Connection
Artisan Entertainment
If you like this company, let us know!
Foundation date 1 january 1982
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by Canadian studio Lions Gate Entertainment in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and distribution agreements. Mark Amin funded Artisan and sale was rumored to be backed by Keyur Patel, a media investor in formation of new studio. Its headquarters and private screening room were located in Santa Monica, California. It also had an office in TriBeCa, Lower Manhattan, New York City.
The company owned the home video rights to the film libraries of Republic Pictures, ITC Entertainment, EMI Films, Gladden Entertainment, Hemdale Film Corporation and Carolco Pictures before it went defunct.
Artisan's releases included Requiem for a Dream, Pi, Grizzly Falls, Killing Zoe, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, The Blair Witch Project, Novocaine, and Startup.
Best films
(1999)
(1987)
(1999)
(2004)
(1990)
(2000)Filmography of Artisan Entertainment (170 films)
Distribution
Add to a movie list
, 1h56Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Origin German
Genres Drama, Thriller, Martial arts, Action, Adventure, Crime, Martial arts
Themes Mafia films, Seafaring films, Sports films, Transport films, Martial arts films, Samurai films, Gangster films
Actors Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Henry Silva, Tricia Vessey, Victor Argo, Isaac de Bankolé
Ghost Dog (Whitaker) sees himself as a retainer of Louie (John Tormey), a local mobster, who saved Ghost Dog's life years ago. While living as a hired hitman for the Italian Mafia, he adheres to the code of the samurai, and interprets and applies the wisdom of the Hagakure in his contracts for the mob.
The Ninth Gate (1999)
, 2h13Directed by Roman Polanski
Origin Espagne
Genres Thriller, Fantastic, Horror, Crime
Themes Films about religion, Demons in film
Actors Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Frank Langella, Emmanuelle Seigner, James Russo, Barbara Jefford
Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), a New York City rare book dealer, makes his living conning people into selling him valuable antique books for a low price, and then selling them for profit. He meets with wealthy book collector Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), who has recently acquired a copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th-century author Aristide Torchia, one of only three copies known to exist. According to legend, the book is Torchia's adaptation of an older book written by the Devil himself and purportedly contains the means to ritualistically summon the Devil and, through him, acquire invincibility and immortality. Balkan believes two of the copies are forgeries. He hires Corso to authenticate all three copies, and acquire the legitimate copy by any means necessary.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
, 1h21Directed by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Themes Films about magic and magicians, Witches in film
Actors Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Sandra
In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found. In the footage, Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard set out to produce a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland, formerly Blair, and interview locals about the legend of the Blair Witch. The locals tell them of Rustin Parr, a hermit who kidnapped seven children in the 1940s and brought them to his house in the woods where he tortured and murdered them. Parr brought the children into his house's basement in pairs, forcing the first child to face the corner and listen to their companion's screams as he murdered the second child. Parr would then murder the first child. Eventually turning himself in to the police, Parr later pleaded insanity, saying that the spirit of Elly Kedward, a witch hanged in the 18th century, had been terrorizing him and promised to leave him alone if he murdered the children, but was hanged anyway.
The 24 Hour Woman (1999)
, 1h33Directed by Nancy Savoca
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Romance
Themes Pregnancy films, Films about sexuality
Actors Rosie Perez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Patti LuPone, Melissa Leo, Karen Duffy, Wendell Pierce
Grace (Rosie Perez) struggles to be both a successful television producer and mother.
The Breaks (1999)
, 1h26Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about music and musicians, Hip hop films, Gangster films
Actors Paul Benjamin, Mitch Mullany, Lamont Bentley, Anthony Anderson, Carl Anthony Payne II, Loretta Devine
A Sunday in the life of Derrick King, an Irish kid raised in South Central L.A. by a black family. He talks black, dresses black, and thinks of himself as black. It is a day of disasters: his mom kicks him out of the house, his uncle fires him, the woman he loves dismisses him as childish, the LAPD (wearing Confederate flag shoulder patches) impounds his car and tosses him in the drunk tank, a mean dude is after him for money, he is imprisoned in a store basement by gay sadists, and he is shot at. Along the way, however, he shows kindness to a near-sighted kid, and those random acts may prove to be his salvation. Rappers Xzibit and Flesh-n-Bone appear in the film.
Foolish (1999)
, 1h37Directed by Dave Meyers
Genres Drama, Comedy
Themes Films about music and musicians, Hip hop films, Gangster films
Actors Master P, Eddie Griffin, Frank Sivero, Daphnée Duplaix, Jonathan Banks, Andrew Dice Clay
Quentin "Fifty Dollah" Waise (Master P) is involved in a crime ring that earns him good money but worries his grandmother (Marla Gibbs), who dotes on him and encourages him to follow a more righteous path. Fifty Dollah's brother Miles "Foolish" Waise (Eddie Griffin), whose grandmother Odetta (Marla Gibbs) gave him the nickname, is an aspiring comedian, but his inability to get his career going convinces his older sibling he's wasting his talents. The movie pays homage to several of Griffin's idols, such as Redd Foxx, Robin Harris and Sammy Davis, Jr. who appear as feet under restroom stalls while he prepares to perform.
Grizzly Falls (1999)
, 1h34Directed by Stewart Raffill
Genres Drama, Adventure
Themes Films about animals
Actors Bryan Brown, Tom Jackson, Daniel Clark, Richard Harris, Oliver Tobias
The film starts with an old man, Harry Banks (Richard Harris) telling his grandson and granddaughter about his life as a young boy in the early 20th century.
