CREO Films Partners with Xeltis Ltd for European Distribution Infrastructure
By CREO Films Business Development
CREO Films has announced a strategic partnership with Xeltis Ltd, the London-based distribution and sales company, to create a dedicated European distribution corridor for CREO Films pipeline projects. The agreement, signed on May 16th in Vienna, gives all CREO Films-greenlighted projects direct access to Xeltis's distribution infrastructure across 22 European markets, including theatrical release networks, streaming platform relationships, and public broadcaster licensing channels.
Xeltis was founded in 2019 by former BBC Films executive Priya Mehrotra and specialises in routing independent international films through European cultural funding frameworks, including Eurimages and the EU MEDIA programme. For CREO Films pipeline projects that qualify for European co-production status — which several projects do by virtue of their European co-production partners — the Xeltis relationship unlocks access to funding streams that had previously been difficult to navigate without an established European presence.
Under the terms of the partnership, Xeltis will take on sales representation for CREO Films projects at the major European film markets, including Cannes Marché du Film, the European Film Market in Berlin, and the Ventana Sur market in Buenos Aires. CREO Films retains creative control and final cut rights across all projects, with Xeltis acting in a purely distribution and sales capacity. The partnership is structured as a non-exclusive framework agreement that allows individual projects to engage Xeltis on a project-by-project basis.
CREO Films founder Sapiens Ndatabaye Kanyunyi said the Xeltis partnership reflects CREO Films' strategy of building distribution architecture before production rather than after. "Too many independent films get made and then search for distribution. We wanted to invert that — build the distribution relationships first so that when a film is ready, the path to audiences already exists." Vienna Protocol, currently in development with a lead financing search underway, is expected to be the first CREO Films project to formally engage Xeltis's European theatrical network.
