Kino Lorber Launches Silk Road Cinema, A New Distribution Label For Best In Class Films From South Asia

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Friday, 13 May 2016 11:00

Kino Lorber proudly announces SILK ROAD CINEMA, a new theatrical distribution label dedicated to the release of high-quality, award-winning art house films from India, Pakistan and throughout South Asia. Films will be released throughout North America in theaters and all home media.
 
Kino Lorber will partner with New York and Mumbai-based independent filmmaker/producer Shrihari Sathe (1000 Rupee Note, It Felt Like Love), who will curate the collection and collaborate on distribution strategy. SILK ROAD CINEMA will release approximately six titles a year, in all media, starting with five titles acquired from 3 Monkeys, the international film group operated by Shrihari Sathe and Alan McAlex.
 
The first five films are: Afia Nathaniel’s Dukhtar (Daughter), Pakistan’s official submission to the 87th Academy Awards®,1000 Rupee Note (Ek Hazarachi Note), an acclaimed Indian film directed by Shrihari Sathe, Liar's Dice, a migrant road drama by Geetu Mohandas that was India’s official submission to the 87th Academy Awards®, Killa (The Fort) directed by Avinash Arun and winner of the Crystal Bear awarded by the Generation KPlus Jury at 2014 Berlin Film Festival, and Harud (Autumn), an acclaimed drama set in Kashmir directed by Aamir Bashir.
 
Richard Lorber and Shrihari Sathe first met when Mr. Lorber was a juror for the third year at the South Asian International Film Festival, where two of the films controlled by Mr. Sathe were awarded major prizes.
 
Mr. Sathe, also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and a member of the Producers Guild of America, Indian Motion Picture Producers Association and Film Writers Association (India), will be actively seeking new South Asian titles at Cannes Film Festival along with the Kino Lorber team.
 
Kino Lorber will handle the theatrical releases for the Silk Road Cinema acquisitions, under the direction of Wendy Lidell, the company’s head of theatrical distribution who will also be in Cannes. Eventually all the titles will be available through Kino Lorber’s wide network of distribution platforms in the VOD, educational, home video and ancillary markets, both in North America and for certain titles worldwide.
 
“As a festival juror for South Asian films, my eyes were opened to the sophistication and originality of many talented emerging filmmakers who have been overshadowed by cliché driven dominance of Bollywood,” commented Richard Lorber. “These are international art house films in the best sense and deserve wider exposure at prestige festivals, art house theaters and in all media for smart, adventurous film lovers.”
 
“I’m excited to bring independent, original and smartly made South Asian films to audiences in North America and beyond through Silk Road Cinema,” commented Shrihari Sathe. “These locally rooted art house films have global emotions and via Kino Lorber’s established distribution network we plan to bring these films to audiences hungry for content from both emerging and established filmmakers.
 
Shrihari Sathe is a New York and Mumbai based independent filmmaker and producer. Sathe produced Jaron Henrie-McCrea’s Pervertigo, which world premiered at the 2012 Warsaw and Mumbai lm festivals and was a part of the 2011 IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs. Sathe’s production, Eliza Hittman’s It Felt Like Love, premiered at 2013 Sundance Film Festival and 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam to great reviews. Sathe is a 2013 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow and has received fellowships from the HFPA, PGA, IFP, Film Independent, and Sundance Institute to name a few.

Sathe is a Trans-Atlantic Partners fellow (2013) and Cannes Producer’s Network fellow (2014, 2015, 2016). He is a co-producer on Partho Sen-gupta’s Arunoday (Sunrise), which world premiered at the 2014 Busan International Film Festival, and Afia Nathaniel’s Dukhtar (Daughter), which world premiered at 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and was Pakistan's official entry to the 87th Academy Awards.

Sathe’s feature directorial debut Ek Hazarachi Note (1000 Rupee Note) won the Special Jury Award and Centenary Award for Best Film at the 2014 International Film Festival of India and has received over 40 awards. He recently finished post-production on Ed Blythe’s Man With Van (2011 Film Independent Producers Lab). Sathe’s latest production, Elisabeth Subrin’s A Woman, A Part world premiered at the 2016 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

With a library of more than 1,000 titles, Kino Lorber Inc. has been a leader in independent art house distribution for over 30 years, releasing 25 films per year theatrically under its Kino Lorber, Kino Classics, and Alive Mind Cinema banners, including five Academy Award® nominated films in the last seven years.
 
In addition, the company brings over 100 narrative and documentary titles each year to the home entertainment, educational and digital markets with in-house DVD and Blu-ray distribution and direct sales to all major platforms digital platforms.