Focus Features 
Oxygen Media 
Bleecker Street 
Andrew Karpen has a word for the kinds of films he wants to see and likes to release through Bleecker Street, the indie distribution company he founded in August 2014. He calls them “smart-house.”He believes it’s possible to combine the escapism of studio tentpoles with the artistic rigor of indie fare, a strategy that was once commonplace but hasn’t been in vogue since the 1990s. He did just that with one of the biggest art-house releases of 2016, “Eye in the...
Bleecker Street
Andrew
Karpen
CEO
Ever since Karpen launched Bleecker Street in 2014, the mini-major has had a busy release slate, spotlighted by “Disobedience,” with Rachels Weisz and McAdams; the family drama “Leave No Trace”; and fashionista documentary “McQueen.” Before that, he spent years heading up finance, operations and strategic planning at Focus Features — after whose New York address he named Bleecker — which he joined in 2002 as COO. With a promotion to president in 2006, he took on domestic marketing, publicity and distribution, and in 2012 he was elevated to co-CEO. Karpen began his career at Miramax Films, where he eventually became senior VP of finance and operations before moving on to executive posts at Sunbow Entertainment, Independent Pictures and Oxygen Media.
