4. Palisades Tartan
Founded in 1984 by Hamish McAlpine, Tartan Films was a fabulous video company which I have fond memories of as a teenager with titles such as Man Bites Dog. Tartan had a reputation for releasing edgy art house cinema, Ingmar Bergman's body of work, Tartan Terror - which was the first label to bring H G Lewis films to the UK and also Tartan Asia Extreme which released such films as Audition and Marebito. The company was integral to introducing East Asian horror to the UK. It went into administration in 2008, which was a pretty sad day for me because I have loads of Tartan DVDs and I personally feel that their films were of a better quality than a similar distributor of world cinema, Artificial Eye. Tartan's releases were more relevant. Any how, Palisades Media Group recognised the calibre of Tartan Videos and spotted a golden distribution opportunity. Tartan became Palisades Tartan and business resumed. I admit to having a penchant for their films and I am so glad that Tartan didn't completely lose its existence.