STUDIO RESPONSIBILITY INDEX 2020
Additional Film Distributors
1091 Media
1844 Entertainment
A24
The Orchard in 2019 sold its film and TV division, which is now a privately held firm, distributing new content as 1091 Media. The Orchard, before the sale, released several acclaimed LGBTQ-inclusive and GLAAD Media Award nominated films including 2017’s BPM (Beats Per Minute), a French drama following young HIV and AIDS activists; Thelma, a Norwegian thriller about a queer woman with unexpected abilities; and We the Animals (2018), a coming-of-age story about a queer Latinx boy in upstate New York. In 2019, 1091 Media released documentary Hurley, about a wellrespected racecar driver, who came out later in life; and Halston, the documentary of the legendary but complicated gay fashion designer. Other LGBTQ-inclusive releases in 2019 include family dramedy Before You Know It with a lesbian protagonist, and Sister Aimee, an alternative story of a televangelist who fakes her death to run away with her lover and finds herself intrigued by the woman who is their guide.
An independent production and distribution company, 1844 Entertainment does theatrical and home distribution for film and television. In 2019, 1844 released Paraguayan drama The Heiresses in the United States. Nominated for a GLAAD Media Award, the film follows a wealthy lesbian couple who fall into debt and how that situation unravels the rest of their lives.
Founded in 2012, A24 has become one of the most well-known and successful independent distributors. A major highlight of A24’s catalogue was 2016’s Moonlight, which tells the story of Chiron, a queer Black man, throughout three phases of his life, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as a GLAAD Media Award. While none of A24’s biggest releases in 2019 contained leading LGBTQ characters, there were supporting queer characters in multiple films including dark comedy The Death of Dick Long, where a married lesbian police officer was instrumental in solving a murder; the horror film In Fabric, in which the bosses of the main character were two gay men; and Climax, a surreal and graphic horror film with gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters among a troupe of dancers. The Australian drama Outlaws, which got US distribution from A24, featured a closeted gay character as the villain who fell into outdated tropes and created a direct tie between the character’s evil traits and his orientation.
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