Award-winning classic cinema masterpieces, groundbreaking documentaries, and American independent features are now available on the Kanopy platform

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO – December 7, 2021 – Kanopy, the company dedicated to providing access to high-quality films that inspire, entertain, and educate, has announced the addition of the Milestone Films library through their partnership with Kino Lorber to distribute more than 130 films to academic and public libraries around the globe. Kino Lorber and Milestone recently announced a multi-year strategic distribution and acquisition agreement under which Kino Lorber has domestic and international distribution rights to Milestone’s library and all its future restorations and acquisitions under the “Milestone Films in association with Kino Lorber” banner.

In addition to award-winning classic cinema masterpieces, groundbreaking documentaries, and American independent features, the selection includes films from beyond the traditional canon. Since 2007, Milestone has focused on restoring “lost” films by and about African Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and women. Their restoration efforts have shed light on a wealth of previously unrecognized talent: most recently, Kathleen Collins, a featured Milestone director now on Kanopy, received the 2021 Gotham Icon Award for her contribution, unique vision, and cultural impact in a marginalized community.

“Milestone’s content is a perfect fit for Kanopy,” said Jason Tyrrell, Kanopy’s Vice President, Content. “We share the same vision of providing films that matter, especially those that support the growing need among libraries for content that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. We know our library partners will be grateful to have access to these unique and high-value films.”

  • Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep
  • Kathleen Collins’s Losing Ground
  • Alfred Hitchcock’s Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache
  • Kent Mackenzie’s The Exiles
  • Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery
  • Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba
  • Marcel Ophuls’s The Sorrow and the Pity
  • The Mariposa Film Group’s Word is Out
  • Billy Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts
  • Lois Weber’s Shoes and The Dumb Girl of Portici
  • Shirley Clarke’s Portrait of Jason
  • And many others

“Kanopy is a perfect home for the Milestone Films library, which was built with care and thoughtful curation by co-founders Amy Heller and Dennis Doros,” said Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. “We are delighted that their essential films and restorations will find new audiences via tens of thousands of libraries worldwide and we know Kanopy will support Milestone’s mission to ‘mess with the cannon.’”

Learn more about Kanopy at www.kanopy.com.

 

About Milestone Films 

Milestone was started in 1990 by Amy Heller and Dennis Doros and has since gained an international reputation for releasing classic cinema masterpieces, groundbreaking documentaries, and American independent features. Since 2007, Milestone has concentrated on the restoration and worldwide distribution of films outside the Hollywood mainstream featuring “lost” films by and about African Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and women. Milestone’s restoration and distribution efforts have received awards from the National Society of Film Critics (1995, 2003, 2008, and 2012), International Film Seminars (2004), New York Film Critics Circle (2004 and 2012), Fort Lee Film Commission (2007 and 2017), Los Angeles Film Critics Association (2007), Anthology Film Archives (2008), Ashland Independent Film Festival (2018), Denver Silent Film Festival (2019), and Art House Convergence (2019). Director Martin Scorsese has written about the company’s co-founders Amy Heller and Dennis Doros: “They care… and they love movies.”

 

About Kino Lorber

With a library of over 4,000 titles, Kino Lorber Inc. has been a leader in independent art house distribution for 35 years, releasing 30 films per year theatrically under its Kino Lorber, Kino Repertory, and Alive Mind Cinema banners, garnering seven Academy Award® nominations in nine years. In addition, the company brings over 350 titles yearly to the home entertainment and educational markets through physical and digital media releases. With an expanding family of distributed labels, Kino Lorber handles releases in ancillary media for Zeitgeist Films, Cohen Media Group, Greenwich Entertainment, Artsploitation, Palisades Tartan, Menemsha Films, Raro Video, and others, placing physical titles through all wholesale, retail, and direct to consumer channels, as well as direct digital distribution through over 40 OTT services including all major TVOD and SVOD platforms. In 2019, the company launched its new art house digital channel Kino Now which features over 1000 titles from the acclaimed Kino Lorber library. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kino Marquee initiative was launched in 2020 pioneering “virtual theatrical” releases of art house films with revenue shares that allows audiences to support almost 400 local independent theaters.

 

About Kanopy

Kanopy partners with libraries and filmmakers around the globe to give patrons, students, and faculty free access to high-quality films that stimulate imagination, promote learning and spark meaningful conversations. Many of the titles found on Kanopy, including iconic films produced by Neon, Lionsgate, A24, Criterion Collection, Paramount, PBS, and Kino Lorber, are unavailable elsewhere in the library market. Kanopy is used by millions of students and library patrons and is available on all major web, mobile, and TV platforms. Kanopy was acquired by OverDrive in 2021. www.kanopy.com

 

About OverDrive

OverDrive strives to create “a world enlightened by reading.” Serving a growing network of 73,000 libraries and schools in 88 countries, OverDrive delivers the industry’s largest digital catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and other content through award-winning apps. The Libby reading app for libraries is one of Popular Mechanics’ 20 Best Apps of the Decade, the Sora student reading app is one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019, and Kanopy is the leading video streaming app for libraries and colleges. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA and was named a Certified B Corp in 2017. www.overdrive.com

 

Contact:

Josh Garcia

Kanopy

josh.garcia@kanopy.com

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