Montreal: Blackwatch Releasing has signed an output agreement for all Canadian rights with Sony Pictures Classics and hired Andy Myers as senior vp and gm of distribution for its new office in Toronto.

Yves Dion, president of Blackwatch Releasing, the distribution arm of Montreal-based Blackwatch Communications, says spc will supply between 10 to 12 theatrical films a year, starting with David Mamet’s The Winslow Boy, which opened in Toronto and Montreal June 11. A French/English opening in Montreal is slated for July 2.

Upcoming Blackwatch releases of spc product include Mike Figgis’ The Loss of Sexual Innocence and Pedro Almadovar’s All About My Mother, winner of the Ecumenical Jury and Best Director prizes at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Dion describes spc’s product as ‘indie films with a strong edge and some of them have a good chance to cross over to a more commercial pattern.’

Dion worked with spc when he was with Malofilm/Behaviour, as did Myers, who was also with Behaviour, and earlier with Norstar.

Blackwatch’s Toronto staff will number five or six within a couple of weeks. The Montreal releasing operation will be limited to three staffers, says Dion. The Toronto office is located at 86 Bloor Street West.

Myers will oversee all distribution in the English-Canadian market as well as participate in acquisitions by the company’s foreign sales arm, Blackwatch International, based in Los Angeles.

Dion says Blackwatch is looking to sign more output agreements for movies. ‘We are working on some of them now. We want to release around 20 to 24 pictures theatrically a year.’