Yahoo News Mubi Nabs Majority Stake in European Indie Distributor Cineart
Arthouse streamer Mubi has unveiled a deal to take a majority stake in Benelux indie distributor Cineart.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement will see the management team at Cineart remain intact, while co-CEOs and longtime execs Marc Smit and Stephan De Potter will retain “significant” stakes in the company.
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“I’ve known and worked with Marc and Stephan for over 15 years, and admire what they’ve done with Cinéart. They are two of the most sophisticated and visionary operators in the business. We are delighted to be partnering with them and the whole team at Cineart, and can’t wait to bring more great films to audiences in Benelux together,” Efe Cakarel, founder and CEO of Mubi, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Cineart was part of a multi-territory deal for Sofia Coppola’s feature Priscilla ahead of a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The indie distributor was founded in 1975 by the late Eliane Dubois, and has offices in Amsterdam and Brussels and a focus on releasing indie films in cinemas, on VOD, pay/free TV and home video across the Benelux.
Local Cineart releases include Slumdog Millionaire, The Artist, Amour, I Daniel Blake, Deux Jours une nuit, Son of Saul, The Worst Person in the World, The Whale and The Zone of Interest. Besides Priscilla, which has generated over $1 million in local box office to date, Cineart has earlier released Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory and Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire on the Mubi platform in the Benelux.
Mubi has been a consistent buyer of arthouse titles that launch at major film festivals ahead of a release on its platform.
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