Dick Sano, vicepresident and general manager for Buena Vista International (BVI)-Japan, hasbeen promoted to senior vice president & general manager for the company.He will continue to report directly to Mark Zoradi, president of BVI and BVHEI.

Sano willcontinue to lead BVI's theatrical distribution and marketing efforts inJapan following on from huge live action hits such as Signs, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor and animated pictures Tarzan,Dinosaur and MonstersInc.

'Dick hasbeen an outstanding member of our international organization for the past sevenyears and highly respected throughout the Japanese film distributioncommunity,' said Zoradi in a statement. 'BVI-J's success islargely because of Dick's dedicated efforts and the cohesive work of theentire BVI-J team. For the past two years running, Japan has led all BVI marketsin both revenue and net contribution.'

Sano firstjoined BVI in 1995 from Polygram Far East where he held the position ofManaging Director. He has worked in the entertainment industry for over 20years and has held positions with ASCII Pictures, Vestron and Nippon Herald Films.