What Monument Releasing does

Monument Releasing is a Brooklyn-based, privately held film distribution company founded in 2010 that acquires classic festival, foreign-language, and American independent films and releases them across theatrical, festival, video-on-demand, DVD, and digital windows in North America. The company operates a curated catalog of roughly 20 active titles, with notable entries including Feels Good Man, Gather, Dinner in America, Our Time, Alice, and Hey Viktor!, and distributes through major VOD platforms (iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Vimeo On Demand, Apple TV, Mubi) alongside partnerships with 50-plus independent theaters for virtual theatrical releases, where 50% of net proceeds flow back to theater partners.

Its business model rests on three revenue streams: one-time film licensing across theatrical/VOD/DVD/digital formats, term-limit educational site licenses and public performance rights sold to universities and educational institutions, and professional-services booking for filmmakers and venues. Monument is affiliated through common ownership with two sister entities — Visit Films, which handles worldwide sales, and Pretty Ideas, an incubator for early-stage projects — creating a development-to-global-distribution pipeline. Marketing relies on email newsletters, press kits, festival premieres (Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, TIFF), and virtual Q&A events co-hosted with organizations such as NewFest.

The operation runs with 1-10 employees and no disclosed external funding, parent company, or revenue figures. Pricing is non-public and project-specific. Monument's strategic positioning is that of a boutique, prestige-oriented distributor in a structurally low-margin niche, differentiated by its festival pedigree, integrated sister-company pipeline, and a North American independent theater network rather than by scale, technology, or capital intensity.

Name

Monument Releasing

Legal name

Monument Releasing

Website

https://monumentreleasing.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Monument Releasing is a Brooklyn-based independent film distributor founded in 2010, acquiring and releasing festival, foreign-language, and American indie films across theatrical, VOD, DVD, and educational channels in North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Film Distribution: Monument Releasing distributes films across theatrical, festival, VOD, DVD, and digital markets. The company acquires films from festival circuits and releases them through multiple platforms to maximize profitability across various formats.
2. Educational Licensing: Provides term-limit site licenses and public performance rights for universities and educational institutions. Revenue generated from licensing fees for classroom and institutional screenings.
3. Service Booking: Full-service national booking for clients including festival and theatrical runs, video on demand distribution, developing comprehensive campaigns to maximize visibility with audience and press.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Monument Releasing acquires and distributes classic festival, foreign language, and American independent films across theatrical, festival, VOD, DVD, and digital markets in North America. The company also operates full-service national booking for festival and theatrical runs and provides term-limit educational site licenses with optional speaker arrangements and curricula for universities and educational institutions.

