Six months after the death of its founder Richard Larcombe last August, London-based film PR company The Associates is to close its doors.

This marks the end of an agency which has been in existence for 22 years and whose clients have included such distributors as Icon, Revolver, Anchor Bay Arrow, Momentum, Freemantle, Artificial Eye and many others. The company has successfully handled DVD and theatrical campaigns for many Asian films, among them Thai action thriller Ong-Bak.

Recent theatrical campaigns have included Arrow’s Perfect Sense (starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green) and Artificial Eye’s 13 Assassins (from cult director Takashi Miike.)

“Obviously, our immediate reaction was to keep going but after Christmas we re-assessed that,” Lisa Richards (director and head of theatrical) commented of the decision to shut down the company.

Richards herself is planning to set up as a freelance PR and to continue to work with some of the company’s former clients. Her colleagues at the company are also expected to stay in the industry although further details of their future plans are yet to be confirmed.

“Over the past few years, we (at The Associates) have focused much more with the independents - more the fan-led campaigns. We are fans of the films ourselves and like to talk directly to the fans and get their support. That’s why genre - whether it’s Asian cinema or whether it be horror - has been a real strong point of our business.”

The company issued a release yesterday confirming its decision to close.

“It really has been a pleasure to bring you such a varied line-up of titles during what must surely have been the heyday of home entertainment and we would like to thank all our friends and everyone we have dealt with over the years,” the release read. “As they say, all good things must come to an end and it is right that The Associates story ends here, but we are all looking forward to new challenges and opportunities.”

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