Lorber & Kino Combine

Richard Lorber and Don Krim. Photo provided by Kino Lorber.

Richard Lorber and Don Krim, leading distributors of international and independent cinema, have announced the merger of their companies to create a sizable film distribution company, 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.

The investors in Richard Lorber's Lorber HT Digital -- Hidden Treasures Inc. -- have acquired all the shares of Kino to create the deal, with Lorber and Krim running Kino Lorber as 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 via potential digital outlets.

Each will continue to run acquisitions for their respective labels, with Krim handling traditional distribution and Lorber developing digital platforms. They new company will house a combined staff of about twenty five people at Kino's Midtown Manhattan offices.

Kino Lorber maintains four distinct distribution labels: Kino International Films and Lorber Films, as well as Lorber’s Alive Mind for documentaries and the Knitting Factory Entertainment label for music titles.