H2O Motion Pictures principals Andras Hamori and Mark Horowitz are launching an international sales and co-production arm to handle sales, marketing and financing for eight to 12 English language films a year.

Horowitz will oversee marketing and acquisition and the company, which has offices in London, Amsterdam and Los Angeles, will leverage existing relationships with European and North American soft money entities.

Former Castle Rock Entertainment and New World Pictures chief financial officer Al Linton joins as chief financial officer.

Horowitz and Hamori, who worked together in the Alliance Atlantis Entertainment fold, have announced the first three titles on the slate. They are: Opium starring Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen and directed by Janos Szasz which is currently in post-production; the comedy People Who Knock On The Door, a co-production with BBC Films based on a Patricia Highsmith novel and set to start filming on Mar 26 in Ireland, the Isle of Man and the US; and the romance Crawling At Night, a Vox3 production that Kimi Takesue is set to direct.

Horowitz most recently launched ThinkFilm International, and also served as consultant to First Look Media, Endgame Entertainment, and The Mayhem Project. He was president of Alliance Pictures International from 1996 to 2002.

Hamori was president of Alliance Pictures and has produced a number of projects including David Cronenberg's eXistenZ and Istvan Szabo's Sunshine.

'We will fully utilise our expertise in successfully placing the right film with the right international distributor to maximise its creative and financial potential,' Horowitz said.

'This is the logical next step for H2O, combining Mark's distribution experience and his unparalleled global network within the distribution community with H2O's established expertise in packaging international co-productions,' Hamori added.

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