The managing partners ofDutch distributor Bright Angel have sold their share of the business and areplanning to launch a new London-based distribution and production outfit calledYume Pictures.

Chris Oosterom and PatriziaRaeli will launch Yume on July 1 and aim to acquire all rights to up to six toeight titles a year.

Oosterom and Raeli have soldtheir share in Bright Angel to A-film Distribution. Bright Angel released aboutforty arthouse titles in its two-year existence, including Kim Ki-duk's Three Iron and Kore-eda Hirokaza's Nobody Knows. Four remaining new titles - Green Hat, Changing Destiny, TemporadaDe Patos and Vital - will bereleased before the summer. Acquired rights will be handled by A-film.

Oosterom and Raeli plan toacquire similar kinds of films for Yume Pictures, with a preference for Asiantitles.

Before launching BrightAngel, Italian-born Raeli was head of acquisitions at Tartan Films and Oosteromwas responsible for acquisition at the Dutch Filmmuseum.

Raeli commented: "There willbe no direct competition with Tartan [which has a strong Asian catalogue].There are enough films made by interesting and talented directors todistribute."

The first title lined up fortheir UK slate is Italian title DopoMezzanotte by Davide Ferrario which is due for release in September. Thepair will be buying at Cannes as well.

Oosterom and Raeli also planto co-produce films and will aim to buy films for other territories as well,with Italy being one of the possibilities and Lucky Red as one of theirpotential partners. Other activities may include composing special programmes,possibly for festivals.

Bright Angel was backed byan unnamed investor for its two-year existence. The company's market share in2004 was 0.43%. According to Oosterom, financial problems weren't behind thedecision to stop distribution activities in The Netherlands: "We left no debts.We've simply decided to stop our activities in Holland and to go to London: wecan't do two things at a time."

Yume is 100% owned byOosterom and Raeli and will be based in Maple Street, near Soho. The twomanaging directors are still looking for a receptionist, a publicity executiveand a booking agency.