Tartan R.I.P
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Following our recent report on the closure of Tartan USA, it looks like the famed distributor has now completely slid into administration and is no more.
Tartan had been around in one shape or form since 1984 and went on to become a staple of high quality cinema and home entertainment. A pioneering company when it came to the world cinema scene, Tartan introduced countless world cinema classics to a wide-spreading audience, from Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots (1998) and Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible (2002) to Capturing the Friedmans (2003) and Belleville Rendezvous (2003). The company also brought to light the prolific world of J-Horror and the most exciting contributions from Eastern cinema with the likes of the Ringu trilogy (1998-2000), Battle Royale (2000) and Oldboy (2003). Tartan Films also recently helped produce Michael Haneke’s controversial Funny Games U.S (2007).
The closure has left all of the company’s staff redundant, and certainly, the movie and DVD world just won’t be the same without Tartan’s vital input.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
It’s a shame to see this happen to another solid DVD distribution company. Yes there are other companies that will pick up where Tartan left off, but they are probably unlikely to offer such an impressive range of titles.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
It certainly is a bad day for for the non-Hollywood side of film. Losing Tartan is a massive blow to the arthouse side of film and DVD in the UK. While we will probably still see most of the better foreign language and niche titles over here, few other companies did as much to help smaller, often difficult, movies crossover from the arthouse crowd to the general film fan. Indeed they were the only distributor where their branding on a DVD was almost a mark of quality.