Prestige Films Triples Its library Of Titles Spanning Multiple Genres - Moonstone’s Michael Grant Joins Prestige’s in Sales and Distribution
Prestige Films, the joint venture between Moonstone Entertainment’s Etchie Stroh and film and television producer Jay Firestone, attends it first MIPCOM since the formation of the company at Cannes 2008. Since its inception the company has tripled its library of film titles by several alliances and acquisitions. Michael Grant, previously Director of Production & Marketing for Moonstone Entertainment, will join Etchie Stroh to expand his responsibilities in the Moonstone/ Prestige Films operation as Director of Sales and Distribution. Etchie Stroh commented, “I truly appreciate Michael’s knowledge of and passion for films, which will greatly benefit our boutique sales operation. His capable handling of the additional challenges of sales and distribution will enable me to focus on and expand our production.”
In the first of the acquisitions, Prestige together with Summit Investments has acquired and will jointly represent a catalogue of over 25 titles. The titles include Mr. Jealousy, and Highball, both written and directed by Noah Baumbach; Hulk Hogan’s Ultimate Weapon; several sci fi features such as Dark Planet and Absolution; top-quality family features as Nico the Unicorn, Owd Bob and Treasure Island. Additional titles were contracted from Germany’s Excell-Agentur and Sawmill Entertainment, including Luck Town with Kirsten Dunst and G-Men From Hell starring William Forsythe. As a first step towards close cooperation with filmmaker Joel Castleberg, Prestige will represent Bodies,Rest & Motion, starring Bridget Fonda and Tim Roth and Sleep with Me, starring Meg Tilly and Eric Stoltz. In addition to the multi genre catalog, Prestige will be representing Contamination, starring Eric Roberts, written & directed by Rodion Nahapetov. Contamination will be honored in November at the Terra Di Siena Film Festival with a Humanitarian Award co-sponsored by UNICEF and the University of Siena.
The Prestige label now has more than 100 films available for worldwide distribution. international sales for a number of critically acclaimed films by cultivating relationships and establishing alliances with filmmakers of top quality motion pictures including Together and The Promise, both by Chen Kaige; Robert Altman’s Cookie’s Fortune; Hotel and Miss Julie by Mike Figgis; Alan Rudolph’s Oscar-nominated Afterglow; Michael Radford’s Dancing At The Blue Iguana; Pandaemonium directed by Julien Temple, as well as collaborating on Toolbox Murders by Tobe Hooper.
Jay Firestone, who founded the production and distribution company Fireworks Entertainment, also served as chairman and CEO of CanWest Entertainment following its acquisition of Fireworks. Among the feature films produced under the Fireworks banner are Rules of Engagement, Rat Race, Hardball, and The Believer (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival). He also oversaw the company’s interest in New York-based IDP Distribution, a distribution and marketing joint venture between Fireworks, Samuel Goldwyn Films and Stratosphere Entertainment. Prior to Fireworks, Firestone founded Alliance Communications Corporation and served as its vice chairman. Firestone’s Prodigy Pictures is currently in post-production on its NBC mini-series XIII and its first feature Stuck from director Stuart Gordon released theatrically in the US earlier this year. Prestige Films is located at MIPCOM at stand 1.12 tel. 04 92 99 80 91. www.moonstonefilms.com
