First Independent Films was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 film distributor

Film distributor

A film distributor is a company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing...

 and home video

Home video

Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...

 company that replaced Vestron Video

Vestron Video

Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut that was active from 1982 to 1992. It is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market....

 UK and were first opened in 1991.

Although a small film company, the company distributed a wide selection of genres, but they mainly served as a distributor for New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...

 and Turner Pictures Worldwide Distribution

Turner Entertainment

Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...

. The company also distributes independent films.

Some films released by First Independent Film are distributed and marketed by Cinema Club, a home video company that specailises in movies owned by Video Collection International

2 Entertain

2 Entertain is a British video and music publisher, formed by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004....

 (now 2 Entertain).

First Independent Films was sold to Columbia TriStar Home Video

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...

 (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) in 1997 and shut down two years later but Columbia TriStar continued to use the First Independent Films label for as long as four years.

Now some of the First Independent Archive is now distributed by other major distributors, such as Columbia Tristar Home Video

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...

, Entertainment Film Distributors

Entertainment Film Distributors

Entertainment Film Distributors is a British distributor of independent films in the UK and Ireland for various production companies; it is owned by Nigel Green who started the company in 1978. Their first big success was the successful horror Terror made by cult filmmaker Norman J...

 and Warner Home Video

Warner Home Video

Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...

.

Films

Some notable films distributed by First Independent Films (or Vestron Video UK) will include:

• G.I. Jane
  G.I. Jane
  G.I. Jane is a 1997 American action film directed by Ridley Scott, produced by Largo Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Caravan Pictures, distributed by Hollywood Pictures and starring Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen. The film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training...
  
  
• Now and Then
• Dumb and Dumber
• Tom and Jerry: The Movie
  Tom and Jerry: The Movie
  Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1992 American animated musical film directed by Phil Roman, and produced by Film Roman and Turner Pictures. It is a film adaptation of the Tom and Jerry series of theatrical shorts....
  
  
• Dirty Dancing
  Dirty Dancing
  Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...
  
  
• The Lawnmower Man
• Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
• Class of 1999
  Class of 1999
  Class of 1999 is a 1990 science fiction film directed by Mark L. Lester. It is the director's follow-up to his 1982 film Class of 1984.-Synopsis:...
  
  
• The Trouble with Spies
  The Trouble with Spies
  The Trouble with Spies is a 1987 film directed by Burt Kennedy. It stars Donald Sutherland and Ned Beatty.-Cast:*Donald Sutherland as Appleton Porter*Ned Beatty as Harry Lewis*Ruth Gordon as Mrs. Arkwright*Lucy Gutteridge as Mona...
  
  
• Hanna-Barbera
  Hanna-Barbera
  Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
  
  
• Honeymoon in Vegas
  Honeymoon in Vegas
  Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedy film directed by Andrew Bergman and starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker.-Plot:...
  
  
• Trigger Happy
  Mad Dog Time
  Mad Dog Time is a 1996 ensemble cast crime film written and directed by Larry Bishop, released through United Artists...
  
  
• Deep Cover
  Deep Cover
  Deep Cover is a 1992 crime thriller film starring Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum and directed by veteran actor Bill Duke. It is also notable for its theme song of the same name, composed by Dr...
  
  
• Fear
  Fear (1990 film)
  Fear is a thriller/horror/suspense film. It is directed by Rockne S. O'Bannon and stars Ally Sheedy, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Michael O'Keefe, Lauren Hutton, Keone Young, Stan Shaw, Dean Goodman, Don Hood and Jonathan Prince.-Plot summary:...
  
  
• Cube
  Cube (film)
  Cube is a 1997 Canadian science fiction psychological thriller/horror film directed by Vincenzo Natali. The film was a successful product of the Canadian Film Centre's First Feature Project....
  
  
• Above The Rim
  Above the Rim
  Above the Rim is a 1994 drama directed by Jeff Pollack. The screenplay was written by Pollack and journalist-turned-screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper , from a story by Pollack and Benny Medina....
  
  
• Ernest Goes to Africa
  Ernest Goes to Africa
  Ernest Goes to Africa is a 1997 comedy film written and directed by John R. Cherry III. It stars Jim Varney, and is the ninth film to feature the character of Ernest P. Worrell...
  
  
• Blue Steel
  Blue Steel (1990 film)
  Blue Steel is a 1990 action thriller film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver and Clancy Brown.-Plot:Megan Turner is a rookie New York City policewoman who shoots and kills a suspect with her police-issue .38 Special Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver while he's...
  
  
• Conagher
  Conagher
  Conagher is a 1991 Turner Network Television western film based on a Louis L’Amour novel of the same name, starring Sam Elliott as Conn Conagher, an honest, hardworking cowboy who learns that his fellow ranch hands plan to steal the boss's cattle. Katharine Ross, Elliott’s wife since 1984, stars...
  
  
• Wishmaster
  Wishmaster (film)
  Wishmaster is a 1997 American horror film directed by Robert Kurtzman, and is the second film directed by Kurtzman. It was executive produced by Wes Craven—the only film of the Wishmaster series with his name attached....
  
  
• Ernest Goes to School
  Ernest Goes to School
  Ernest Goes to School is a 1994 comedy film written and directed by Coke Sams and starring Jim Varney. It is the seventh film to feature the character Ernest P. Worrell, and the first to be released direct-to-video. It never had a DVD release in Region 1. This motion picture is also the only film...
  
