Astral pumps up library

Astral Distribution, an arm of Astral Entertainment Group, Montreal, has been on an aggressive buying spree of late.

Most recently, the company acquired the French-track Canadian tv rights to more than 4,500 hours of programs in the Europe Images library.

A unit of media giant Matra Hachette, Europe Images’ library consists of documentaries, youth programming, cartoons, animated features, mows and tv series.

Astral also recently acquired Canadian television distribution rights to the complete catalogue of Paris-based Hamster Productions, amounting to several hundred hours of programming in all genres. Titles include Navarro, Series Noire and Les Grands Simenon.

In a deal with New York-based October Films, Astral picked up all media rights in English Canada to Search and Destroy. The dark comedy, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, stars Dennis Hopper, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, John Turturro and Ethan Hawke and is slated for release in late spring.

A multi-picture output deal with l.a.-based action film producers Nu Image and its affiliate Millenium Films, gives Astral English-language Canadian rights in all media to some 20 titles slated for release over the next 24 months, including two features in production, The End and Takeover. Home video titles include Beyond Forgiveness, Blood Run and The Last Word.

And finally, Astral has acquired the Canadian rights to four France/Canada tv movies currently in production in Montreal and Paris: three 90-minute mows in the $15 million Belle Epoque trilogy coproduced by Montreal’s Transfilm and Productions egm and France’s gmt; and Le Boulard, a coproduction between Aska Films and France’s Hamster.

NFB closes libraries

In its latest round of cost-cutting measures, the National Film Board has instituted an early retirement program for the second year running and has announced the closing of regional video libraries across the country. The nfb will keep its libraries in Toronto and Montreal and, for one more year, will keep the Ottawa library open. Other libraries will be closed by Aug. 31.

Public and school libraries, as well as a toll-free telephone number will be the access points in future for rental and purchase of nfb videos.