Focus Features has lined up an emotional tribute reel and some primo swag to celebrate its 20 years of prestige indie filmmaking.
The Comcast-owned unit run by Peter Kujawski released a heart-tugging compilation featuring its most celebrated movies –including the Oscar-nominated “Brokeback Mountain,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Lost in Translation,” “Milk,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “Phantom Thread” and this year’s contender “Belfast.” In its lifetime, Focus has stacked 143 Academy Award nominations and netted 26 wins. Fourteen of those noms have been for best picture.
In addition to unveiling a new logo marking the milestone, the studio is gifting talent, filmmakers and industry insiders with Away luggage packed with a selection of 20 Focus titles, Lingua Franca sweaters embroidered with iconic lines from their biggest hits, and, naturally, champagne.
“From new voices to legendary auteurs, we have been honored to work with storytellers who strive to break rules and challenge us, to push boundaries, and to redefine what movies can be. In their hands, we’ve been able to celebrate the splendors of life with authentic characters we might never have met in parts of the world we might never have explored,” Kujawski writes in a letter included in the gift.
“In celebration of this, we have enclosed here 20 films to help you relive some of our past travels together. Your set has been randomly selected from our entire library since picking only one collection of titles for everyone felt like it would be missing the point. Our journey has been about experiencing the breadth and beauty of the world over time from as many viewpoints as possible, and in that regard, we’ve only just begun,” he concludes.
Looking ahead, Focus will next release Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” in April, followed by “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” Mark Rylance’s “The Outfit,” the Sundance player “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” and Lesley Manville’s “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.”
Watch the tribute reel: