Jonathan Ogilvie’s political thriller Lone Wolf and Sara Kern’s debut feature Moja Vesna are among the launch titles for new indie distributor Screen Inc.
Founded by former Umbrella Entertainment head of theatrical Dov Kornits, the Sydney-based company’s theatrical slate also includes Elie Grappe’s Olga, Joanne Samuel and Jesse A’hern’s The Red Shoes: Next Step, Clive Fleury’s Sons of Summer, and Ted McDonnell’s Noyce – The Not So Quiet Australian.
Further, Screen Inc. has a deal in place with the Steve Jaggi Company to handle all rights outside of theatrical for Sit.Stay.Love, Mistletoe Ranch, A Royal in Paradise, Love by the Glass, The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay, and Beyond the Reef.
The company also plans one-off screenings of Andrew Ryan’s The Florist, Serhat Caradee’s Cedar Boys (remastered in 4K), and Ingvar Kenne’s The Land ahead of digital release.
The launch of Screen Inc is a culmination of a six-month journey for Kornits, who was previously co-founder and director of Pivot Pictures, formerly FilmInk Presents.
He told IF the new venture had been born out of working as “an almost pseudo distributor” following his exit Pivot in February, coupled with a desire to release The Land.
“I was being contracted to release films theatrically on behalf of other distributors, which included booking cinemas and helping with PR,” he said.
“I helped Bonsai release Franklin and I’m helping Label do Lone Wolf next year, so those kinds of conversations started happening.
“I was also really keen to release a film like The Land to audiences, so it just made sense.”
Kornits has nearly three decades of experience within the local industry, including as the publisher of long-running title FilmInk Magazine.
He said the relationships he has formed in the sector mean there is an “infrastructure of people” to draw from on a contract basis.
“If you are releasing a particular film, different marketing or PR people have strengths that help position a film properly,” he said.
“The way I would rather run it is, depending on the project and the release, I turn to someone else who is out there contracting and freelancing, and we work together on a project-by-project basis.”
Not all the projects on the Screen Inc. slate are ready for release, with Phillip Noyce documentary, Noyce – The Not So Quiet Australian, still in production.
Kornits said taking on projects at different stages of development was part of the company’s end-to-end approach, adding he looked forward to liaising with different filmmakers about what they are working on.
“I’ll be trying to maximise all the different release windows for the film, so Screen Inc. will be repping it when we are selling to free-to-air, as well as to cinemas,” he said.
“I really believe in Australia’s cultural voice, so I’m really keen to see Australian accents and stories up on screens, be it big or small.
“I want to back projects I feel can find an audience in today’s segmented market… I love auteur-driven cinema and so internationally I am also keen to see new voices, or established voices with vision.
“As long as I feel like I can place it in front of today’s segmented audiences, that’s the criteria.”