JOSEPH NEWTON COHEN

Managing Director of Film Finance

With his extensive knowledge of international finance, as well as his in-depth experience in the entertainment industry, Joseph N. Cohen is highly regarded for his investment banking and media expertise. A graduate of Yale and Oxford, Cohen has held senior positions at several of the leading investment banking firms, including N.M. Rothschild & Sons, Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, Orion Royal Bank and Samuel Montagu. For the past thirty-eight years he has focused his efforts on the entertainment and media industries and is active in motion picture, television and other media financing throughout the world.

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In 1996, Cohen retired as Co-Chairman of InterMedia/Film Equities to form American Entertainment Investors. ("AEI"). Cohen was instrumental in the creation of Alcon Entertainment, an independent production company established by Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and Founder of Federal Express Corp. AEI advises Alcon on all aspects of finance, distribution and strategic planning. Alcon's productions include the family hit My Dog Skip, starring Kevin Bacon, Diane Lane and Frankie Muniz; Lost And Found, starring David Spade and Sophie Marceau; the hit comedy Dude, Where's My Car? starring Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott; Affair Of The Necklace starring Hilary Swank, the critically acclaimed Insomnia; starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank; Love Don't Cost A Thing; Chasing Liberty; Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants; One Missed Call; Something Borrowed starring Kate Hudson; the highly successful P .S. I Love You, starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler; Book Of Eli, starring Denzel Washington; Dolphin Tale starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jr; the hit sequel Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants 2; Beautiful Creatures; Transcendence starring Johnny Depp; and the blockbuster hit The Blindside, starring Sandra Bullock. AEI also advises River Road Entertainment on all aspects of finance, distribution, and strategic planning. River Road's first film project was Brokeback Mountain, which won three Academy Awards, including Best Director for Ang Lee and generated almost $200 million in worldwide box office, which represented 15 times its negative cost. River Road also co-financed the critically acclaimed Lust, Caution, directed by Ang Lee, and Robert Altman's Prairie Home Companion starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Virginia Madsen, and John C. Reilly. Subsequently, River Road has produced and financed FUR starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey, Jr.; the documentaries Chicago 10 and Food, Inc.; the highly acclaimed Into The Wild starring Emile Hirsch and directed by Sean Penn; The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning; and the winner of the Cannes Palme d' Or Award, The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. River Road also produced 12 Years A Slave, Academy Award Winner for Best Picture in 2014.

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AEI serves as Advisor to Black Label Media, a major independent production company founded by Molly Smith, which has produced several high profile films, including Sicario directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin and Emily Blunt, Sicario: Day of the Soldado directed by Stefano Sollima and starring Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin who reprise their roles, 12 Strong directed by Nicolai Fuglsig and starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, Only the Brave directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Josh Brolin and Miles Teller and Demolition directed by Jean-Marc Valle and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts. Black Label also co-financed the multiple Academy Award-winning film La La Land.

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Cohen is also an active producer and financier of motion pictures. Producer credits include the Showtime Original Movie, Beyond Forgiveness starring Thomas Ian Griffith and Rutger Hauer (1995), and Solo starring Mario Van Peebles, for Sony Pictures Entertainment (1996). Executive Producer credits include Iron Eagle IV, starring Lou Gossett, Jr (1995); The Assignment, starring Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland and Ben Kingsley for Sony Pictures Entertainment (1997); Wing Commander starring Freddie Prinze, Jr, Matthew Lillard and Saffron Burrows, for Twentieth Century Fox (1999); Delivering Milo, starring Albert Finney and Bridget Fonda (2001); Jane Doe starring Teri Hatcher and Rob Lowe (2001); Fear X starring John Turturro (2003); Masked and Anonymous starring Bob Dylan, John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges (2003); and Words and Pictures starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche (2014).​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​