Former New Line marketing and distribution president, Mitch Goldman, and his partner Lou O'Neil have launched a US Latino distribution company - Hombre de Oro - to distribute Mexican box office hit The Other Conquest (La Otra Conquista) in the US.

Although the company has been set up to handle one title, Goldman said he hopes to "pick up other Latino films in the future'. And separately, Goldman plans to launch another domestic distribution company to handle a wider range of independent product.

Conquest, the directorial debut of Mexican-born Salvador Carrasco who also wrote and edited the film, is set to premiere on April 17 in Los Angeles with Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, an executive producer, slated to attend. Hombre de Oro will initially release the Aztec drama on 30 to 50 screens across Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs. It will later platform to other Californian cities and Latino-populated states such as Texas and Miami. 'We plan to position it as mainstream entertainment, not as a strictly arthouse or Latino film' Goldman said.

Shot in Spanish and the ancient language of Nahuatl, Conquest attracted a record one million admissions in Mexico where its success was largely credited to a massive p&a campaign from distributor 20th Century Fox Mexico. The campaign included giant billboards, promotional tie-ins, television ad spots and a marathon of interviews on television, radio and print.

LA-based marketing firm Specialty Entertainment plans to launch a p&a campaign with as much spending clout behind it. According to Specialty's Linda Goldenberg, the campaign will include TV spots, radio and print advertising and a web-site.