High Point Media Group moves into UK distribution

Carey Fitzgerald’s High Point Media Group is branching out into UK distribution with the launch of a new division, High Point Home Entertainment. The label has been set up initially to cater for the home entertainment market, but High Point has plans to expand into all rights, including theatrical.

The first film to be released under the new label will be Hanro Smitsman’s debut feature, Skin, on June 13. Emmy nominated Robert de Hoog stars as a troubled youth drawn into the emerging Skinhead movement of the late 1970s.

High Point will also release Kay Mellor’s television drama A Passionate Woman, starring Billie Piper, on DVD in the UK, to tie in with the tour of the play from which it was adapted.

Elisar Cabrera, who currently holds the role of sales and marketing at High Point will head the new label. He will also sit on the board of directors, alongside managing director Carey Fitzgerald and director Julie Delaney. Ronald de Neef has been appointed as non executive chairman.

“High Point Home Entertainment is a natural progression for us, so it’s fitting that someone so in tune with High Point’s DNA is at its head,” said Fitzgerald, who set up London-based sales, financing and production company High Point Media in 1990. The company will now consist of four divisions; High Point Films, High Point Television, High Point Productions and the newly created High Point Home Entertainment.

“Because the DVD market has shrunk a bit, it can make it less attractive to sell the rights to distributors. By doing it ourselves it gives us control,” added Cabrera.