Zentropa is nolonger part of Filmfolket, the newdistribution business opened last year. Filmfolket had been owned in equalparts by Nimbus Film, Zentropa and CEO Loke Havn, who worked at SandrewMetronome.

According to PeterAalbaek Jensen, co-owner of Zentropa with Lars von Trier, Zentropa was votedout of the business in a 1-2 upset by Nimbus and Havn.

"We were thrown outalright, but to honour my tradition of working closely together with Nimbus I'mstill on French kissing terms with the company," Aalbeak Jensen told ScreenDaily.com. "We mainly disagreedabout how to handle the rights of our films in the DVD end of affairs."

The next 10 Zentropafeatures were initially to be released by Filmfolket and now Denmark's primaryfilm production company is on the look out for a new distributor. Among thefilms hanging by a thread are Anders Ronnow-Klarlund's How To Get Rid Of The Others and Lone Scherfig's LongingFor Home (working title). The new distribution partner for Zentropa couldbe Nordisk Film, an earlier home for Zentropa distribution, or otherpossibilities.

Nimbus Film hasslowly climbed to being a contender to the spot as second-largest filmproducing company in Denmark. Bo Ehrhardt, Nimbus founder, sees the split withZentropa as a natural evolution.

"Our divorce withZentropa in distribution might seem as a quick split in the history ofFilmfolket, but for a long time we have spent too much discussing our differentways of doing business rather than getting into action," Ehrhardt said. "That'swhy we split. You can see this as a natural step in the evolution of Nimbus. Westarted out as a small company but now we act according to our size."

Among upcomingNimbus films are Hans Fabian Wullenweber's Cecilieand Thomas Vinterberg's A Man Comes Home.

The split leavesFilmfolket with only two titles out of eight planned on their slate for 2007and plans to lay off some staff. The company is moving away from Filmbyen,where Zentropa and Nimbus are located.

"We plan to regainour size in the next year or two after a new round of negotiations with smallerfilm producers. [They] said no to us before due to the presence of Zentropa.Our ties with Nimbus are as strong as ever and we still support their strategyof growth," says Loke Havn.