Toronto production company Shaftesbury Films is launching a feature film distribution arm in partnership with Oasis Pictures, teaming up with Imax Corp. cofounder Robert Kerr on a large-format distribution company, and announcing a $30-million production slate for 1998.

With the recent consolidation of many of the small distribution companies with larger entities and the growing number of independent theaters, Oasis Pictures president Peter Emerson and Shaftesbury principal Christina Jennings say there is an opening in the market for a niche film distributor.

Oasis Shaftesbury Releasing will acquire up to eight Canadian films per year for release in the Canadian market. Films will range in budget from $500,000 to $4 million, says Emerson.

Shaftesbury will also release its own proprietary films through the new outfit as well as pick up international titles.

Halina Marie Jakowenko, vp of theatrical sales, plans to begin scouting for films at the Toronto International Film Festival, where she will also be exploring output arrangements with Beyond Films, The Sales Company, Jane Balfour Films and Paris distributor Pandora, all of which have expressed interest in the new company.

osr will develop a grassroots marketing strategy to capitalize on the particular strengths of each film, says Jennings, utilizing different tactics for the various regions of Canada and working with the local press.

osr’s first release will be Piers Haggard’s Conquest, a coproduction between Shaftesbury, Heartland Motion Pictures of Regina and Greenpoint Films in the u.k. The $3.5-million feature stars Tara Fitzgerald and Lothaire Bluteau and has been invited to the Montreal, Vancouver and Atlantic film festivals. The film will be released on four prints beginning in November

Established in 1988, Oasis’ main business is international tv and video sales. It holds a library of over 1,500 hours of Canadian television and 25 feature films. Oasis also raises financing for projects through foreign presales, arranges third-party financing, and executive produces Canadian features. One of its recent films is John Heliker’s Reluctant Angel starring Megan Follows.

Oasis recently formed a partnership with Kelley Reynolds, former head of acquisitions at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, to work the u.s. side of the border for Canadian filmmakers. The l.a.-based company will help Canadian writers, directors and producers package projects, find scripts and attach American talent.

A joint venture with Imax’s Kerr, SK Films, the large-format film distribution division, will release through the imax theaters’ worldwide network.

sk has picked up its first titles worth $41 million: the $6-million Gold Fever, directed by David Lickley and produced for Science North, is currently in production for release next year, while the $15-million Journey to the Centre of the Brain is a 3D film directed by Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) and produced by u.k.’s London Science Museum and the National Museum of Film, Photography and Television.

Also in development are Grizzly and Rodeo, toting a price tag of $6 million and destination film Puerto Rico, budgeted at $7.5 million.

sk has signed a long-term production deal with Oscar-nominated director and cinematographer David Douglas (Fires of Kuwait) and producer Diane Roberts to work on the films. Catherine Ciupa, formerly of Imax, is vp of distribution and business development at sk.

Shaftesbury’s upcoming production slate includes the cbc movie External Affairs, based on a play by Timothy Findlay and directed by Peter Moss.

Financing has also been completed on two feature films, Deeper Into Jennifer, an $8-million Canada/France coproduction slated to shoot in Toronto in late 1988 under director Andre Bonzel (Man Bites Dog), and the $10-million Canada/u.k. partnership Boggart, adapted from a novel by British author Susan Cooper, scheduled to begin shooting in Scotland and Canada in this spring.