Optimum, BBC4 to back foreign films

Pair agrees to pick up six pics per year

By ADAM DAWTREY

LONDON -- Optimum Releasing, the BBC and the Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival have joined forces in a new initiative to widen the range of foreign-lingo movies distributed in the U.K.

Optimum and BBC4, the pubcaster's new digital channel for eggheads, will jointly acquire six films a year to be distributed and broadcast under the banner "Discoveries." They will be advised in their selections by the Edinburgh fest team.

They have already picked up three movies -- Roberta Torre's "Angela," from Italy; Carlos Sorin's "Minimal Stories" from Argentina; and Marius Holst's "Dragonflies," a Norwegian/Swedish co-production.