EXCLUSIVE: Match Point Films, a new independent distribution company, has been set up in Australia by former Icon, Transmission, Dendy and Rialto executives Lisa Garner and Matt Soulos, with plans to attend the Berlin, Cannes and Toronto film festivals and markets in 2026.
They plan to acquire six to eight “bold, distinctive” films per year for cinema audiences in Australia and New Zealand.
Match Point’s first release will be Will Alexander’s Australian documentary True South in March 2026, about the gruelling 630-nautical-mile Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The film follows brothers Nathan and Peter Dean as they compete in 2023 in honour of their father John, one of the six sailors who died 25 years earlier in 1998, one of the most catastrophic years in the history of the race.
Between Soulos and Garner, they have released more than 300 films via Icon, Transmission, Dendy and Rialto. They have also worked for, respectively, sales agents Beyond and Myriad.
Most recently they were at the Reset Collective, a joint venture formed between Cornerstone Films, Genesius Pictures and Garner in 2020. Soulos joined in 2022, first as a consultant. Match Point has been contracted to manage and exploit the Reset catalogue of more than 25 films, including Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Hard Truths, The Old Oak and Bank Of Dave.
“People are yearning for good cinema, films with real humanity, and that’s what we will naturally lean into,” says Garner. “You go on such a long journey (with a film]. We want those we emotionally connect with and believe in, and so do audiences.”
People are exhausted from watching series at home and fed up with Marvel films in theatres, she added. “I wish cinemas would come together and do a [promotional] campaign”.
Soulos and Garner cited the fact UK films often do better in Australia than in the UK, referring to Good Luck To You, Leo Grande and Four Letters of Love. They said audience interest in horror is also high what is driving success is quality.
“It comes down to whether the film is any good regardless of what it is,” says Garner. “We all know it when we see it, which speaks to why distributors at our level are holding off on prebuys.”
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