Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have extended their contracts with Sony Pictures Entertainment for a further four years.

The deal extends the 18-year relationship with Sony and allows Barker and Bernard to continue to oversee the company’s slate and day-to-day operations, which include releasing, producing and acquiring titles.

During their tenure Sony Pictures Classics has released more than 300 films and earned more than 20 Academy Awards, fostering strong ties along the way with such film-makers as Woody Allen, Pedro Almodovar and Jonathan Demme.

Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton said Barker and Bernard had “brought to audiences worldwide some of the most memorable and significant films in recent history.” Lynton added, “The diversity of our film slate is an important factor in our success and stability over the years, and Michael and Tom have been an instrumental part of that story.”

“Sony is family. Sony is home,” Barker and Bernard said in a joint statement. “It is as exciting for us now as it was when we first started here eighteen years ago.”

They added: “The quality of support and encouragement we receive from Michael, Amy [Pascal, co-chairman], Howard Stringer, and all the divisions at Sony with whom we interface, excites us about the present and, most importantly, empowers us to face and look forward to the challenges and triumphs of the future.”

Sony Pictures Classics’ North American release slate includes Woody Allen’s Tribeca opener Whatever Works, James Toback’s documentary Tyson, and Duncan Jones’ sci-fi Moon.