EXCLUSIVE: Ken Loach and Rebecca O'Brien's Sixteen Films has sealed a trio of deals for a selection of the director's back catalog titles as a first major step toward gathering his filmography under one umbrella.
The London-based company has appointed France's Goodfellas as worldwide sales agent for the titles, at the same time as entrusting their future distribution to Le Pacte in France, and Curzon in the UK and Ireland.
The titles include Loach's 2006 Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley as well as Cannes contenders Land and Freedom (1995), My Name is Joe (1998), Bread & Roses (2000) and Sweet Sixteen (2002); Venice-selected work The Navigators (2001) and Ae Fond Kiss which premiered in Berlin in 2004.
The announcement of the deals coincides with news that Loach will travel to Cannes this year for a screening of a 4K version of Spanish Civil War drama Land and Freedom in the festival's Cinéma de Plage strand, the lineup for which was unveiled today.
With time, a number of the films will be made available with new 4K remasters as part of a longer-term commitment to preserving and extending the reach of Loach's work, with further titles due to be added to the list in the coming months
"We're really thrilled to be announcing this acquisition. It's been a long-held desire of ours to bring the Ken Loach catalogue under one umbrella as an extraordinary legacy collection and this is a major leap forward in that direction," said O'Brien.
"Goodfellas, along with Le Pacte, have been very trusted partners for many years and it's fantastic that they have joined with us on this project. In the UK Curzon feel like natural partners for us in this endeavour in the UK and we're delighted they are coming on board after their slew of strong retrospectives."
O'Brien and Loach set up Sixteen Films in 2002 to oversee the production of the director's films. They first started working with the Goodfellas team under their previous banner of Wild Bunch on the 2009 drama Looking For Eric.
When company co-founders Vincent Maraval and Brahim Chioua branched off to set up their new company Goodfellas in 2023, Loach and O'Brien followed.
"We are delighted to continue and deepen our relationship with Sixteen Films. They are our historical and privileged long-time partners and working on part of their library has been a long-awaited desire for our team," said Goodfellas CEO Maraval.
"Besides selling new projects, working on libraries and extending life of cinema classics is a work of passion for us. We will soon announce special events to help distributors to re-release Ken masterpieces."
Le Pacte co-founder and President Jean Labadie also highlighted his company's long-standing relationship with Sixteen Films.
"We have had the honour to distribute all Ken Loach movies since The Angels' Share. Being in charge of these marvellous seven movies is fantastic for all our team," he said.
Curzon Head of Business Affairs Ulysse Kelbert said the acquisition of the titles for the UK chimed with a key pole of its activities.
"Presenting the work of the great directors through fresh retrospectives and new home entertainment editions is a key tenet of our business, and we can't wait to give these films the careful attention they deserve," he said. "It is an honour to work with Ken, Rebecca and the teams at Sixteen Films and Goodfellas to bring these modern classics into the Curzon catalogue."
