Janus Films

Janus Films
Company typePrivate
IndustryMotion picture distribution
Founded1956; 68 years ago (1956)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
FounderBryant Haliday
Cyrus Harvey Jr.
Headquarters,
Key people
Saul J. Turell
William J. Becker
Revenue$6.1 million USD (2007)
OwnerSteven Rales
SubsidiariesThe Criterion Collection
Websitewww.janusfilms.com

Janus Films is an American film distribution company. The distributor is credited with introducing numerous films, now considered masterpieces of world cinema, to American audiences, including the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Sergei Eisenstein, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, François Truffaut, Yasujirō Ozu and many other well-regarded directors. Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957) was the film responsible for the company's initial growth.[1]

Janus has a close business relationship with The Criterion Collection regarding the release of its films on DVD and Blu-ray and is still an active theatrical distributor.

The company's name and logo come from Janus, the two-faced Roman god of transitions, passages, beginnings, and endings.

  1. ^ Roger Fristoe (2012). "Introduction To Janus Films 50th Anniversary". TCM Turner Classic Movies. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company. Retrieved 26 April 2012.