Chelsea Films (part of The Curzon Artificial Eye Group) andSky Television have signed a deal to release Julia, starring Tilda Swinton, in cinemas and on Sky Box on Dec 5. This is the first time an English language title will be released in this way.

Julia, which was directed by Erick Zonkaand CamilleNatta,will be released theatrically in up to five Curzon Cinema sites and eight City Screen sites as well as other regional sites. It will be made available to 9 million Sky subscribers on the same day via Sky Box Office (SBO) in both HD and SD, as well as on transactional VOD via Sky Player.

Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies & SBO said 'Releasing the film on SBO at the same time as in cinemas makes the film instantly available to millions of film lovers in every corner of the UK, often hundreds of miles away from its nearest theatrical exhibition. We know from the success of The Edge of Heaven that the model can work and we're very hopeful that Julia, as an English language title starring an Oscar-winning actress, will be just as successful.'

The film premiered at Berlin last February and also stars Aidan Gould, Saul Rubinek, Kate del Castillo, Jude Cicolella and Bruno Bichir. It will be presented as a Chelsea Films release in association with Sky Box Office. Sky will work alongside Chelsea Films to market the UK release.

This deal follows on from Fatih Akin's German language The Edge of Heaven, which was released simultaneously in cinemas and on SBO in Feb 2008 by Sky and Curzon Artificial Eye.

Philip Knatchbull, CEO of Curzon Artificial Eye said 'In our first partnership with Sky on Edge of Heaven there was evidence to show that our simultaneous release did not have a marked effect on cinema admissions, in fact it fulfilled a previously unrealised appetite for independent films amongst a wider public.'