Montreal-based Equinoxe Films has picked up Canadian distribution rights to Paul Fox's Everything's Gone Green, one of the Canadian titles left in limbo by the sale of its previously contracted Canadian distributor THINKFilm.
THINKFilm was acquired in October by LA-based entrepreneur David Bergstein, effectively ending the company's status as a Canadian distributor under the terms of federal and provincial tax credits used to finance the affected titles.
Company president Jeff Sackman was the biggest shareholder prior to the sale, while Canadian producer Robert Lantos was also a significant shareholder. No THINKFilm representative was available to establish how many titles are affected; however, it is understood the company was looking to sell its slate of Canadian titles as a package.
Unusually, for a Canadian film, Everything's Gone Green has a US distributor, First Independent Pictures, an ideal circumstance given that the film's US marketing campaign would provide a boost to the Canadian campaign across the porous media border between the two nations.
But with THINKFilm no longer Canadian, producers Elizabeth Yake of Vancouver-based True West Films and Chris Nanos of Toronto's Radke Films were in a bind: the tax credits they tapped to finance the film require the film be released by a Canadian company. They needed the rights back.
Nanos told Screen International, 'We went to [THINKFilm president] Jeff Sackman and said we have an American release date approaching and we don't want to miss the opportunity to coordinate a North American release.' ThinkFilm agreed to sell the Canadian rights back to them; Equinoxe stepped in to pick the rights up.
The film, which was written by Douglas Coupland and premiered at Toronto last year, makes its US premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on March 10. First Independent will release the film in the US on April 13. Equinoxe will follow on April 20 in Toronto and Vancouver.
Equinoxe Films vice-president Marie-Claude Poulin said the timing of the theatrical release was less a box office issue than a home video issue. Because the theatrical windows will be similar in Canada and the US, 'We can release the DVD day-and-date.'
'We're glad to be out of limbo and have a partner like Equinoxe,' said Nanos.
THINKFilm was acquired in October by LA-based entrepreneur David Bergstein, effectively ending the company's status as a Canadian distributor under the terms of federal and provincial tax credits used to finance the affected titles.
Company president Jeff Sackman was the biggest shareholder prior to the sale, while Canadian producer Robert Lantos was also a significant shareholder. No THINKFilm representative was available to establish how many titles are affected; however, it is understood the company was looking to sell its slate of Canadian titles as a package.
Unusually, for a Canadian film, Everything's Gone Green has a US distributor, First Independent Pictures, an ideal circumstance given that the film's US marketing campaign would provide a boost to the Canadian campaign across the porous media border between the two nations.
But with THINKFilm no longer Canadian, producers Elizabeth Yake of Vancouver-based True West Films and Chris Nanos of Toronto's Radke Films were in a bind: the tax credits they tapped to finance the film require the film be released by a Canadian company. They needed the rights back.
Nanos told Screen International, 'We went to [THINKFilm president] Jeff Sackman and said we have an American release date approaching and we don't want to miss the opportunity to coordinate a North American release.' ThinkFilm agreed to sell the Canadian rights back to them; Equinoxe stepped in to pick the rights up.
The film, which was written by Douglas Coupland and premiered at Toronto last year, makes its US premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas on March 10. First Independent will release the film in the US on April 13. Equinoxe will follow on April 20 in Toronto and Vancouver.
Equinoxe Films vice-president Marie-Claude Poulin said the timing of the theatrical release was less a box office issue than a home video issue. Because the theatrical windows will be similar in Canada and the US, 'We can release the DVD day-and-date.'
'We're glad to be out of limbo and have a partner like Equinoxe,' said Nanos.
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