How did Miramax start?
Founded by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York in 1979, and named by combining the first names of their parents Max and Miriam, the company was originally created in order to distribute independent films which were deemed commercially inviable at the major studios. The company’s first major success came when the Weinsteins teamed up with British producer Martin Lewis and acquired US rights to two concert films Lewis had produced of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International. The Weinsteins worked with Lewis to distill the two films into one film for the US marketplace and the resulting film The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball (US Version) was a successful release for Miramax in the summer of 1982. It also presaged a modus operandi that the company would undertake later in the 1980s of acquiring films from international filmmakers and reworking them to suit US sensibilities.