Toronto’s Indiecan Entertainment has launched Pride Pictures, a new distribution arm focused on LGBTQ2S+ cinema.

The company has appointed Kirk Cooper to lead the distribution outfit as head of acquisitions, and announced its initial two-film slate.

Pride Pictures will bring queer cinema from around the world to North American audiences, according to a news release.

Cooper has served in film programming roles at the Reelworld Film Festival and the Durham Region International Film Festival, was festival manager at Raven Banner Entertainment and is a programming committee member at the Black Screen Office. Cooper has worked on festival strategies for films such as Saint-Narcisse, Alone with You, and Sounds of Scars.

The first two films on Pride Pictures’ slate are Edmonton-based director-producer Dylan Rhys Howard’s Eudaimonia and Finnish director Inari Niemi’s Light Light Light (pictured).

Eudaimonia centres on a young artist with telepathic powers and stars Alexandra Dawkins, Georgia Irwin, Kristine Nutting, Elena Porter. Rights for the film were negotiated through Howard and executive producer Blake McWilliam of Alberta’s Back Road Productions.

Light Light Light follows the story of a girl who arrives in Finland following an explosion in Chernobyl in 1986 and a girl she meets there. The film is an adaptation of the YA novel Valoa Valoa Valoa by Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen, and was written for the screen by Juuli Niemi. The cast includes Rebekka Bear, Anni Iikkanen, Laura Birn, Pirjo Lonka, Anna-Leena Sipilä and Janne Reinikainen.

The rights for Light Light Light were secured through Manuela Tambascia of Rome-based distributor Intramovies.

Both films are slated for a summer release.

“There’s a lot of wonderful films made by amazing queer filmmakers from around the world that never get seen by North American audiences other than in festivals, and I’m excited to help some of these films find the audiences they deserve,” said Indiecan founder Avi Federgreen in a statement.

Photo courtesy of Indiecan Entertainment