Michael Barker and Tom Bernard are co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous company of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in January 1992 (with Marcie Bloom) that distributes, produces and acquires independent films from the United States and around the world.
The team has worked with many of the world’s finest independent filmmakers including Akira Kurosawa, John Boorman, Louis Malle, David Mamet, James Ivory, Zhang Yimou, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Allison Anders, Agniezska Holland, John Sayles, Fred Schepisi, Errol Morris, Alan Rudolph, Hal Hartley, Pedro Almodóvar, Mike Figgis, Woody Allen, François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Lily Tomlin, Richard Linklater, Merchant Ivory, Neil LaBute, Sally Potter, David Cronenberg, Hector Babenco, Guillermo del Toro, Gary Oldman, Paul Schrader, Robert Altman, Ingmar Bergman, Norman Jewison, Ang Lee, Paul Verhoeven, Kenneth Branagh and Francis Ford Coppola.
They have been involved with some of the best and most successful independent films from the past two decades including:
Highlights At Sony Pictures Classics (1992–present)
Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud), And When Did You Last See Your Father? (Anand Tucker), Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola), Sleuth (Kenneth Branagh), My Kid Could Paint That (Amir Bar-Lev), The Jane Austen Book Club (Robin Swicord), Moliere (Laurent Tirard), Interview (Steve Buscemi), Paprika (Satoshi Kon), Angel-A (Luc Besson), The Valet (Francis Veber), Black Book (Paul Verhoeven), The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck), Volver (Pedro Almodóvar), Quinceneara (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer), Who Killed the Electric Car? (Chris Payne), Friends With Money (Nicole Holofcener), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones), Why We Fight (Eugene Jarecki), Cache (Michael Haneke), Breakfast on Pluto (Neil Jordan), Capote (Bennett Miller), 2046 (Wong Kar Wai), Junebug (Phil Morrison), House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou), Saraband (Ingmar Bergman), Kung Fu Hustle (Steven Chow), Spider (David Cronenberg), Baadasssss! (Mario Van Peebles), The Company (Robert Altman), The Fog of War (Errol Morris), Triplets of Bellville (Sylvain Chomet), Winged Migration (Jacques Perrin), All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green), 13 Conversations About One Thing (Jill Sprecher), Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar), Dogtown and Z Boys (Stacy Peralta), Pollock (Ed Harris), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee), Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen), American Movie (Chris Smith), Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer), The General (John Boorman), Central Station (Walter Salles), The Opposite of Sex (David Roos), Spanish Prisoner (David Mamet), In the Company of Men (Neil LaBute), Suburbia (Richard Linklater), Waiting for Guffman (Chris Guest), Lone Star (John Sayles), Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz), The City of Lost Children (Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro), Safe (Todd Haynes), Persuasion (Roger Michell), Crumb (Terry Zwigoff), Vanya on 42nd Street (Louis Malle), Mi Vida Loca (Allison Anders), Orlando (Sally Potter) and Howards End (Merchant Ivory).
Highlights At Orion Classics (1983–1992)
Pauline, At the Beach, Ran, My Beautiful Launderette, Jean De Florette, Babette’s Feast, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Wings of Desire, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Murmur of the Heart, Chocolat, Mystery Train, Cyranon De Bergerac, Europa Europa, Slacker, The Search for Signs of Intelligence, Raise the Red Lantern, The Adjuster.
Highlights At United Artists Classics (1981–1983)
The Last Metro, Diva, Lola, The Night of Shooting Stars, The Last Waltz (reissue).