Research into Film Institutes

As a group we need to consider what sort of film institute would distribute our film. Obviously as our film is not a multi-million blockbuster we understand that our film would not be distributed by a world wide famous institute such as Universal Paramount Pictures. However a small independant institute would be much more realistic. We decided to look a some of our favourite films and see what sort of institues they were distributed by.

1) 'PolyGram Filmed Entertainment'
'Trainspotting' (1996) is a crime/drama film addaptation of the novel 'Trainspotting' by Irvine Welsh and directed by Danny Boyle. The film was distributed by 'PolyGram Filmed Entertainment', a film studio founded in 1979 but eventually sold to Universal Pictures. It was based in the UK and invested in many British films such as 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' , "Dead Man Walking' and 'Notting Hill'. PolyGram became part of Universal Pictures to create a joint venture called 'Gramercy Pictures' which was the distributor of PolyGram films in the USA and Canada. 'Trainspotting' was ranked 10th by the 'British Film Institute' in its list of top 100 British Films.
The 'British Film Institute' is a charitable organisation designed to encourage the development the arts of film and television in the UK.


2)  'Lions Gate Entertainment'

Crank (2006) is an action film staring Jason Statham and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. The film was produced distributed by 'Lions Gate Entertainment'. It is a North American independent film company founded in Vancouver in 1997 and its headquarters are in Santa Monica, California. It is one of the most successful independent film/television distribution companies due to its commercial recognition and many of its pictures have been very lucrative. 'Lionsgate' also has its own record label and publishing company.


3) 'Miramax Films'

Pulp Fiction (1994) is an American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino and distributed by 'Miramax Films', another entertainment company responsible for distributing independent and foreign films. Miramax was founded in 1979 and headquartered in New York. It was originally created to be different in that it would distribute films that Hollywood Studios did not consider plausible to distribute. Despite this original plan, in 1993 Miramax was sold to 'Walt Disney' for $60 million.


We feel that it would be totally unrealistic to expect our film to be distributed by any major Hollywood studios. However, an independent film company may be more feasible, even then, the independent film companies above are probably too 'high up the hierarchy' to consider our film. If we were to actually release a whole film I think that the best way to do this could be by previewing it at a local film festival, like that of the 'BFI London Film Festival' except perhaps a more smaller-scale festival, such as a regional or local one.