  
• Project Shadowchaser
  Project Shadowchaser
  Project Shadowchaser, also known as Shadowchaser and Project: Shadowchaser, is a 1992 science fiction film by director John Eyres. It is the first installment in the Project Shadowchaser film series.-Synopsis:...
  
  
• Backstreet Dreams
  Backstreet Dreams (1990 film)
  Backstreet Dreams is a 1990 drama movie starring Brooke Shields, Jason O'Malley, Sherilyn Fenn and Anthony Franciosa. It was directed by Rupert Hitzig and Jason O'Malley.-Plot:...
  
  
• Ricochet
  Ricochet (film)
  Ricochet is a 1991 crime-thriller film, directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, and Lindsay Wagner...
  
  
• Leprechaun
  Leprechaun (film)
  Leprechaun is a 1993 horror film directed by Mark Jones, starring Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston in her first film role. The film was shot in Saugus, California...
  
  
• Bhaji on the Beach
  Bhaji on the Beach
  Bhaji on the Beach is a 1993 film by director Gurinder Chadha with a screenplay by Meera Syal.-Plot synopsis:A diverse group of British women of South Asian descent go on a day trip to the beach in Blackpool; despite their differences—the older women are more traditional and conservative,...
  
  
• A Time of Destiny
  A Time of Destiny (film)
  A Time of Destiny is an American drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The story is based on the opera La forza del destino by Verdi. The motion picture was executive produced by Shep Gordon and Carolyn Pfeiffer...
  
  
• Catchfire
  Catchfire
  Catchfire is a 1990 action-thriller-drama film starring Jodie Foster, Dennis Hopper, and Fred Ward. Several other notable actors have cameos. The film was disowned by its director, Hopper, before release and he is therefore credited under the fictional pseudonym Alan Smithee...
  
  
• Amsterdamned
  Amsterdamned
  Amsterdamned is a 1988 Dutch horror movie about a serial killer who hides in the canal system of Amsterdam. The film was directed and written by Dick Maas, and stars Huub Stapel, Monique van de Ven, and Serge-Henri Valcke....
  
  
• Red Scorpion
  Red Scorpion
  Red Scorpion is a 1989 film directed by Joseph Zito starring Dolph Lundgren.-Plot:The plot centers on Lundgren's character Nikolai, a Soviet Spetsnaz-trained KGB agent who is sent to an African country where Soviet, Czechoslovakian and Cuban forces are helping the government fight an anti-communist...
  
  
• Twister
  Twister (1989 film)
  Twister is a 1989 comedy film starring Suzy Amis, Crispin Glover, Harry Dean Stanton, and Dylan McDermott.-Plot:Based on Mary Robison's 1981 novel Oh, the film relates the story of the eccentric Cleveland family during the event of a tornado's hitting their rural Kansas home...
  
  
• Nostradamus
  Nostradamus (film)
  Nostradamus is a 1994 biographical film directed by Roger Christian.-Cast:*Tchéky Karyo ... Nostradamus*F. Murray Abraham ... Scalinger*Rutger Hauer ... The Mystic Monk*Amanda Plummer ... Catherine De Medici*Julia Ormond ... Marie...
  
  
• Farewell to the King
  Farewell to the King
  Farewell to the King is a 1989 film written and directed by John Milius. It stars Nigel Havers, Frank McRae, Gerry Lopez and Nick Nolte, and is based on the 1969 novel L'Adieu au Roi by Pierre Schoendoerffer. Longtime Milius collaborator Basil Poledouris composed the musical score...
  
  
• Far From Home
• Zero Tolerance
• A Dangerous Woman
  A Dangerous Woman (1993 film)
  A Dangerous Woman is a 1993 film from Amblin Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and written for the screen by his then wife Naomi Foner...
  
  
• Shadow Man
  Shadow Man (1988 film)
  Shadow Man is a 1988 film about a Polish-Jewish refugee during a fictional war in Amsterdam. Like a `Walker between two worlds´ the famous Shadowman comics hero, created some years after this film, he partly belongs to the unseen world of darkness. Tom Hulce as the Shadow Man, created an...
  
  
• The Force
  The Force (film)
  The Force is a 1994 thriller film with Yasmine Bleeth and Jason Gedrick.-Plot:Cal Warner is a rookie cop who has frightening nightmares after his friend and fellow police officer, Des Flynn , is killed under suspicious circumstances: the soul of Des enters into the body of Cal in order to seek...
  
  
• Pentathlon
  Pentathlon (film)
  Pentathlon is a 1993 American action thriller directed by Bruce Malmuth and starring Dolph Lundgren as an East German Olympic gold medalist pentathlete on the run from a lethal coach .-Plot:...
  
  
• Mortal Kombat
  Mortal Kombat (film)
  Mortal Kombat is a 1995 American action and adventure film directed by Paul Anderson. Based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, the film was the first part of the Mortal Kombat film series...
  
  
• Dolly Dearest
  Dolly Dearest
  Dolly Dearest is a 1992 direct-to-video horror film starring Denise Crosby and Rip Torn.-Synopsis:American Elliot Wade becomes the new owner of the "Dolly Dearest" factory in Mexico...
  
  
• Menace II Society
  Menace II Society
  Menace II Society is a 1993 urban crime drama and the directorial debut of twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes. Menace II Society is set in South Central Los Angeles and follows the life of a hoodlum named Caine Lawson and his close friends. The film gained notoriety for its frequent scenes of...