Mark Borde has been in the Motion Picture Distribution Business for over thirty years. His well-earned reputation as the foremost independent motion picture distributor began with his work in a family distribution company, Seymour Borde and Associates, the number one independent feature film theatrical distribution company on the west coast representing MGM, Rank, and hundreds of well-known titles. In 1972, after graduating college with a degree in English and a year of law school, he joined the family business full time and has been distributing movies to theatres over the past three decades.

After his father retired in the early 1990’s, Mark continued the business with Borde Film Releasing, again commercially releasing literally hundreds of titles, but now expanding beyond the thirteen Western states into national distribution. In 1994, Borde Releasing became part of Interstar Releasing Corporation, a division of Westinghouse Group. During the period he released numerous films, including “Highlander 2” (on over 1000 screens), “A Midnight Clear”, and “Knight Moves”.

In 1996, Mark founded Legacy Releasing, a national distribution company devoted to theatrically releasing independent films on behalf of studios and video companies. Legacy became the number one independent national theatrical distribution company, distributing an average of 15 feature films a year for four years. The releases included films for Warner Brothers, Columbia Tri-Star, Republic Pictures, BMG, Monarch, The Curb Organization, and dozens more. Legacy’s releases included “Shiloh”, “Shiloh 2”, Once Upon A Time When We Were Colored”, “Killer: Journal of a Murder”, “Little Men”, “Family Tree”, “Simon Sez” (a 1000 print release), “Trois”, “Wedding Bell Blues”, and hundreds more.

In 1999, Mr. Borde became co-president for Independent Artists. Its first release was “Love Stinks”, which opened in over 800 screens. Mr. Borde was also responsible for distributing the films though Columbia Tri-Star Home Video and HBO, where it reaped significant revenues.

In April of 2000, Mr. Borde became president of domestic distribution for Keystone Entertainment Corp. For the next two years, he was responsible for the theatrical distribution of Keystone’s productions, including “MVP 1” and “MVP 2”, while continuing to release “service deal” features for companies such as Lions Gate Entertainment, Moonstone Entertainment, Shangri-La Entertainment, and others. He negotiated sales of Keystone product to major studios, including Warner Brothers and Columbia Tri-Star, for video/DVD distribution. He also negotiated a 9 picture output deal with Miramax. His active television experience resulted in sales of Keystone product to major cable channels, including The Disney Channel, HBO, and Starz-Encore.

In July of 2002, Mr. Borde formed a full service film distribution company, Innovation Film Group. IFG handled theatrical, non-theatrical, television, and foreign releases for independent and studio films. Among its clients, IFG lists Zenpix, Turtles Crossing, Moonstone Entertainment, American World Pictures, DEJ Productions, Warner Brothers Home Video, Columbia Tri-Star Home Video, Rainforest Productions, Crusader Entertainment, Goldenlight Productions, LionsGate Films, among others.

In August of 2004, Mark Borde and Susan Jackson formed Freestyle Releasing and Freestyle Home Entertainment. As the number one independent theatrical distribution company in the country, Freestyle Releasing continues to work on a “service deal” basis, distributing films on over 2000 screens nationwide. In 2006, Freestyle distributed “An American Haunting” in wide release, as well as “The Illusionist”, among others.
Mr. Borde has a presence at all major national and international film festivals and markets, and has maintained quality professional and personal relationships with all of the major studios and independent acquisitions executives, producer’s representatives, artist’s agents, and foreign distributors.

In addition to the 30 years of film distribution, he produced 9 successful feature films, including the cult classic “Hollywood Hot Tubs”, and Dan O’Bannon’s “The Resurrected”. He is also the executive producer of “Love Stinks” and the co-producer of “Trois 2”, and the executive producer of “Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour”.
Mark Borde is a full voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Producer’s Branch. He is also a guest lecturer at UCLA Film School.

Mr. Borde owns The Osio Cinema in Monterrey, California. The Osio, named the number one theatre in Monterrey for five years running, plays art-house, foreign and critically acclaimed independent feature films for the citizens of Monterrey.

Mr. Borde is married to entertainment lawyer Christine Arden. They have 4 children and 6 grandchildren.