Unanimous Pictures is pulling out of UK distributionless than a yearafter launching into the market. The company, formerly known as Halcyon Pictures, will now concentrateexclusively on production.

The company, which was behind Michael Haneke’s English language remake of Funny Games, has released Lemon Tree, The Visitor and The Girl In The Park over the year. Chris Coen, who founded the company in 2001, said he had not been buying films in the past six months but that he would honour outstanding commitments.

Coen added: ‘With the benefit of hindsight, it was a pretty bad time to set up a distribution company with the economy in the way it was heading. Now was the time to halt the operation for the time being and see where we are in a few years.’

He did notout rule out arelaunchingintodistribution market in the future.

Unanimous will return Christophe Van Rompaey’s Moscow, Belgium, a hit in last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week, to its German sales agent, Bavaria Film International. The film had been due to be released in the UK earlier this spring but lost its screens and was pulled.

Meanwhile, Coen is pushing ahead with his production slate with Cordelia, at casting stage. The story of King Lear’s daughter will be directed by Gordy Hoffman, the older brother of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Coen hopes to start shooting this summer. Single Shot, to be directed by David Jacobson, is also at casting stage.

A third project is Godmother, an adaptation of Gay Longworth’s novel. It has been scripted by celebrated screenwriter Ron Bass.

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