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'', 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'', ''
The Last Horror Movie'' and ''
Oldboy''.
Tartan Films USA released various internationally acclaimed films for the US market, including ''
Oldboy'', ''
Triad Election'', ''
The Page Turner'', ''
12:08 East of Bucharest'', ''
''Red Road'''', ''
9 Songs'', ''
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu'', ''
The Cave of the Yellow Dog'', and ''
Battle in Heaven''. Tartan USA's DVD catalogue was released through
Genius Products, 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 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'' 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. 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