New York, NY – June 30, 2008 – IFC Entertainment announced today the promotion of Lisa Schwartz to executive vice president of distribution, operations and business development. In her new role, Schwartz will oversee operations of IFC Entertainment’s multi-platform film company, including IFC in Theaters and Festival Direct, and all opportunities for new business development and expansion. Schwartz will continue to report to Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment.
"Lisa is taking the helm of IFC Entertainment’s business operations at a critical juncture in the growth of the company," said Sehring. "Her experience is invaluable. Her promotion is a testament to the success of our latest strategies. She has brought in new opportunities for digital distribution that extend the IFC brand, and I look forward to working with her to continue to expand the company in new, exciting ways."
A primary responsibility for Schwartz, in her new role, will be to oversee IFC in Theater’s day-and-date theatrical and on demand distribution service, and the recently launched Festival Direct, a new on demand movie service providing films that have premiered at major international festivals to a national audience. She will continue to manage the implementation of IFC Films in theaters, on demand, online, and through alternative distribution platforms, after recently forming partnerships with Blockbuster and its movielink.com, Amazon Unbox, and Apple iTunes. Schwartz will sustain a brand strategy that increases the value of IFC in Theaters for cable and satellite operators, while developing new opportunities for IFC Entertainment content across all media.
Schwartz brings more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing to IFC Entertainment. Her most recent role was senior vice president of sales and business development for IFC Entertainment, where she drove the creation of a new company infrastructure that would fully maximize the business model for IFC in Theaters. Prior to that she served as senior vice president, national accounts and advanced services for Rainbow Media, where she managed the Comcast corporate account for all linear networks, including AMC, WE and IFC, and was responsible for distribution and contract negotiations for Rainbow’s On Demand brands. Previously, Schwartz had held various positions at Rainbow Media, including senior vice president for distribution strategies and senior vice president national accounts at the music network, fuse.
Schwartz holds an undergraduate degree from Cabrini College. She is a member of the WICT Philadelphia Chapter Mentor Program and, in 2006, she was the recipient of WICT’s Philadelphia Liberty Award for Outstanding Leadership. She is also a member of New York Women in Film and has earned a certificate from Harvard Business School for completion of CTAM University’s Executive Management program. Lisa is president of the Board of Trustee’s for Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Bryn Mawr. She currently resides in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, with her husband Peter Mondics and daughter Grace.
IFC Films had a major presence at the Cannes Film Festival in recent years, most recently announcing this year the acquisition of Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale, Olivier Assayas’s Summer Hours, Josh Safdie’s The Pleasure of Being Robbed, and Anna Melikyan’s Mermaid. The company has also acquired back-to-back Palme d’Or winners, including Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days and Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley. IFC Films acquired 10 films at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, including Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park, which won the Prize of the 60th Anniversary, California Dreamin’, which won the Un Certain Regard top prize, and the upcoming The Last Mistress, directed by Catherine Breillat. In recent years, the company also released the three-time award-winner Me and You and Everyone We Know and the prize-winner Nobody Knows.
About IFC Entertainment
A multi-platform leader in the independent film industry, IFC Entertainment operates a group of companies devoted to bringing the best of specialty films to the largest possible audience. IFC Entertainment consists of IFC Films, IFC Productions and the IFC Center. IFC Films is a leading distribution company for independent film. IFC Entertainment’s day and date film distribution model makes independent films available to a national audience by releasing them in theaters through IFC Films and simultaneously on cable’s on demand platform and PPV through IFC In Theaters, reaching 50 million homes. IFC Productions is a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects. IFC Center is a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema with luxurious seating and HD digital and 35mm projection that shows art-house films in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. IFC Entertainment’s companies are subsidiaries of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.
Recent and upcoming IFC releases include: 2007 Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days , which also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film; Gus Van Sant’s award winning Paranoid Park ; Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely; Hou Hsiao Hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon starring Juliette Binoche; and Tom Kalin’s Savage Grace which stars Julianne Moore. Other critically acclaimed films include John Dahl’s You Kill Me, Susanne Bier’s Academy Award nominated After the Wedding and Ken Loach’s 2006 Palme d’Or winner The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
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 content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world’s most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, WE tv, Sundance Channel, LIFESKOOL, SPORTSKOOL, and VOOM HD Networks. Through IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a leading distribution company for independent film; IFC Productions, a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects; and IFC Center, a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales company; Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company; and 11 Penn TV, a company that manages Rainbow Media’s NYC studios and post-production facilities.