Palisades Tartan is a

film distribution Film distribution, also called film exhibition or film distribution and exhibition, is the process of making a film available for viewing to an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketin ...

company with

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It was established by the Palisades Media Group following the collapse of Tartan Films in the summer of 2008. Palisades Tartan acquires and distributes films from Tartan Films' library.

History

Tartan Films, established in 1984, was a UK-based film distributor. Founder Hamish McAlpine is credited with creating the term " Asia Extreme". It also owned the US-based Tartan USA and Tartan Video. It has distributed

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

n films under the brand ''Tartan Asia Extreme''. Between 1992 and 2003, Tartan Films operated under the name Metro-Tartan Distribution before reverting to Tartan Films. More recently, it has released films of other origins, under its Tartan Terror brand. These films include ''

Battle Royale Battle Royale may refer to: * Battle royale, or battle royal, a fight among many combatants ** Battle royal (professional wrestling) Fiction and literature * Battle royale genre, a narrative genre of films, manga, anime and visual novels inspire ...

'', the ''

Whispering Corridors ''Whispering Corridors'' () is a 1998 South Korean supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Park Ki-hyung. It was part of the explosion in South Korean cinema following the liberalization of censorship in the aftermath of the end of t ...

'' series, ''

A Tale of Two Sisters ''A Tale of Two Sisters'' () is a 2003 South Korean psychological horror film written and directed by Kim Jee-woon. The film is inspired by a Joseon-era folktale entitled "Janghwa Hongryeon jeon", which has been adapted to film several times. T ...

'', ''

The Last Horror Movie ''The Last Horror Movie'' is a 2003 British found footage horror film directed by Julian Richards. On 24 August 2003 it premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival and stars Kevin Howarth and Mark Stevenson. ''The Last Horror Movie'' w ...

'' and '' Oldboy''. Tartan Films USA released various internationally acclaimed films for the US market, including '' Oldboy'', '' Triad Election'', ''

The Page Turner ''The Page Turner'' () is a 2006 French film directed by Denis Dercourt. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. The $4.2 million (€3.07 million) film went on to become an international box office succe ...

'', '' 12:08 East of Bucharest'', '' ''Red Road'''', ''

9 Songs ''9 Songs'' is a 2004 British art romantic drama film written and directed by Michael Winterbottom. The film stars Kieran O'Brien and Margo Stilley. The title refers to the nine songs played by eight different rock bands that complement th ...

'', '' The Death of Mr. Lazarescu'', ''

The Cave of the Yellow Dog ''The Cave of the Yellow Dog'' (Mongolian ''Шар нохойн там'') is a 2005 Mongolian/German film written and directed by Byambasuren Davaa. The film was submitted as Mongolia's contender for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Langua ...

'', and ''

Battle in Heaven ''Battle in Heaven'' () is a 2005 Mexican-French-German film. It is the second feature film by director Carlos Reygadas who previously directed the Mexican film '' Japón''. It was entered into the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Reygadas has said abo ...

''. Tartan USA's DVD catalogue was released through

Genius Products Genius Products (formerly known as Genius Entertainment) was a home entertainment company based in Santa Monica, California, United States. The ''Baby Genius'' line was one of a number of "smart toys" that came out in response to a study book ab ...

, which was 70% owned by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...

. In June 2008, Tartan went into administration, laid off its employees, and ceased operations. The US branch was shut a month earlier and its library of films was sold to Palisades Media Group. Shortly after the sale, a representative of the

Bryanston Distributing Company Bryanston Distributing Company (formerly known as Bryanston Distributors and also traded as Bryanston Pictures) was an American film distribution company that was active during the 1970s. The company was founded by Louis Peraino and Philip Pari ...

made a seven-figure cash offer to buy the company’s film library, but the offer was rejected by Palisades Media.

Releases

Palisades Tartan

On 28 September 2008 the newly named Palisades Tartan label released its first UK DVD title (cat. no. PAL001DVD), the film '' ''P2'''', directed by Franck Khalfoun. On 7 January 2009 Palisades Tartan released ''

Silent Light ''Silent Light'' (Plautdietsch: ''Stellet Licht'') is a 2007 film written and directed by Carlos Reygadas. Filmed in a Mennonite colony close to Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua State, Northern Mexico, ''Silent Light'' tells the story of a Mennonite marrie ...

'' in the United States theatrically; it was the first US theatrical release for the company.

Tartan Films

Prior to the take-over, Tartan had originally released all of its films, including its Asia Extreme and Tartan Terror labels on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

. As

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

became more popular, the company chose to release solely in this format and deleted the VHS back catalogue. The Metro Tartan branch of the company dealt with theatrical distribution.

References

{{reflist

External links

United Kingdom Tartan Video home pageUnited Kingdom Tartan Films home pageUnited States home pagePalisades Tartan Specials
Film distributors of the United Kingdom