Cinelicious Pics

Overview

Cinelicious Pics is the distribution wing of Los Angeles-based post-production company Cinelicious, launched in June 2014 by Paul Korver (founder and CEO of Cinelicious) and Dennis Bartok (former head of programming at the American Cinematheque). The company releases new American and foreign independent features, documentaries, and 4K-restored arthouse and cult classics across theatrical, VOD, Blu-ray, and DVD. Its offices are located in Hollywood, blocks from the Paramount lot on Melrose.

The parent company, Cinelicious, was founded by Korver in 2008 as a film scanning, restoration, and digital intermediate facility. Cinelicious has provided post services on films including Richard Linklater's Boyhood (2014) and David Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche (2013), and handled the 4K Criterion remaster of Christopher Nolan's debut feature Following. Nolan praised the work, calling Cinelicious's 4K 16mm scans "the best I have ever seen." The company is also a preferred scanning and restoration vendor for Criterion and Alamo Drafthouse. This in-house technical infrastructure is what separates Cinelicious Pics from every other independent distributor: it can scan, restore, create DCPs, and produce Blu-ray/DVD masters without outsourcing to a third-party facility.

Bartok serves as Executive VP of Acquisitions and Distribution, bringing his encyclopedic film knowledge from years programming the Aero and Egyptian theaters in Los Angeles. David Marriott, who joined as an intern from UCLA's archival program and became Acquisitions Director full-time, rounds out the core team. Kristine Blumensaadt serves as Head of Business Affairs. The company was named Best Indie Film Distributor of 2015 by LA Weekly.

The Restoration-Distribution Model

Cinelicious Pics was born from a specific business insight: Korver noticed that rights holders frequently wanted to restore films but lacked the funds to do so. If Cinelicious had a distribution arm, it could invest restoration labor into acquiring films that would otherwise remain inaccessible, then monetize that investment through theatrical, VOD, and home video releases. This model gives Cinelicious Pics a unique acquisition pipeline: films that are undistributed because they need restoration work, not because they lack artistic merit.

A 4K restoration from original 35mm elements involves scanning, digital repair of physical damage and deterioration, color grading against original reference materials, and audio restoration. For a feature-length film, this process can cost anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars at commercial rates. Because Cinelicious Pics performs this work in-house through its parent company, the per-project cost is significantly lower than what an independent distributor would pay to hire an outside facility. This cost advantage allows the company to acquire films that other distributors cannot justify financially.

The restoration of Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, Japan, 1973) illustrates the lengths the company will go to. The original camera negative in Japan was missing eight minutes edited for a re-release. A 16mm print in Canada was too faded to use. The team eventually located an uncut 35mm print at the Cinematek in Brussels, brokered a trade with the Cinematheque for the 4K scan, and completed the restoration in-house. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest and Sitges before receiving a national theatrical rollout, accompanied by a coffee table book published by Hat & Beard Press.

Catalog and Notable Releases

Cinelicious Pics' catalog spans restored classics, contemporary arthouse features, and documentaries. The company planned to release approximately 12 films per year at launch, though actual output has varied. Notable releases include:

• Belladonna of Sadness (Eiichi Yamamoto, Japan, 1973) - 4K restoration of the psychedelic animated cult classic
• Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, Japan, 1969) - restored Japanese arthouse landmark
• Private Property (Leslie Stevens, US, 1960) - thought-lost film restored from UCLA-preserved elements, 4K scan of newly discovered duplicate 35mm negative
• Gangs of Wasseypur (Anurag Kashyap, India, 2012) - five-hour crime epic acquired from producer Guneet Monga
• Giuseppe Makes a Movie (Adam Rifkin, US, 2014) - documentary acquired at Hot Docs, first theatrical release
• Butter on the Latch and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (Josephine Decker, US, 2014) - acquired after appearing on Film Comment's Best Undistributed Films of 2013
• Metalhead (Ragnar Bragason, Iceland, 2013) - Icelandic drama
• Elektro Moskva (Elena Tikhonova and Dominik Spritzendorfer, Austria, 2013) - Soviet electronic music documentary
• Jane B. par Agnes V. and Kung Fu Master (Agnes Varda, France, 1988) - Varda restorations
• Dark Night (Tim Sutton, US, 2016)
• The Mend (John Magary, US)

The company's curatorial taste, as described by Bartok, favors films with a "cheeky, left-of-center perspective that pushes the envelope." The team explicitly avoided competing at Sundance against Sony Pictures Classics for "mainstream indie" titles, instead focusing on films that slip through the cracks of film history.

What Filmmakers Should Know

Cinelicious Pics is primarily relevant for two types of filmmakers and rights holders:

Rights holders of classic films needing restoration: If you control rights to a film that is undistributed because it needs technical restoration, Cinelicious Pics offers a model where the company absorbs restoration costs in exchange for distribution rights. This is the core value proposition that distinguishes it from distributors who only handle already-presentable films. The company has demonstrated willingness to pursue international searches for usable elements, taking on projects that require years of detective work.

Contemporary filmmakers with left-of-center arthouse work: Cinelicious Pics does acquire new films alongside its restoration catalog. The company acquires at festivals including Hot Docs, Cannes, Fantastic Fest, Sitges, and AFI Fest, and through direct filmmaker submissions. Films with strong festival credentials and arthouse audience potential are the most likely contemporary acquisition targets. Josephine Decker's two features were acquired after Bartok discovered them through Film Comment's undistributed films list, demonstrating that the company actively tracks critical attention for films lacking distribution.

The company's release strategy varies by title. Each film receives a theatrical and digital run, but rollout patterns are determined case by case. Some titles open at single theaters (the Nuart in LA, the Made in New York Media Center) before expanding, while others go primarily to VOD. The company has expressed commitment to physical media, aiming for Criterion-level DVD and Blu-ray packaging quality. Because all releases pass through the parent post-production house, VOD deliverables are produced to a technical standard that outsourced facilities may not match.

Filmmakers should understand that Cinelicious Pics operates at a small scale. The company does not compete with specialty distributors like A24, Neon, or Sony Pictures Classics for high-profile festival acquisitions. Its MG range for new acquisitions is modest, and its P&A spend is limited. The value of a Cinelicious Pics deal lies in the restoration capability, the curatorial curation, and the dedicated arthouse audience the company has built, not in large advances or wide theatrical releases.

See Also

For how film restoration generates new theatrical and home entertainment revenue from classic film catalogs, see Distribution Deals Explained. For comparable restoration and distribution operations, see Kino Classics and Criterion Collection in this directory. To model revenue from a restoration-and-release strategy, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator. For understanding how distribution fees and P&A recoupment affect filmmaker receipts from specialty releases, see What Does a Distributor Keep?.