Product overview

Monument Releasing is a film distribution company and sister company to Visit Films (worldwide sales) and Pretty Ideas (incubator). The company specializes in releasing classic festival, foreign language, and American independent films. Their core offering is the Monument Releasing Film Catalog, which includes titles distributed across theatrical, VOD, DVD, and digital platforms. Additional services include full-service national booking for films and educational site licenses for universities and institutions. The catalog features films spanning documentaries, dramas, comedies, and international cinema from various countries including Argentina, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Canada, Australia, Kenya, and more.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Film Distribution Services (Book A Film) Full-service national booking and distribution services for independent films, covering festival runs, theatrical releases, and VOD releases, with campaigns developed to maximize visibility with audiences and trade press.
• Educational Site Licenses Term-limit site licenses and public performance rights for universities and educational institutions, with optional speaker arrangements and supporting curricula to enhance the educational impact of film screenings.
• Our Time 2019 Mexican drama about a family that begins to crumble when a wife falls in love with an American horsebreaker, directed by Carlos Reygadas and distributed across theatrical, VOD, and digital platforms.
• Alice 2019 drama about a woman who enters the world of high-end prostitution after discovering her husband's addiction, directed by Josephine Mackerras.
• The Surrogate 2020 drama about surrogacy and prenatal testing creating a moral dilemma between friends, directed by Jeremy Hersh.
• Feels Good Man 2020 documentary following artist Matt Furie's battle to reclaim his Pepe the Frog character from online hate symbol appropriation.
• Dinner in America 2020 comedy about an on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman having misadventures through American Midwest suburbs, directed by Adam Rehmeier.
• Parsley 2022 drama set during the 1937 Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic, directed by José María Cabral.
• Robe of Gems 2022 Argentine/Mexican drama about a woman who discovers her housekeeper's sister has gone missing, directed by Natalia López Gallardo.
• Pahokee Documentary following four teens experiencing the joys and heartbreaks of their last year of high school in rural Florida, directed by Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan.
• Hey Viktor! 2023 mockumentary comedy following a former child actor attempting to make a comeback film, directed by Cody Lightning.
• The Code 2024 comedy about a sexless couple using surveillance and performance to rekindle their relationship, directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko.
• Realm of Satan 2024 documentary portraying Satanists in everyday and extraordinary circumstances, directed by Scott Cummings.
• Memory of Princess Mumbi 2025 mockumentary sci-fi set in 2093 in which a filmmaker meets a woman challenging him to make his film without AI.
• The Misconceived 2026 dark comedy about a failed filmmaker hired by his successful college friend for home renovations.
• Owned: A Tale of Two Americas 2018 documentary exploring the history of US housing policy and its role in creating racial economic disparities.
• Black in Minneapolis Documentary about a Black man witnessing a police officer murder his brother and igniting a movement against police violence, directed by David J. Buchanan.
• Gather Documentary about Indigenous Americans reclaiming spiritual and cultural identities through ancestral food systems, directed by Sanjay Rawal, with Jason Momoa serving as Executive Producer.

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Visit FilmsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisit Films is Monument Releasing's sister company, serving as the worldwide sales company. This relationship provides an integrated pipeline from film development through global distribution, with Monument handling North American releases while Visit Films manages international sales.
• Pretty ____ IdeascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPretty ____ Ideas is an incubator and sister company of Monument Releasing. The partnership provides a development pipeline for films from early-stage incubation through to distribution, creating an integrated ecosystem for independent filmmaking.
• Jason MomoaminorOthersJason Momoa served as Executive Producer on the documentary film Gather, which explores Indigenous Americans reclaiming their spiritual and cultural identities through ancestral food systems.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Kino Lorber: A leading US distributor of classic, foreign language, and independent cinema with strong educational licensing—directly overlapping Monument's theatrical, VOD, and educational site license model.
• Strand Releasing: A long-standing independent distributor specializing in foreign language and American independent films for theatrical and VOD release—similar boutique scale and curated catalog approach.
• Magnolia Pictures: A US indie distributor releasing documentaries, foreign films, and American independents across theatrical and digital platforms—directly comparable multi-platform strategy.
• Neon: An indie distributor with strong festival-acquisition pedigree releasing theatrical and digital titles—comparable business model focused on festival titles, though at meaningfully larger scale.
• Oscilloscope Laboratories: An independent film distribution company specializing in releasing festival-acquired, foreign language, and American independent films across theatrical and digital platforms—closely matching Monument Releasing's niche and business model.
• Film Movement: An independent distributor of award-winning foreign and independent films through theatrical, VOD, and educational channels—closely aligned with Monument's three-line distribution strategy.
• IFC Films: AMC Networks-owned distributor of independent and foreign films across theatrical, VOD, and digital—comparable catalog but operating with corporate backing and broader portfolio.
• Janus Films: A pioneering arthouse and classic cinema distributor closely tied to the Criterion Collection—comparable focus on director-driven, festival-caliber, and classic repertory titles.
• Grasshopper Film: A boutique arthouse distributor focused on foreign language, documentary, and American independent films for theatrical and digital release—directly comparable in catalog and audience profile to Monument.

Broad incumbents

• A24: A much larger distributor and producer of indie and prestige films—operates in the same acquisition and release space as Monument but at multi-billion-dollar scale with production capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MonumentDist
• Facebookfacebook.com/monumentreleasing
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/monument-releasing

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Monument Releasing