Film Joins IFC's First Take Day and Date Slate
Cannes, France – May 22, 2007 – IFC Entertainment announced today that it has acquired Hou Hsiao-Hsien's French Film Flight of the Red Balloon from the Cannes Film Festival. The film will be added to IFC's First Take distribution slate, where films premiere simultaneously theatrically and on local cable's On Demand platform. The announcement was made today by IFC Entertainment President Jonathan Sehring.
As IFC Entertainment heads into the second year of its day and date program, First Take remains the first and only film distribution label fully dedicated to the day and date concept and executing a broad multi-picture strategy. Maximizing the use of Video On Demand technology, IFC has created the first centralized destination for independent films, providing a strong voice to the many critically acclaimed independent films that are shown in New York, Los Angeles, and various Film Festivals, but lost within the marketplace each year.
"IFC Entertainment is building its day and date slate with another exceptionally powerful film, Flight of the Red Balloon, from Three Times director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. We know that this film will help further signify IFC First Take as the premiere distribution platform for celebrated foreign language films in the U.S."
Flight of the Red Balloon is a French film from Taiwanese Director Hou Hsiao Hsien about a little boy and his babysitter inhabiting the same imaginary world, in which a red balloon follows them around Paris that stars Juliet Binoche and Simon Iteanu. The film is produced by Francois Margolin, and Kristina Larsen.
The acquisition was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, VP of Acquistions for IFC Films with Nicolas Brigaud-Robert from Films Distribution.
Past films acquired from the Cannes Film Festival included the critically acclaimed drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley the winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, from Path é Pictures International, and Lars Von Trier's Manderlay, which featured an all star cast of Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover, Lauren Bacall and Willem Dafoe.
ABOUT IFC's FIRST TAKE AND IFC ENTERTAINMENT
IFC First Take is the day and date distribution arm of IFC Entertainment. First Take releases twenty-four films a year, theatrically across the country and simultaneously on VOD. It reaches over 40 million homes and is available on demand nationally with Comcast, Cablevision, Time Warner, Cox, Insight and on PPV through DirecTV. IFC Entertainment also consists of IFC Films, a traditional distribution company, and the new IFC Center in Greenwich Village. IFCE is a Rainbow Media company. Recent and upcoming IFC First Take films include: The Aura, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Family Law, An Unreasonable Man and Close to Home.
ABOUT RAINBOW MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multi-platform programming for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world's most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, fuse, IFC, WE tv, Rainbow Sports Networks managed FSN Bay Area and FSN New England, LIFESKOOL, SPORTSKOOL, and VOOM HD Networks. The company also manages Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales division, and Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company.