Richard Lorber and Donald Krim

Two of the New York film community's most solid supporters of indie and international cinema have announced a merger that will offer a safe haven for quality films in a time of great uncertainty.

Richard Lorber, the head of Lorber HT Digital/Hidden Treasures Inc., and Donald Krim, the long-time head of Kino International, have announced the merger of their companies to create a new distribution organization to be known as Kino Lorber. The new company has a combined library of more than 600 films, many of them acclaimed foreign language titles by international auteurs, as well as documentaries and other specialized films. Lorber and Krim will run the operation as equal shareholders.

Veterans of the distribution business, Lorber and Krim will share the title of Co-President and maintain multiple labels aimed at releasing a total of up to twenty films per year in theaters and as many as sixty films annually on DVD and other digital outlets. 

Kino International has been active for more than three decades, releasing such acclaimed films from such outstanding international auteurs as Michael Haneke, Aki Kaurismaki, and Wong Kar Wai. The companh will be releasing Giorgos Lanthimos’s DOGTOOTH, winner of the Un Certain Regard Award prize at Cannes this year. Lorber has been a special supporter of French cinema in over 30 years under various shingles. He is currently distributing the Russian drama THE SUN that has become a modest theatrical hit.

Richard Meinking, Film New York