River Road Entertainment is an American independent film production company founded in 1987 by Bill Pohlad, who is also the company's president. It is based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Films produced by River Road include ''

12 Years A Slave ''Twelve Years a Slave'' is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by Solomon Northup as told to and written by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details himself being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., whe ...

'', '' The Tree of Life'', and ''

American Utopia ''American Utopia'' is the eighth studio album by Scottish-American Rock music, rock musician David Byrne, released on March 9, 2018 through Todo Mundo and Nonesuch Records. The release is his first solo studio album since 2004's ''Grown Backwar ...

''. Other titles include '' Into The Wild'', '' Wild'', '' Fair Game'', '' Love & Mercy'' (which Pohlad also directed), ''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from Brokeback Mountain (short story), the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, the screenplay ...

'', ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'', and '' A Monster Calls'', as well as feature

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

s, including '' Food, Inc.''

History

Bill Pohlad founded River Road Entertainment in 1987. In October 2006, veteran Frank Hildebrand was appointed head of production, ex-director of

Film Finance Corporation Australia The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) was the government agency responsible for funding commercial productions of Australian film, documentary, and television from 1988 to 2008. Unlike other publicly funded organisations responsible for f ...

, Deborah Zisper took care of the business. In September 2007, Mitch Horwits was promoted to president of the company. In July 2008, River Road invested in the financing of ''

The Runaways The Runaways were an American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. Formed in 1975 in Los Angeles, the band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", " Holl ...

'', a biopic about the history of one of the american female rock and roll bands of the 1970s, named

, which included

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin; September 22, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music#J, Godmother of Punk", she is regarded as a Pop icon, rock icon and ...

, Cherie Curie, and the late

Sandy West Sandra Sue Pesavento, known professionally as Sandy West (July 10, 1959 – October 21, 2006) was an American singer, drummer and songwriter. She was one of the founding members of The Runaways, the first teenage all-girl hard rock band to reco ...

. In April 2017, Gray Rembert joined the company as executive vice president after he left

GK Films GK Films, LLC is a British-American film and television production company founded in 1990 by Graham King, located in Santa Monica, California. In 2005, the firm, which was known as Initial Entertainment Group at that time, signed a deal with W ...

. In June 2020, Kim Roth was appointed Co-President and Creative Director of the company, then promoted Christa Zofcin Workman to Co-President and COO. In October 2024,

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

acquired international distribution rights (excluding UK rights to '' The Tree of Life'', retained by

Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

) to 11 films produced by River Road across theatrical, television, SVOD and other media.

Films

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 establishments in Minnesota American companies established in 1987 Companies based in Los Angeles Companies based in Minneapolis Entertainment companies based in California Film production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1987 Privately held companies based in California Privately held companies based in Minnesota