Rebranded Here Films takes on I Killed My Mother

All staff of Regent will be folded into Here Media effectively immediately and Here Films will oversee the remaining Regent releases through 2009 under the Here Films banner.

Also, Here Films has acquired US rights to several new high-profile titles. They include Cannes Directors Fortnight winner I Killed My Mother (J’ai tue ma mere) by Xavier Dolan; Asghar Farhadi’s Berlin Silver Bear winner About Elly (Darbareye Elly), and Kenneth Branagh’s cinematic opera project The Magic Flute. All are slated for US theatrical release, DVD release and on here! Networks.

I Killed My Mother, about teenage boy’s complicated relationship with his mother in Montreal, was acquired from Rezo Films. About Elly, about middle-class Iranians on a break to the Caspian Sea, was acquired from Dreamlab. The Magic Flute, Branagh’s adaptation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute relocated to World War I era, was acquired from Celluloid Dreams.

Mark Reinhart, EVP Distribution and Acquisitions for Here Media negotiated the acquisition deals for all three films.

“This launch marks an important evolution for us as a company and a distributor by allowing us to effectively utilize all our brands and maximize our cross-platform distribution capabilities to bring award-winning world cinema with universal appeal to U.S. audiences across multiple platforms,” said Paul Colichman and Stephen P. Jarchow, CEO and Chairman of parent company Here Media.

Mark Reinhart, EVP, Distribution and Acquisitions will continue to lead the Here Films distribution team with John Lambert, SVP, Theatrical Distribution, Liz Mackiewicz, SVP, Sales and Distribution and Jonathon Aubry, VP, Marketing and Distribution reporting to him directly.

Here Films will release 8-12 films per year.

Here’s current and forthcoming releases also include Departures, Tokyo Sonata, $9.99, Little Ashes, The Song Of Sparrows, Zioin And His Brother and El Nino Pez.