Arrow Films is a British independent

film distributor A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same with, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film. The distributor may set the ...

and restorer specialising in world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films. It sells Ultra HD Blu-rays,

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

s and DVDs online, and also operates its own subscription video on-demand service, Arrow Player.

History

Arrow Films was established in 1991 as a family firm in

Shenley Shenley is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, between Barnet and St Albans. The village is located 14 miles from Central London. History The history of Shenley stretches back a thousand years or more – it is mentioned i ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

. Whilst Arrow Films was the company's primary brand for theatrical releases, the Arrow Video label was created in 2009 specialising in cult and horror

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

. In September 2011, the ArrowDrome brand was created for budget DVDs. The Arrow Academy and Arrow TV labels specialised in the world cinema and Nordic noir genres respectively, but since 2021, each has been merged into Arrow Video. In the same year, the company launched Arrow Player, a subscription video on-demand service in the UK, US and Canada. Arrow began releasing films in the North American market in 2015. As of 2022, it operated in the UK, Ireland, US and Canada. In 2021, Arrow Films was sold to THG plc for £18.5 million.

Reception

Arrow has been listed by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' twice as their home video distributor of the year. In 2011, they listed Arrow as the Label of the Year noting their release of '' Bicycle Thieves'', ''

Rififi ''Rififi'' (french: Du rififi chez les hommes) is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste Le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American blacklisted filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Ton ...

'' and ''Les Diaboliques'' and specifically praising their releases of horror films, where they "truly excel". The second time was in 2013 when they awarded Arrow Films "Label of the Year", noting their releases of '' Lifeforce'' and releases of television shows such as '' Borgen'' and '' The Killing'' as highlights. ''Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection'' was voted the best home video release of 2014 by several publications, including

Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

and Little White Lies, and won the Focal International Award for Best Archival Restoration Project and the Cinema Ritrovato Award for Best DVD Series/Best Box.

References

{{Authority control THG (company) Film distributors of the United Kingdom Home video distributors Home video companies of the United Kingdom 1991 establishments in England Home video companies established in 1991 Subscription video on demand services Film preservation organizations