From The Business of Film, AFM 2009 issue
Two years ago Ava B., founder of the much-talked about new company House of Film, heard an interview on NPR with Gregory Kruglak, executive producer of the feature film Milarepa, the Tibetan Buddhist story of enlightenment. Ava B. decided to see the movie right away and the film had a strong enough impact to drive her to find Greg Kruglak and convince him to give her Milarepa for sales representation under the LongTale banner, where Ava B. used to be VP of Sales & Acquisitions.
Greg, seeing how successfully his movie has been sold to an impressive number of territories, encouraged Ava B. to start her own distribution company. Greg helped Ava B. license the first movie for House of Film, Sunrise/Sunset a high quality documentary by the legendary Russian filmmaker, Vitali Manski. The movie is a high-concept documentary with never-before-seen footage about the Dalai Lama in his home — now under consideration for an Oscar nomination.
Ava B., with over a decade of experience in worldwide distribution, has been promoting the idea of “fusion” distribution for independent movies. House of Film is well positioned to find the optimum distribution strategy for any content, utilizing the latest in digital technologies and combining them with the best of the traditional in a new marketing model, for both US domestic and international distribution.
House of Film’s multi-platform service can optimize revenues from virtually any distribution platform, resulting in a success of quality pick-ups for the company.
Belladonna is a stunningly filmed feature film handled by House of Film which combines two highly successful topics: time travel and the wedding motive. Reminescent of recent hits such as ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife,’ and ’ My Big Fat Greek wedding” Belladonna is one of the much anticipated titles of the market.
Other highlights of the company’s line-up include For The Next 7 Generations, a collection of 900 years of wisdom and prophecy by the 13 most powerful women elders of the planet.
The story has been released in a book in several countries in Europe and Asia and the film is benefiting from cross-marking due to significant book publicity. Buyers have been storming House of Film with appointment requests.
Tattoos is a gripping, can’t stop watching documentary covering all angles of a topic in a visually stunning, riveting documentary with a host of celebrities (including David Carradine, Julie Benz, Jason Mewes, Brad Dourif, Shawnee Smith, Billy Boyd, and Scissor Sisters Ana Matronic) – With every 6th person on the Planet having a tattoo, this documentary has a strong built-in audience.
The Rain got a rave review in the New York Times – no translation needed – it is all movement and music. It is a breathtakingly, hauntingly beautiful movement theatre-like movie. It manages to say everything there is to say about love and relationships in 28 and half minutes. Truly brilliant – perfect for the French sensitivity. It is the best movement theatre since Pina Bausch and Robert LaPage.
The rest of the line up consists of quality features from both continents.
The concept of promoting quality cinema in a new distribution model has attracted a strong team of seasoned executives to the company.
House of Film has recently strengthened its management team with the appointment of Gary Jones as general manager with effect from the beginning of October. Gary brings a wealth of experience and a successful commercial track record to the company. Gray’s credits’ include: President of Porchlight Entertainment, president of legendary filmmaker Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons Home Entertainment and Sales Director at Republic Pictures.
This new business model underscores the company’s ability to incorporate product placement and integration, as well as sponsorships, into the production of quality independent films. Evelin Pataki, after a successful career at Procter and Gamble, is leading the marketing team introducing these aspects into the company’s portfolio and making cover-mount deals for completed films.
The company’s sales team includes Yatin Parkhani who sets the vision and the tone for marketing the completed movies and put his skills and years of experience to good use at House of Film and Suzanna Howse, Director of International Sales who is based in Europe. Suzanna is fluent in four languages and has an extensive experience in the international arena.
The House of Film team welcomes any full length content of any genre that the highest standards in aesthetics or is innovative and ground breaking in its approach.
In addition to its core business, House of Film was also established to foster the convergence of the worlds of fashion, design and filmmaking.