Curzon Appoints Philip Knatchbull as Interim Executive Chairman

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Curzon Appoints Philip Knatchbull as Interim Executive Chairman

2024-12-02 16:00 Last Updated At：16:10

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 2, 2024--

Curzon today announces the appointment of Philip Knatchbull as Interim Executive Chairman.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241202236821/en/

“I’m very excited about the next stage of the Curzon journey and am looking forward to reuniting with so many of my colleagues in this new role,” said Philip Knatchbull. “I spent almost 18 years building Curzon to be the hugely respected brand it is now. I trust the team I assembled, and know the company and the industry incredibly well. I return during a pivotal moment for the industry with full confidence in Curzon’s ability to be a strategic and cultural leader."

“Leadership is deeply rooted in Curzon’s history – from being one of the first cinema companies to import European and world cinema in the 1930s, to being among the first global film companies to identify the growing influence of streaming platforms and new production studios. During my tenure as CEO, we forged relationships with many of the industry’s then-new entrants, many of whom have continued to grow their impact on every part of the industry. Together with our long-standing relationships with established studios and distributors, these relationships are a testament to Curzon’s enduring quality in-cinema experience, and our trusted curatorial voice, across development, production, distribution, exhibition and streaming. With this in mind, I can confidently say that Curzon continues to be hugely influential in the film world. I believe the company has the potential to grow that influence significantly over the coming months and years.”

Philip Knatchbull was CEO of Curzon from May 2006 to November 2023. During his tenure, the company grew from a few locations into a national cinema company with film exhibition, distribution, production, and on-demand streaming services.

In November 2024, Fortress Investment Group announced that funds managed by its affiliates had acquired Curzon, making it an independent UK-based company.

The company operates Curzon Cinemas – with 16 cinemas and 46 total screens across the UK – as well as film distributor Curzon Film, and the Curzon Home Cinema streaming service.

Curzon’s pioneering membership programme integrates cinema and streaming, allowing members to use credits against Curzon Cinema visits or watching films on Curzon Home Cinema. The premium Cult membership tier includes seven tickets a week, discounts across food and beverage and more. Curzon members receive priority booking for events, and personalised recommendations based on their film taste. In the past year Curzon has collaborated with Kia, Beronia and Butchers on integrated partnerships that enhance the cinema experience with offerings that include wine tasting screenings, in-person Q&As, and repertory film screenings.

Curzon’s curatorial approach extends to editorial forums and communications, with monthly and weekly newsletters, an online and biannual printed journal, and online video content series ‘Conversations at Curzon’. Curzon has a longstanding relationship with Netflix to exhibit the best of their films in their cinemas.

Curzon Film, which in 2020 set a new UK foreign-language box office record with Parasite (over £12 million at the UK and Irish box-office), has had notable successes in the past year, including:

Curzon Film has released more Cannes Palme d’Or winners than any other UK distributor and has distributed multiple Academy Awards and BAFTA winners, including Best Picture winner Parasite. In 2017, Curzon received a BAFTA in recognition of its Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema.

Curzon Film’s forthcoming slate includes Flow( release date: 21 March 2025)and Julie Keeps Quiet (release date: 7 March 2025) - critically acclaimed hits which have been selected to represent Latvia and Belgium respectively at the Oscars.

Additionally, Curzon is partnering with Amazon MGM on the theatrical release of three of their forthcoming titles:

Curzon has opened new cinema locations in the past several years, including Hoxton, Camden, Kingston-upon-Thames (which features a rooftop bar with panoramic views of the historic riverside town) and Canterbury. Today, Curzon has destination venues across London and around the UK.

About Curzon

Curzon is a multifaceted film company covering exhibition, distribution, production, and on-demand streaming. The company currently operates 16 cinemas across the UK. The distribution business, encompassing Curzon Film and specialist label Artificial Eye, has nearly 50 years of experience in independent film, with a library of critically acclaimed films by some of the world’s greatest directors including Wim Wenders, Michael Haneke, Bong Joon Ho Alice Rohrwacher, and Ruben Östlund. Streaming service Curzon Home Cinema is available to customers through TV, mobile apps, and over-the-top platforms. For more information please visit www.curzon.com.

