Cannes is sort of our coming out," Artisan Entertainment ceo Mark Curcio told Moving Pictures. "We've been labouring extremely hard over the last 18 months to reposition the company. It is extremely profitable, and, now, we have three movies selected for screening at Cannes. This really marks the arrival of the new independent."

The 'new independent', however, is not to be confused with the 'indie' of recent years, that hardscrabble film enterprise that would sell its principals' grandmothers to finance a $1 million film. In fact, Artisan claims revenues of $300 million for this year, with expectations of cash flow exceeding $30 million.

"What we're really about," Curcio continued, "is leveraging our library and home entertainment business while, at the same time, repositioning the company theatrically. Because if you're in the library business, you need to put in new product, and in today's climate, you have to be putting in 'A' product. And if you're putting in 'A' product, you'd better have distribution."

Artisan has acquired proprietary libraries from companies such as Carolco, Vestron, Hallmark and Republic, giving the company various rights to some 6,600 titles. It is also readying the theatrical release of such high-profile titles as Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, The Blair Witch Project, Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club, Steven Soderbergh's The Limey and, in conjunction with Icon Productions, Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey.

Felicia's Journey is in competition at Cannes. The Blair Witch Project has been selected for Director's Fortnight, and The Limey will receive a special, Out Of Competition screening.

Artisan's theatrical aims are to cover both the low end and the higher end of the market.

"We see a void in that there really is no pre-eminent, high-quality distributor of product outside the major studios that has the capability of releasing films both specialised and wide," Curcio said. "A lot of people play the specialised game, but not many play the specialised game and the wide-release game. We believe that we are the only game in town that can do it."

The specialised game is not expected to be a major profit centre. As Curcio said: "It just doesn't pay the bills." But it does go far in building brand identity.

"You can use the specialised business to drive brand name and drive awareness," Curcio explained. "It's also a way for us to get young film-makers and promote them and nurture their careers. Daren Aranofsky, for example [whose first film, Pi, Artisan distributed]. We're doing his next movie."

On the production side of the coin, Curcio has said that Artisan intends to play it safe, though not particularly cheap.

"The strategy," he continued, "is to be the preferred studio for any film under $30 million. That's not hard and fast, but we don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket. We want to create a portfolio. The economics of movies under $30 million, if done correctly, are better than that of middle range films, say, from $30 million to $60 million.

"In home entertainment, we've gone retail direct, consolidating the libraries like Hallmark and Republic, and increasing our share in the retail channel, which provides a very strong, stable economic base from which we can implement our strategy on the theatrical side."

Already, Artisan is ahead of the game. "We bought the company in July 1997 when it was Live Entertainment," Curcio said. "It was doing about $130 million in revenue, and it was losing money. This year revenues will be over $300 million and we'll have cash flow exceeding $30 million. Our goal over the next 24 months is to get to $500 million in revenues.

"We have a strategy that is not Miramax, not Fine Line, but is very much reflective of how you can compete and win and create something of lasting value in today's marketplace." Jeffrey R. Sipe