Curzon Artificial Eye confirms new funding

UK distributor/exhibitor Curzon Artificial Eye has said the company has raised additional funding for its next 10 film releases.

Dedicated company Curzon Film Rights raised the funding in the form of Film Rights Structured Notes (Lipworth Capital served as advisor).

The company said in a statement: “This proprietary funding allows Curzon Artificial Eye to acquire more of the same calibre of film, but with a greater emphasis on its cross marketing capabilities between its distribution arm, its cinemas, its DVD sales company (Fusion Media) and its soon to be launched film on-demand service.”

Philip Knatchbull, Chief Executive Officer of Curzon Artificial Eye, said, “We are delighted to have been backed by a dedicated group of investors including media investors such as Herbert Kloiber’s Tele-Muenchen,  and several International fund managers. This funding will solidify our position as the market leader in specialised and independent film: it both provides additional resource and demonstrates investor interest for the high quality independent film sector.”

The amount of funding raised was not disclosed. “Our investors do not want us to disclose the amounts but it’s enough to fund an acquisition slate of up to 15 films over the next year or so,” a company spokesman said. “And the announced films speak for themselves. Herbert Kloiber is investing through TMG (Tele-Muenchen group). All the others are professional investors or investment managers, although some are investing through a personal capacity. We can confirm the fund closed yesterday”

Releases for 2011 will include Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin, Pawel Pawlikowski’s The Woman In The Fifth and Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights.