It’s not goodbye, just au revoir, as former ThinkFilm president and CEO Jeff Sackman on Thursday reflected on his first day away from the indie distributor he cofounded in 2001.

‘We couldn’t have done it alone, of course, so to those who helped us along the way with their films and services I remain forever grateful,’ Sackman said in an e-mail to industry colleagues.

Sackman referred in his letter to ‘esteemed colleagues’ who helped him launch ThinkFilm, including Randy Manis and Marc Hirshberg. Notably absent, however, is any mention of U.S. theatrical head Mark Urman, who also helped found the company and was last week promoted as its new head, based in New York City.

Sackman wrote that he has ‘no immediate plans,’ although he foresees an eventual return to the industry.

The former ThinkFilm head told Playback Daily that he could offer no details on future plans, except to say he looked forward to some ‘chill time’ over the summer.

His earlier initiatives include moving then Cinepix Film Properties into U.S. distribution during the 1990s, before that company merged with Lions Gate Films in 1998. After Los Angeles-based Jon Feltheimer became Lionsgate president in 2000, Sackman and fellow executives left to launch ThinkFilm.

ThinkFilm was subsequently acquired by Los Angeles film financier David Bergstein of Capital Films in October 2006, which prompted a prolonged search for a buyer of the indie studio’s Canadian assets.

Also left in the air with Sackman’s departure is the future of ThinkFilm’s Toronto office, which is to be wound up after the indie distributor sells its Canadian titles to rival Seville Entertainment.

It is understood that the decision to shutter the Toronto office represents more than a formality after ThinkFilm complied with Canadian ownership rules.

That pending closure is also being widely interpreted as a cost-cutting measure for ThinkFilm, which has been caught along with rival indie distributors in the current downdraft for the art-house theatrical film market.

Closing the Toronto office is seen as part of a wider plan to headquarter ThinkFilm’s film acquisition duties in New York City, and relocate all back-room operations to Los Angeles.

No plans have yet been revealed to relocate any ThinkFilm executives currently in Toronto to other parts of the company stateside.