The Minus Man (1999)
, 1h51Directed by Hampton Fancher
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Transport films, Serial killer films, Road movies
Actors Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, Brian Cox, Mercedes Ruehl, Dwight Yoakam, Dennis Haysbert
The film opens as Vann Siegert (Owen Wilson) decides to turn left onto a road, striking out on a new path in life. His first stop is a bar, where he meets Casper (Sheryl Crow, in her first film appearance). They leave the bar together in his truck. Casper asks Vann to pull over at a rest stop to get high. After she shoots up, she balances her syringe on the open glove box, noticing a flask. She asks what is in it, and Vann answers that it is full of amaretto. After drinking it, she passes out. Vann carries her body into the bathroom and arranges it to look as if she overdosed.
, 1h29Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Films about education, Films about school violence
Actors Treat Williams, Claudia Christian, Barbara Jane Reams, Frank Gerrish, Rebecca Staab, Erin Chambers
Students at a local college have become unusually antagonistic, and when a teacher is attacked by a gang of steroid-pumped students, Karl Thomasson—having earned a teacher's degree to facilitate his actions in the previous film—returns to the classroom to uncover the truth.
Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999)
, 1h33Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Slasher
Themes Serial killer films
Actors Tony Todd, Donna D'Errico, Jsu Garcia, Lupe Ontiveros, Robert O'Reilly, Wade Williams
Several years after the events of the second film, the ghostly serial killer returns once again from beyond the grave; this time, during the eve of Day of the Dead, to haunt a Los Angeles art gallery owner named Caroline McKeever, a distant relative of the Candyman (and also Annie Tarrant's daughter) in order for him to claim her soul so she will be next to him. In the meantime, the Candyman goes about killing all those associated with Caroline (starting with artist Miguel Velasco, her lover, and following with her roommate Tamara) in his usual gory ways with his hook and making it appear to the authorities that Caroline is the one responsible for the killings. Particularly when seasoned police detective (and closet prejudice of most minorities) L.V. Sacco dies, which not only brings the whole local police department down on her head; but puts her in the firing line of Sacco's equally bigoted partner Lt. Det. Samuel Deacon Kraft who has no intention of bringing her in alive.
Felicia's Journey (1999)
, 1h56Directed by Bob Hoskins, Atom Egoyan
Origin Canada
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Serial killer films
Actors Bob Hoskins, Elaine Cassidy, Arsinée Khanjian, Sheila Reid, Bríd Brennan, Peter McDonald
After taking a ferry to England and beginning a hopeless search to find the lawnmower factory in Birmingham where she believes Johnny now works, Felicia encounters an older man, Joseph Hilditch (Bob Hoskins), a catering manager at a factory, who is also the son of Gala (Arsinée Khanjian), an eccentric TV chef who enjoyed fame in past decades. Hilditch regularly watches the old programmes of his presumably-deceased mother while he cooks her recipes and collects material about her. Hilditch offers to help Felicia; however, his motives for doing so are initially unclear, and it is subsequently suggested through flashback sequences that he has in the past befriended but then turned on vulnerable young women.
Stir of Echoes (1999)
, 1h39Directed by David Koepp
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Fantasy, Horror
Themes Ghost films, Children's films
Actors Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas, Jennifer Morrison, Kevin Dunn, Liza Weil
Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a phone lineman living in a working-class neighborhood in Chicago with his pregnant wife Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and his son Jake (Zachary David Cope), who possesses the ability to commune with the dead. At a party one evening, Tom challenges Maggie's sister Lisa (Illeana Douglas), a believer in paranormal activity and psychic telepathy, to hypnotize him. After putting him under, Lisa plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in Tom urging him to "be more open-minded." Tom then begins experiencing visions of a violent scuffle involving a girl who he later learns is Samantha Kozac (Jennifer Morrison), a 17-year-old that disappeared from the neighborhood six months prior.
, 1h31Directed by Jack Sholder, Robert Kurtzman
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Fantasy, Horror
Actors Andrew Divoff, Paul Johansson, Bokeem Woodbine, Carlos Leon, Robert LaSardo, Vyto Ruginis
During an attempted robbery of a museum, the fire opal that contains the Djinn is accidentally released by a stray gunshot. One of the burglars, a beautiful young woman named Morgana Truscott (Holly Fields), steals the gem and is forced to abandon her partner during the escape. The Djinn escapes and kills the remaining burglar when he accidentally wishes he'd never been born. As the police enter the museum, the demon finishes forming into full size, revealing the Djinn (Andrew Divoff). The Djinn surrenders to the police and is led away.
Suicide Kings (1998)
, 1h46Directed by Peter O'Fallon
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Action, Crime
Themes Gangster films
Actors Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Henry Thomas, Jay Mohr, Nina Siemaszko
Charlie Barret walks to his private table in a restaurant, only to see two young men sitting at his table – Avery and Max. Another young man who is friends with Avery and Max, Brett, joins them shortly after Charlie sits down and begins chatting with them. Charlie happens to know Avery's father, and after an initial reluctance, is willing to go with the boys for a "night on the town".
Pi (1998)
, 1h24Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller
Themes Films about mathematics, Films about religion, Films about Jews and Judaism
Actors Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Stephen Pearlman, Ajay Naidu, Samia Shoaib
Max Cohen is the story's protagonist and unreliable narrator. Unemployed, and living in a dreary Chinatown apartment in New York City, Max is a number theorist who believes that everything in nature can be understood through numbers. He is capable of doing simple arithmetic calculations involving large numbers in his head, a skill that impresses Jenna, a small Chinese-American girl with a calculator who lives in his apartment building. Max also suffers from cluster headaches, as well as extreme paranoia, hallucinations, and social anxiety disorder. Other than Devi, a young woman living next door who sometimes speaks to him, Max's only social interaction is with Sol Robeson, his old mathematics mentor who is now an invalid.