Taiwan's president arrives in Hawaii for a 2-day stop in the US as part of South Pacific visit

2024-12-02 16:00 Last Updated At：16:10

HONOLULU (AP) — Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te arrived Saturday in Hawaii to begin a two-day transit in the U.S. as part of a trip to the South Pacific, his first since assuming office.

The stopover in Hawaii and one planned for the territory of Guam have drawn fierce criticism from Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and objects to official exchanges between the self-ruled democracy and the U.S., the island's biggest backer and military provider.

There were no high-ranking U.S. or Hawaii state officials to greet Lai at the Honolulu hotel where supporters cheered in Mandarin, some waving Taiwanese flags. He visited Hawaii's leading museum of natural history and Native Hawaiian culture, Bishop Museum. Later, he was expected to attend a banquet with supporters.

On Sunday, Lai held a 20-minute phone talk with former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. The two discussed China's “military threats” toward Taiwan among other things, according to presidential spokesperson Karen Kuo.

In 2022, China held military drills around Taiwan in response to a visit to the island by Pelosi, then in office.

Lai is on a weeklong trip to visit the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island in the Pacific. Though Taiwan retains strong contacts with dozens of other nations, it has only 12 formal diplomatic allies.

Bishop Museum CEO Dee Jay Mailer presented Lai with a red lei hulu, or feather garland, made by master featherwork artist Kawika Lum-Nelmida. Lai gave Mailer a headdress, made by Paiwan Indigenous people of Taiwan, and neck and shoulder decorative pieces made by Atayal Indigenous people, also of Taiwan.

Lai's visit shows that Taiwan and the United States have a very strong relationship, said Arthur Chen, the president of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce of North America. He flew to Hawaii from his home near Dallas to welcome the president to the U.S.

Chen said he understood the U.S. has its own foreign policy but he said Lai should be treated as a head of state during his stay.

Taiwan and the U.S. share common values like a belief in democracy and human rights, Chen said. “So we should help each other,” he said.

Lai didn't make any public remarks at his initial engagements in Hawaii, but spoke before his departure from Taiwan.

“I want to use the values of democracy, peace, and prosperity to continue to expand our cooperation with our allies, to deepen our partnership and let the world see Taiwan not just as a model of democracy, but a vital power in promoting the world's peace and stability, and prosperous development," he said at Taoyuan International Airport.

It is unclear whether Lai will meet with any members of the incoming U.S. administration during his transit.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan should pay for its defense. The island has purchased billions of dollars of defense weaponry from the U.S.

Trump evaded answering whether he would defend the island from Chinese military action. On Friday, the U.S. State Department said it approved the sale of $385 million in spare parts and equipment for a fleet of F-16s, as well as support for tactical communication system to Taiwan.

While the U.S. is obligated to help the island defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act, it has maintained a position of strategic ambiguity over whether it would ever get involved if Taiwan were to be invaded by China.

A second Trump administration is expected to test U.S.-China relations even more than the Republican’s first term, when the U.S. imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in Chinese products.

Taiwan is one of the main sources of tension in the bilateral relationship.

China's Foreign Ministry said Sunday it “strongly condemned" U.S. support for Lai's visit and had lodged a complaint with the U.S. It also condemned the weapons sale Friday, which it said “severely violated China's sovereignty and safety and interests.”

“China will closely monitor the situation's development, and take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity," according to the statement.

When former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen went to the U.S. last year as part of a transit to Latin America, it drew vocal opposition from China. Tsai met with the former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the time. Tsai visited Hawaii in 2019.

The Chinese military also launched drills around Taiwan last year as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vice president, stopped over in the U.S.

China also strongly objects to leading American politicians visiting the island as it views any official contact with foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Wu reported from Bangkok.

Curzon Appoints Philip Knatchbull as Interim Executive Chairman

News

Curzon Appoints Philip Knatchbull as Interim Executive Chairman

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