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Bob Berney returns with new independent film distributor Apparition

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Independent film veteran Bob Berney is helping to launch a new company after being shown the door by Time Warner last year.

Berney ran the media conglomerate’s Picturehouse indie unit, a joint venture of New Line and HBO, after being lured away in 2005 from Newmarket Films. While working there and at IFC Films, Berney earned a reputation as a marketing whiz for his work turning small movies like ‘The Passion of the Christ’ and ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ into monster hits.

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Last year Time Warner decided to exit the independent film business and shut down both Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures. It’s not the only big media company to do so recently -- Paramount Pictures also shut down its Paramount Vantage unit in the last year.

For his new venture, Berney is joining producer Bill Pohlad, whose River Road Entertainment has co-financed pictures including ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Into the Wild.’

Their company, called Apparition, will focus exclusively on acquiring and distributing independent films. The first two movies on its slate are ‘Bright Star,’ written and directed by Jane Campion, which will be released Sept. 18, and Terence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life,’ which was financed by River Road and doesn’t yet have a release date.

It has made a deal with Sony Pictures to handle all domestic ancillary rights, like home video and pay TV.

It’s likely that Pohlad, son of the late billionnaire Carl Pohlad, who owned the Minnesota Twins, is bankrolling Apparition, although details on the company’s financing weren’t immediately available.

-- Ben Fritz

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