Arts Alliance America was formed in April 2007 when Arts Alliance Media acquired Hart Sharp Video, the New York based home entertainment company. Arts Alliance America acts as AAM's North American base, focussing on developing, acquiring, marketing and distributing films, both for DVD, theatrical release and digital distribution. Recent releases from the company include Academy Award® Winning Actor Roberto Benigni’s film The Tiger and the Snow and the company’s first theatrical release – the mockumentary Chalk, released in May 2007. Chalk was the hit of last years LA Film Fest and the Spirit Award nominee is the debut title under the “Morgan Spurlock Presents” brand established by Amodei and Spurlock. The company has also co-produced the film “The Third Wave” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Arts Alliance Media a shareholder in LOVEFiLM International, the European market leader in online DVD rental with over 450,000 subscribers, and around 17% of all rental transactions in the UK, as well as strong market share in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The company was formed in April 2006 as a result of the merger of LOVEFiLM and Video Island, Inc, the owner of ScreenSelect.co.uk.
LOVEFiLM International offers customers the largest DVD library in Europe, with more than 70,000 unique titles and 1.2 million DVDs and Video games, as well as a fast-growing Video-on-Demand (VoD) service. The new company will ship more than two million rental DVDs every month.
Arts Alliance Media has an exclusive agreement to provide VoD and Electronic Sell Through services to the company.
Arts Alliance Media invested in La Banque Audiovisuelle (LBA) in July 2006, with an option to acquire the company within the next 12 months LBA is the owner of leading French Video on Demand portal VODEO.
LBA manages and develops audio-visual and post broadcast television content, working within the contractual constraints attached to each program, to distribute to the public, via Video-on-Demand or DVD-on-Demand, through its website VODEO.TV, or via site partners (portals, search engines and media sites).
La Banque Audiovisuelle is one of the principal French players in the development of technical solutions for digitization, storage and distribution of content via the Internet. LBA conceives, develops and ensures leading maintenance and VOD marketing platforms for rights holders eager to develop their audio-visual content.
Frédéric Pie - CEO, La Banque Audiovisuelle
Frédéric Pie is a seasoned and successful entrepreneur. He launched La Banque Audiovisuelle at the end of 2003 as a databank of cultural and educational audio-visual content to be made available by VOD platforms to the public and professionals around the world.
His previous experience includes the creation of Pictoris Interactive, one of the pioneer interactive media agencies in France, which was sold to Agency.com (affiliated with the Onmicom Group) in 2000 for $12.5m. He has also been involved in a French Government think tank in the run up to the French Presidential Elections in 2001 and has been a private investor and consultant for a number of start-ups in the new media arena.
Arts Alliance Media is the majority shareholder in Met Film. Met Film consists of four different divisions: Met Film School, the UK's fastest growing all-digital film school based at Ealing Studios; Met Film Production, which develops and produces a number of feature films each year; Met Film Post, a leading post-production business specialising in end-to-end sound and picture post; and Met Film Creative, which offers a range of creative and production services for film, TV and corporate clients.