NEW BOUTIQUE DISTRIBUTOR CRESCENDO HOUSE LAUNCHES IN NORTH AMERICA

Crescendo House, a boutique distribution company attempting to diversify the film distribution industry, launches across North America. The company will start with an opening slate of three films, "Labyrinth of Cinema", "Bloodsuckers", and "Fukuoka", all of which are scheduled for release by the end of 2021.  

Crescendo House delivers a unique, new release strategy centered around limited edition, collector’s home video products. Each release will be framed as an event in which the audience plays a key role in making wider theatrical releases possible.  

Every handpicked film in the Crescendo House portfolio receives an exclusive collector's home video release, featuring bespoke artwork, packaging, and hours of extra content. This model seeks to elevate these often-overlooked films in order to provide widespread distribution, so that they may better represent the nation’s diversity.

Its first title, "Labyrinth of Cinema", is the final work from iconic Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi (“Hausu”). It follows a trio of youths who are transported through time into the world inside Japanese war films.  

The second release, "Bloodsuckers", premiered at this year’s Berlinale, and is a genre-mashup Marxist comedy about a Soviet refugee who is taken in by a young aristocrat who may or may not be a vampire.

The third title is Chinese-Korean filmmaker Lü Zhang’s "Fukuoka", a film which has also not been distributed in the US. "Fukuoka" features Parasite star So-dam Park, and Train to Busan 2’s Kwon Hae-hyo. The film explores the thoughts of a middle-aged man traveling back to Japan from South Korea, with the story centering on his reflections of his time at college and drifting apart from his close friend after they both fell in love with the same woman.

Jason Ooi, Founder of Crescendo House says: “We see a change coming in how films are being distributed. Crescendo House operates with three goals in mind. To elevate the perception of home video, which has long been the largest market for these kinds of unique films. To preserve the sanctity of the theatrical space and the communities that form around them so they can escape from reality and feel enriched by the stories of others. And to raise the visibility for these works, so they are not lost to future generations. We want to rejuvenate that sense of curiosity by encouraging new audiences to take a chance on something different, rather than be satisfied at the mercy of algorithms. If we can convert audiences to non-mainstream content by showing them it’s not inaccessible but entertaining, engaging, and educational, then we’ll have created something good.”