Trust launches into local distribution
by Annika Pham
Zentropa’s international sales arm Trust Film Sales launched into Danish distribution last weekend with the release of Anders Rønnow Klarlund’s How to Get Rid of Others on 15 screens.
Trust Film Distribution (TFD) is headed by Jimmy Bredow, who previously oversaw the promotion of feature films at the Danish Film Institute until he joined Nordisk Film Distribution in 2003. He is now working very closely with Trust’s CEO Maja Dyekær Giese, who herself took over Bredow’s position at the DFI before joining Trust last August.
The founding of TFD was rushed by Zentropa when the company, headed by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Lars von Trier, was ousted last December from the distribution outlet Filmfolket it had set up in 2005 with Nimbus Film and distribution veteran Loke Havn. Filmfolket was supposed to take over Zentropa’s domestic releases when the distribution deal that Zentropa had had for several years with Nordisk Film expired at the end of 2006.
However, differences of opinion – mostly on the DVD release strategy of Zentropa’s films through Filmfolket – led to Zentropa’s split with its two other partners in the company. The last Zentropa title released through Nordisk was Lars von Trier’s The Boss of it All [+see also:
trailer
film profile] on December 8.
After How to Get Rid of Others, TFD’s next Zentropa release will be Lone Scherfig’s Hjemve on March 30 on 70 screens. Bredow told Cineuropa that TFD will release between five to six films in 2007, mostly Zentropa titles as well as a few other local products and foreign pick-ups.
Although Trust Film Sales handles international distribution rights to many Nordic films, Bredow pointed out that he would only consider those titles with real distribution potential. “The Danish market is very crowded and P&A costs are spiralling. The titles handled by Trust Film Sales are often very arty, but if we feel that some have a crossover potential then, yes, we will take them on board. In any case, over the next six months, starting with Berlin, we’ll be looking into acquiring other films”, he said.
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