European sales, production and financial powerhouse mk2 films has announced a significant multi-year financing deal with established investment fund manager IPR.VC, marking a pivotal step in the company’s ambitious growth plans. The fund is set to bolster mk2 films, providing significant financial backing for a slate of future projects.  

The collaboration will enable mk2 films to build on its recent successes, which include critical and commercial hits such as Justine Triet’s Oscar-winning Anatomy of a Fall [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]. Cannes 2024 saw the launch of mk2 films’ most ambitious slate to date, with Andrew Haigh’s Belly of the Beast starring Ben Stiller and Colin Farrell, and The Zellner Brothers’ Alpha Gang starring Cate Blanchett. Current films in production include Trier’s Sentimental Value, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, and Dylan Southern’s The Thing With Feathers, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

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IPR.VC, a Helsinki and London-based investment fund manager, has raised over $200 million and backed more than 50 productions across film and television. The new alliance with mk2 films reflects the company’s continued commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the industry. IPR.VC has established long-term alliances with acclaimed US and European film and television producers such as A24 (Civil War, Love Lies Bleeding [+lee también:
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The announcement also follows the recent key hire of Vanessa Saal, former managing director of Protagonist Pictures. Saal has joined mk2 films to lead the company’s UK presence and strengthen its focus on English-language projects. This move, along with the IPR.VC strategic alliance, underscores mk2 films’ ongoing plans for growth and international expansion.

“We are thrilled to work with IPR.VC and its experienced management team, and to have found the perfect partners to allow us to scale our efforts while maintaining the artistic integrity that defines mk2 films and our commitment to bold, visionary filmmaking”, stated mk2 films’ CEO Nathanael Karmitz and Managing Director Fionnuala Jamison.

"mk2 films is a European studio with unrivalled heritage, driven by a remarkably talented team", enthused Andrea Scarso, partner and investment director of IPR.VC. "This multi-year, multi-project collaboration aligns perfectly with IPR.VC's strategy of investing in high-quality content with enduring value. Together, we aim to cultivate a truly international portfolio, with a particular emphasis on European stories that have the potential to reach and engage global audiences.”

For the record, mk2 films forms part of the mk2 film group, whose activities include running cinemas in France and Spain and which revived a distribution outfit (mk2.Alt) targeting young audiences back in April. The latter has created a buzz (and some controversy) in France this past week, attracting 310,000 viewers to French cinemas over the space of two days by way of Inoxtag’s documentary Kaizen, within the (regulated) context of a temporary broadcast in cinemas just ahead of the film dropping for free on Youtube, a limited broadcast which far exceeded the number of seances generally permitted for these kinds of occasions (premieres, etc.). This circumvention of the rules has stirred up heated debate in the context of a film industry governed by strict media chronology windows. Defending its position, mk2 insisted that the broadcast had the effect of luring young viewers back into cinemas all over France.