EXCLUSIVE: HanWay Films has expanded its classics library after being appointed to signify The Cohen Film Collection.
The library of Cohen Media Group’s founder, Charles S. Cohen, includes a couple of hundred restored traditional titles spanning from the silent period to the current day, together with The Buster Keaton Collection and The Merchant Ivory Collection.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed and Cohen Media Group is the proprietor of HanWay, having acquired the corporate in 2022.
Late final yr Charles Cohen’s media group hit uneven waters when the corporate was pressured to promote a number of property together with British arthouse exhibitor and distributor Curzon to Fortress Investment Group. The firm was acquired in a foreclosures public sale involving a number of Cohen property, together with the Landmark cinema chain. Fortress had lent Cohen $534M however sued him final yr for default. Cohen acquired Curzon in late 2019 amid a shopping for spree by the U.S. actual property developer.
The Cohen assortment of silent period films was assembled by Raymond Rohauer, who began buying films by his partnerships with Buster Keaton and Douglas Fairbanks within the 1950’s. Included within the assortment are the Keaton classics Our Hospitality, One Week and Three Ages; in addition to the Fairbanks led masterpieces The Three Musketeers, and The Iron Mask and Robin Hood.
Marta Ravani, Director of Sales for HanWay – The Collections will proceed to handle The Collections gross sales.
Charles S. Cohen, proprietor and chairman of Cohen Media Group mentioned: “We’re thrilled to have HanWay handling our classic film collections which have been largely restored, and to have our films sold in the company of so many other great classic titles.”
Peter Watson, president of HanWay, added: “Our library business sits at the very heart of HanWay. HanWay – The Collections, run by Marta Ravani, is devoted to the idea that great cinema, beautifully presented and carefully handled, will always have an audience. Charles shares our long view and has lavished considerable resources to maintain the lustre of what must be one of the great little libraries of cinema. We are delighted to represent these treasures.”
HanWay’s most up-to-date 4K restorations embrace Crash by David Cronenberg, Let’s Get Lost by Bruce Weber, Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor and The Dreamers, Shine by Scott Hicks, Orlando by Sally Potter, Rabbit Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce, Nil By Mouth by Gary Oldman and most just lately in partnership with The Wim Wenders Foundation, cult traditional Paris, Texas.
The Cohen Film Collection included as a part of the HanWay Films acquisition will embrace:
The Cohen Film Collection – Restorations of such classics as Daughters of the Dust, Cast A Shadow, Hangmen Also Die, Sudden Fear and Pandora & The Flying Dutchman in addition to stunning 4K restorations of The Old Dark House, Hester Street and King of Hearts, amongst others.
The Buster Keaton Collection – The General, Sherlock. Jr., Steamboat Bill Jr., Seven Chances and The Navigator
The Merchant Ivory Collection: Howard’s End, Maurice, Heat and Dust, The Europeans, Quartet, The Bostonians
The Documentary Collection: Hitchcock/Truffaut by Kent Jones; Faces/Places by Agnes Varda, What is Cinema by Chuck Workman, Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles Chuck Workman
HanWay – The Collections consists of all the movies that HanWay has bought since 1999, together with Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015), Steve McQueen’s Shame (2011), John Crowley’s Brooklyn (2015), Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), and Anton Corbijn’s Control (2007). In addition, are the movies of HanWay proprietor Jeremy Thomas, together with Bernardo Bertolucci’s magnum opus and multi-Academy Award profitable epic The Last Emperor (1987), in addition to acclaimed documentaries, Wim Wenders films, Sally Potter movies, a New Zealand assortment, the movies of Paul Cox and Amos Gitai and Bruce Webber.