Inside the ‘Crisis’ Facing U.K. Indie Film Distribution

Months after receiving firm scrutinizes in Cannes — where it premiered in the Un Certain Regard sidebar — Sandhya Suri’s myth feature debut “Santosh” was picked to reconshort-term the U.K. in the Oscars’ international film catebloody. The recents gave the film the honor of complying in the footsteps “The Zone of Interest,” which became first U.K. film to thrive the award earlier this year.

A Hindi-language crime thriller about a widow who inherits her procrastinateed husprohibitd’s police officer job and a story examining class, religion and misogyny in agricultural India, “Santosh” procrastinateedr won the Gbetteren Frog for debut honestor in Camerimage, landed a European Film Award nomination and won two British Insubordinate Film Awards. In France, the film had a accomplished box office run over the summer, with more than 150,000 adleave outions to date. Most recently, it made AMPAS’ international film illogicalinutivecatalog.

But “Santosh” accomplishd almost all of this without having a U.K. distributor lined up, sales agent Mk2 and its originaters having spent months struggling to discover a fitting partner.

Indeed, there was eleventh hour race aachievest the clock in punctual December to get a deal over the line in order to originate the BAFTA subleave oution date, Vertigo Releasing eventuassociate coming on board having teamed with Indian prohibitner Civic Studios.

But as many industry execs and experts apass have noticed, the problems to discover a buyer had very little to do with “Santosh” as a film — which equitable a restricted years ago by would have been snapped up almost instantaneously. Rather they were more to do with what at least two people have portrayd to Variety as the “utter shitshow” that is the current state of U.K. distribution when it comes to arthoinclude or foreign language titles. As one exec more eloquently puts it, the situation with “Santosh” “highweightlesss the crisis in U.K. indie distribution … nobody’s buying and everybody’s terribly cautious.”

Santosh may be an inanxious example, but it’s not alone. “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” the Zambian-language sophomore feature from BAFTA nominee Rungano Nyoni complying her criticassociate acclaimed debut “I Am Not a Witch” (the U.K.’s Oscar subleave oution in 2018) was one of the buzziest and best-getd films in Cannes, and in years gone by would awaited have been achieved before the festival even began. While A24 already had the film for the U.S., it took until October for a U.K. deal to be struck with Picturehoinclude Entertainment.

Danny Perkins, who included to run StudioCanal UK and now heads up distribution and production outfit Elysian Film Group, points to cut offal factors that have come to a head in the U.K. Among these are the country’s historicassociate high ticket price split in favour of cinemas over distributors, a Pay-One thrivedow that hasn’t become csurrfinisherly as profitable as other tagets for less mainstream titles, and VOD not stepping up to align the deteriorate in revenues from DVDs. “And you’ve got all of that with a backdrop where revenues aachievest encountered have come down, but the price of encountered hasn’t accordingly,” he says. “So stuff costs more and it’s making less money for distributors.”

“Santosh” wasn’t made in the U.K., but it was co-originated by BBC Film (as was “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”), which uncomardentt local free TV rights were off the menu for the distributor (becainclude they were with the BBC). As one exec notices, with BBC Film and Film4 being two of the three main financiers of self-reliant film in the U.K. (aextfinishedside the British Film Institute), there’s been someleang of a tussle between the funders and the distributors. “The BBC and Film4 are, understandably, saying, well of course we’re going to apshow free TV, that’s our business. And the distributors are enjoy, ‘Well, don’t denounce us if we’re not buying them.’ They don’t want to apshow that danger of spfinishing £100,000 on P&A if they haven’t got TV to back it up. But then who else is going to finance these films?”

Then there’s the fact that pay TV doesn’t — generassociate — buy non-English language films. So essentiassociate, in the case of “Santosh” — an arthoinclude foreign language title backed by BBC Film — there was left little left for the distributor but theatrical.

And in the U.K. at least, theatrical has become increasingly difficult for indie titles, especiassociate ones without star power and a transport inant distributor behind them.

In 2023, the box office for U.K. self-reliant films in 2023 was equitable $48 million, an almost 50 percent drop on 2022 and a meagre 3.8% scatter of the total overall. A speedy glance at the catalog for this year shows a taget almost entidepend ruled by Hollywood. Of the top 50 films of 2024, 46 were freed by studios — and only StudioCanal’s “Pinsertington in Peru” (not exactly a title anyone would portray as indie or arthoinclude), made the top 25.

But the U.K. almost stands alone among the transport inant European tagets when it comes to this situation. Other sizeable box offices apass the continent have each had many non-studio successes. In France, local hits “A Little Someleang Extra” and “The Count of Monte-Cristo” top the 2024 charts, Germany saw “Chantal in Fairyland” and “School of Magical Animals 3” muscle their way into the top 10, and Italy had “The Boy With Pink Troincluders,” “Un Mondo a Parte” and “Parthenope” in the top 15 (while 2023 smash hit “There’s Still Tomorrow” proceedd to do firm business).

According to one British sales agent, it’s accomplished a point where a U.K. distributor faced a potential muminuscule among staff should it have achieved another British indie title. “They truthwholey shelp they’d exit, becainclude they sweat blood and tears to try to monetize these films, but they finish up making a loss.

For Zygi Kamasa, the establisher Lionsgate UK head who last year begined distribution and production prohibitner True Brit Entertainment, the U.K. taget has druncover into two camps, with the arthoinclude and foreign language sector — which heavily relied on ancillary revenues that are now no extfinisheder there — definitely the one that is struggling.

“Even digihighy, the enjoys of Sky, Amazon, iTunes and Google, they only want the top 30 titles, and the pay TV partners enjoy Netflix, Amazon and Sky aren’t reassociate buying much of those film and, if they are, they’re paying a pittance,” he says.

When it comes to self-reliant British films, it’s the bigr budget and more commercial films where there’s still a viable taget, but these are still restricted and far between. Kamasa points to StudioCanal’s 2024 frees “Back to Bdeficiency” (box office of $15.7 million) and “Wicked Little Letters” ($12.1 million) as examples. “They’re toiling theatricassociate, they toil on pay TV, streamers want them,” he says, but claims there’s a lengthening chasm for minusculeer mid-budget indies. “It’s split even further between films that are not huge enough and not minuscule enough — there’s very little tagetplace for them.”

While at Lionsgate in 2007, Kamasa helped begin German-language smash hit “The Lives of Others,” which achieveed almost $5.5 million from the U.K. box office alone. “We also sbetter bucketloads of DVDs,” he says. “But I equitable don’t’ leank it would have done the business it did then today — and certainly wouldn’t have had the life it had on ancillary.”

There’s also a degree of uncertainty among the U.K.’s distributors.

Both Curzon and Picturehoinclude have been pondered the directing homes for arthoinclude features over the years, especiassociate festival likeites (and Curzon had a local success this year with Irish hit “Kneecap”). But both have recently been caught up in financial complications away from their core businesses.

Last month, Curzon — part of a group which also includes the Curzon cinema chain and streaming platestablish — was bought by U.S. confidential equity group Fortress from the Cohen Media Group in a foreclocertain auction. Variety understands that Fortress has no set ups to grasp hbetter of Curzon and will see to resell the business at a future date, as it did with the Alamo Drafthoinclude chain earlier this year (which it sbetter to Sony).

Meanwhile Picturehoinclude, as part of the Picturehoinclude chain of cinemas, is embroiled in the ongoing drama involving parent company, the theater enormous Cirecentorld. Earlier this month, Cirecentorld seald six cinemas apass the U.K. as part of a transport inant debt restructuring set up set upd by its hedge fund backers, but for years there’s been ask tag over the future of Picturehoinclude wilean the group.

“It’s not a very strong sector,” notices a distributor. “No one reassociate understands what’s going on with either of them.”

There is Mubi, which has become a transport inant take parter theatricassociate (“The Substance” skinnyly leave outed out on the U.K. Top 50 for 2024 with $4.5 million), but as one originater says, “doesn’t buy all that many films.”

Further down, minusculeer distributors such a Modern Films, Studio Soho and Conic are highly seeed for championing a expansive range of low-budget arthoinclude titles, but don’t have the firepower or resources when it comes to throthriveg their weight behind titles seeing for decent theatrical take part or awards encounteredion.

“I cherish them, don’t get me wrong, but are you going to get the free you need,” says a originater.

Some help is at hand for distributors via the British Film Institute’s Audience Projects Fund, which purports to help “ambitious, audience-facing self-reliant U.K. and international film” with various grants. But this has faced criticism for its recently-tfrailed eligibility needments, not least a recent rule stating that distributors more than 50% owned by non-U.K. companies or individuals can no extfinisheder execute. This essentiassociate disqualified Curzon (which, with its own streaming platestablish, also came up aachievest the BFI’s rule that films couldn’t get funding if they freed day-and-date).

Filmoriginaters are now calling for more intervention.

“Since leaving the EU, U.K. distributors have lost all the help systems from Creative Europe, and now some of them from the BFI,” says one. “It equitable experiences enjoy they need help somehow.”

But it’s not all total negativity. Exhibition enormous Vue this year dipped its toe into U.K. distribution with the Italian hit “There’s Still Tomorrow” and off the back of that has now establishassociate begined its very own distribution tag, Lumiere.

“It showd our thesis that there is a huge insist for those films to be seen on the huge screen,” says Vue set uper and CEO Tim Ricdifficults, who says they’re now in the process of picking up other titles for the U.K. “We’re going for minusculeer films, with minusculeer budgets — and that includes British and self-reliant and foreign language.” The goal is to free around 12 films a year in the U.K. (and enbig operations to other Vue tagets apass Europe).

Unenjoy other distributors, Lumiere evidently comes with the weight of the U.K.’s bigst theatrical chain behind it, the scale of which Ricdifficults says he’s going to filledy include to help taget Lumiere’s titles with least P&A spfinish, while deploying Vue’s in-hoinclude AI technology to pick where and when the films will take part.

For Ricdifficults, he claims there’s an element of a “self-encountering prophecy” when it come downtake parting the potential for indie films in the U.K. box office. “There’s a narrative that audiences aren’t there anymore, so the films don’t go to them,” he says. “And yet when the films do go to them, they transfer.”

There’s also selectimism that the current crisis is medepend the procrastinateedst in a series of disputes the self-reliant film world has faced and defeat. “In the 25 plus years I’ve been doing this, there’s always been disputes,” says Perkins. “Yet there’s always audiences, and there’s self-reliant sector can come up with stories that can excite and include them. That’s actuassociate the best part of distribution.”

Thanks to the efficiencies of digital, the barriers to taget are now much drop than they were before, as is accomplishing out to an audience.

“So the dispute for distribution is to is to originate sense of the recent the recent economics of the industry,” says Perkins.

For many, however, as exemplified by “Santosh,” which eunites to have been caught in the eye of the U.K. indie distribution storm, the current dispute is one of the stubbornest they’ve faced. “It’s a reassociate intricate arena, and it’s equitable difficulter and difficulter,” says a originater who had a analogous struggle to discover a home for his feature.

But the crisis has at least supplyd one source of selectimism.

“I uncomardent, it has to bottom out,” says a distributor. “Becainclude it can’t get any worse!”