Miramax co-chief of acquisitions Stuart Ford (pictured) will now wear a new corporate hat as head of a bolstered Miramax International. Three other New York executives have also been promoted at the international division, all in an effort to keep up with the complexities of selling and distributing films overseas.

As executive vice president and department head at MiramaxInternational, Ford will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of themini-studio's international business including sales, distribution, marketingand publicity. He reports to Miramax COO Rick Sands.

Ford will also continue to act as a board member of TFM, Miramax's theatrical distribution joint venture in France.

"Stuart has been working with me for years in acquisitions and hehas been involved in a bunch of deals, including TFM," Sands explained to ScreenDaily.

"I wanted to hire somebody who understood how Miramax works and atleast had an understanding of the marketplace - certainly from the acquisitionsand business perspective - and I think he will make the transition very well."

In addition, Lisa Lazure becomes senior vice president ofinternational publicity, Mark Lindsay is named senior vice president of saleswhere he will oversee the selling of both Miramax and Dimension titles, andMichael Rothstein becomes vice president of sales and distribution.

"Beefing upthe sales and distribution team is a necessity in today's marketplace. We arecompeting against the majors everywhere, every day," Sands continued.

"We are creating a structure that is unlike what a lot of ourcompetitors do. We are in and out of the majors and independents and we carveout theatrical rights, free TV rights, etcetera either ourselves or inconjunction with our partners. We are very cognitive of what is going on in themarketplace. A lot of our business is making sure we have the information andwe need the bodies to do that."

"As for Lisa, Mark and Michael, we have an incredibly dedicatedgroup and with the elevation in responsibilities they've earned as key seniorexecutives within the department, we have a very strong team."

For his part, Ford said he looked forward to developing his priorexperience with Miramax in his new role. "Very early on it has been animportant part of how Harvey, Bob and Rick do business: to make money out ofour movies internationally," he told Screen Daily, referring to his company co-chairmen,the Weinstein brothers, and Sands.

"These days it's a sophisticated blend of selling in certainterritories and distributing through partners in others and to that extent thejob is bigger than it's ever been."

Ford joinedMiramax in 1998, rising to senior vice president and co-head of acquisitions inFeb 2001. Alongside Agnes Mentre, executive vice president of acquisitions andco-production, he managed Miramax's 18-strong global acquisitions team and wasresponsible for acquiring Amelie, City Of God, Tadpole andHero, among others.

Now reporting to Ford will be both Lindsay and Rothstein; Lazurealso reports Ford, as well as continuing to report to Sands.

The newly promoted Lazure will continue to spearhead theinternational publicity campaigns, working with various distributors worldwide,and will be involved with the Miramax's BAFTA campaigns, film festivals andexecution of strategic initiatives.

She will continue to work closely with Amanda Lundberg, executivevice president of worldwide publicity for Miramax, and Elizabeth Clark,executive vice president worldwide publicity for Dimension, in addition to Ford

In his new role, Lindsay will oversee all international film salesas well as look to develop new business opportunities and maintain existingstrategic alliances with independent distributors. He will also representMiramax at all major international film markets, trade shows and festivals.

In addition to his new foreign sales responsibilities withLindsay, Rothstein will carry on his prior duties as liaison between domesticproduction and development with the international division, as well as workingclosely with business and legal affairs overseeing non-theatrical sales andforeign film festivals. Rothstein will also act as the new liaison betweendomestic acquisitions and international.

Lazure joined Miramax in 2002 and swiftly rose to vice presidentof international publicity, where she managed the international publicity teambetween New York and London.

Lindsay, a 17-year sales and distribution veteran, joined Miramaxin 1999 as vice president of distribution.

Rothstein began as an assistant in the international department in1998 and went on to become director of development and production for MiramaxInternational.