A London-based independent cinema group and film distributor, founded around the Curzon Mayfair cinema in 1934, with art-house cinemas, the Artificial Eye distribution label and the Curzon Home Cinema streaming service.
Curzon is one of Britain's best-known independent film companies, and it does three connected jobs. It runs cinemas that show a mix of new independent, foreign-language and classic films. It distributes films, which means it buys the rights to a film and arranges for it to be shown in cinemas and online. And it runs Curzon Home Cinema, its video-on-demand service, so people can watch the same kinds of films at home. The company's distribution arm says its aim is to showcase "the very best of new and classic cinema" from Britain, Europe and beyond.
The story begins in 1934, when the Marques de Casa Maury built Curzon Mayfair in a Bauhaus modernist style. It had to be a single storey because of fire-safety rules for the flammable film stock of the time. Harold Wingate bought the site in 1940 and also became a distributor, finding foreign films for London audiences. Curzon was the first UK cinema to show Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves, which ran for 22 weeks and sold about 150,000 tickets. In 1950 the Wingates opened the first post-war cinema in central London. In 2006 Curzon bought the Artificial Eye distribution group from Andi Ingle. That label has released films by directors including Andrei Tarkovsky, Satyajit Ray, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke and Lynne Ramsay.
In the UK, Curzon's cinemas include Curzon Mayfair, the original, and Curzon Soho in central London's film district. Curzon Bloomsbury won a RIBA award in 2016 for its refurbishment, and newer venues listed by BAFTA include Canterbury, Sheffield and Aldgate, which opened in February 2017. Two sources we read disagree on how many cinemas the group has: BAFTA's page says fifteen, while a January 2020 local news article says twenty-one, all in London. That article does not fit with the Canterbury and Sheffield sites, so please treat the count as unconfirmed. In January 2020 the Wingate family sold the company to the New York-based Cohen Media Group, and in December 2024 Philip Knatchbull was appointed interim executive chairman.
On people and culture, a Wingate family member, Roger Wingate, said in 2020 that Curzon had been present throughout his entire life, which shows how long the company has been family-run. In 2017 Curzon received BAFTA's Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award, named after the Ealing Studios producer Michael Balcon. Its releases have included A Separation, The Great Beauty, Son of Saul and A Fantastic Woman, as well as Netflix titles such as Roma and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Those projects suggest a team that cares about film as an art form, though the company's own culture pages were not read.
A cinema and distribution business employs many kinds of people. Cinema teams include venue managers, front-of-house and bar staff, projectionists and programmers who choose which films to show. The distribution side needs acquisitions staff who find films, marketing and publicity teams, and people who handle rights and delivery. The streaming service also needs technology and customer support staff. If you love film and enjoy talking to audiences, you may enjoy a career like this. The company's own website is the place to check the current venues and roles.
Website: www.curzon.com
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