vancouver: Tony Cianciotta, the founding president of Vancouver’s Red Sky Entertainment, has left the fledgling distribution company after 18 months. Industry sources say Red Sky representatives are assuring the local industry that the company will run as usual.

Mike Smallwood, newly hired as cfo, has been named to take over the position of president and ceo of Red Sky.

Smallwood says Cianciotta left ‘to pursue other opportunities,’ and adds that, ‘Red Sky will move forward with its plans to grow the company into a substantial force in the Canadian entertainment industry.’

Cianciotta – along with Mary-Pat Gleeson, Anna Maria Muccilli and Dave Forget – announced both his departure from then-Alliance Communications and the formation of Red Sky during the 1997 Vancouver International Film Festival Trade Forum.