing project for casting. Eager to capture performances of gritty authenticity, the director selects four working class teenagers to act in the film to the surprise and consternation of the local community, who question the director’s choice of “the worst ones”. As the director and crew audition, rehearse, film, and interact with their hand-picked cast, jealousies are stoked, lines are crossed, and ethical questions arise.

Written by Akoka, Gueret, and Eleonore Gurrey, pic...

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release in North America for late 2022.

German sales powerhouse Beta Cinema has announced multiple deals on its Second World War drama The Forger, which will be screening in the Cannes Marché following its Berlinale premiere last February.

The film has sold to North America (Kino Lorber), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films), China (Huanxi Media Group), Hong Kong (Edko), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Spain (Vercine), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery) and Scandinavia (Future Film).

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for late 2022, followed by a digital rollout on all platforms including Kino Now.

The Forger is written and directed by Maggie Peren,...

Indie distributor Kino Lorber has hired Kate Patterson as its new Director of Press & Publicity. She joins from Metrograph, where she headed publicity and communications.

Patterson will lead multi-pronged PR efforts to support Kino Lorber’s continued growth in the digital space and manage campaigns for its 25+ yearly theatrical releases. She reports jointly to Wendy Lidell, SVP of Theatrical Distribution & Acquisitions, and Nicholas Kemp, recently promoted to VP of Marketing & Communications. She’ll work directly with Richard Lorber, president and CEO, on special projects.

Before Metrograph, Patterson worked as a publicist at Film at Lincoln Center, where she promoted repertory programming and secured institutional press for the organization, including publicity efforts surrounding Film at Lincoln Center’s rebrand. She managed publicity for the New York Film Festival, New Directors/New Films and year-round Flc events.

Previously she worked in agency publicity at Brigade Marketing and held positions at Cinedigm and Fork Films.

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Mathieu Amalric’s “Hold Me Tight,” an engrossing family drama starring “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps. Co-produced and sold by Gaumont, the movie world premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Adapted from Claudine Galea’s stage play, “Hold Me Tight” follows Clarisse (Krieps), a mother who has abandoned her family for mysterious reasons and is coping with great emotional upheaval. The movie alternates between Clarisse’s adventures on the road and scenes of her husband Marc (Arieh Worthalter) struggling to care for their children at home.

Laetitia Gonzalez and Yaël Fogiel at Les Films du Poisson produced the movie with Gaumont, Arte France Cinéma and Lupa Film serving as co-producers.

Following Cannes, the movie went on to play at Rotterdam and Busan, as well as earned a pair of Cesar nominations for Krieps and best adapted screenplay for Amalric. Krieps...

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to “On the Edge,” a Belgian crime thriller by Giordano Gederlini (“Les Miserables”) from Le Pacte.

The deal was negotiated by Kino Lorber senior VP Wendy Lidell and Le Pacte’s head of sales Camille Neel out of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema market. The event, which runs from March 3-13, is hosted by Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center.

“On The Edge” marks the sophomore outing of Gederlini, who co-wrote Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominated film “Les Miserables.”

The gritty, twisty noir is set in Brussels, where Leo, a Spanish metro driver, sees his estranged son right before he falls onto the rails and dies. After discovering that his son was involved in a bloody heist, Leo sets off to track down the criminals responsible for the murder under the watchful eye of the police.

The film stars Antonio de la Torre (“A Twelve-Year Night...