Canada’s preeminent boutique distributor Mongrel Media has scooped its competitors and picked up a 10-picture output deal with Sony Pictures Classics.

‘We are thrilled,’ says Mongrel president Hussain Amarshi. ‘They [SPC co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard] have phenomenal taste in films and it’s a privilege to be associating with them.’

For an undisclosed sum, the deal gives Mongrel all Canadian rights to seven of the 10 films, and all Canadian rights except Quebec for the remaining three.

The package kicks off with Fred Schepisi’s British feature Last Order, starring Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins, to be released March 29, followed by: one of this year’s Academy Award nominees for best foreign-language film, Juan Jose Campanella’s Son of the Bride from Argentina; Jan Sverak’s Dark Blue World (except Quebec); Lieven Debrauwer’s Pouline and Paulette (except Quebec); John McKay’s Crush, starring Andie McDowell; Fabian Bielinky’s Nine Queens; Stacy Peralta’s Dogtown and Z-Boys; Eric Rohmer’s The Lady and the Duke (except Quebec); Zhang Yimou’s Happy Times; and Jill Sprecher’s Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, starring Matthew McConaughey and John Turturro.

Hussain ultimately scooped the coveted franchise traditionally held by Andy Myers, who carried his relationship with SPC from Norstar, to Malofilm/Behaviour, to Blackwatch and finally to Thinkfilm, where he remained for a very short period late last year.

But when Blackwatch began closing shop last year, having signed its last deal with SPC, Thinkfilm picked up the remainder of its output, leaving a couple titles without Canadian distribution. It was at that point, explains Amarshi, that Mongrel stepped in.

Picking up Jan Hrebjek’s Divided We Fall (nominated for best foreign film at last year’s Academy Awards) and Jacques Rivette’s Va Savoir, Mongrel established a relationship with the independently operated subsidiary of Sony Picture Entertainment, paving the way to the most recent deal – the biggest ever for Mongrel.

‘Historically, we buy single titles and for the most part we buy directly from sales agents in Europe or producers, so this package is definitely a new thing for us,’ says Amarshi. ‘We’ve never had an output deal.’

And while he keeps mum on the financial details of the package, he confirms that it’s been financed internally.

‘We are a small company in business for eight years. We have a library of 150 titles [from more than 29 countries] now. We’ve been growing organically – this is a deal we can handle.’

Mongrel, which has an excellent track record at handling the Canadian rights to international films with strong festival runs and critical merit, generally releases 18-20 titles a year. But with the new SPC package and an increased involvement in Canadian film, it will this year begin to release 25-30 annually.

Canadian titles Mongrel has committed to this year include Inertia (Brenden Sawatzky), Khaled (CFC), Bollywood/Hollywood (Deepa Mehta), seats 3a and 3c (imX communications) and Marion Bridge (Sienna Films, Bill Niven). ‘Going forward we’ll be getting involved in three to five Canadian films a year,’ says Amarshi.

The SPC package extends to the end of July.

-www.sonyclassics.com

-www.mongrelmedia.com