Tom Bernard
Tom Bernard is an American film distributor specializing in art cinema and is one of the co-founders of Sony Pictures Classics (SPC). [1]
An alumnus of the University of Maryland,[2] Bernard was hired in 1981 by Nathaniel Troy Kwit Jr. to revamp the United Artists repertory division into the first modern-day specialized distribution company, then called United Artists Classics (1981–1983) He served as Division Director and Head of Sales until 1983. That is where he first worked with long-time collaborator Michael Barker.[3] Bernard and Barker left UA to create Orion Classics in February 1983. They attended the Cannes Film Festival hoping to buy their first title and picked up Eric Rohmer's Pauline at the Beach when they were "in a desperate position".[3] Looking back 30 years later, Bernard remembered "lots of big, fat, bald guys" in 1983 but now the class of people is "very, very different", "the only thing you can say is the same is they always have the best movies."[4]
References
- "About Us: Tom Bernard". Sony Pictures Classics. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- "Alumni of Note". University of Maryland, College Park. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- Fernandez, Jay A. (February 1, 2011). "EXECUTIVE SUITE: Sony Pictures Classics' Tom Bernard and Michael Barker". The Hollywood Reporter.
- Eugene Hernandez (May 23, 2013). "Cannes Daily Buzz: Money & Movies Mix at World's Biggest Market for Film". Film Society of Lincoln Center.