By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

GKIDS Names David Jesteadt President

Posted Wednesday, January 18th, 2017 - Comments Off on GKIDS Names David Jesteadt President
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GKIDS, the producer and distributor of award-winning animation for both adult and family audiences, announced today that David Jesteadt has been appointed to the role of President. GKIDS founder Eric Beckman will continue to serve as CEO.

 Jesteadt joined GKIDS in 2007 and has served a variety of roles within the company, most recently as SVP Distribution. In that time, GKIDS has received eight Academy Award® nominations in the Best Animated Feature category – a record for an independent distributor – and released a string of critically acclaimed feature films, such as The Secret of Kells, A Cat in Paris, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, Song of the Sea, Boy and the World, Miss Hokusai, April and the Extraordinary World, and most recently, nationwide re-releases of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. The company has also produced English language versions of its films featuring the voices of Lauren Bacall, Paul Giamatti, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Matthew Modine, Nick Offerman, Ellen Page, Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, J.K. Simmons, Forest Whitaker, Jeffrey Wright, and many others. 

“Dave has been my partner since GKIDS was a startup and we worked elbow to elbow in an 8×12 office,” says GKIDS’ CEO Eric Beckman. “He has been a crucial component of the company’s success to date.  As much as anything, this new title is merely an acknowledgment of the role he is already serving – and I look forward to Dave’s continued leadership and innovative thinking as the company looks to grow in exciting new directions over the coming years.”

Jesteadt’s new role comes as the company looks towards an ambitious 2017 release slate, including the critically-acclaimed and Golden Globe®-nominated Swiss film My Life as a Zucchini, the American independent comedyMy Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, featuring the voices of Jason Schwartzman and Lena Dunham, andThe Breadwinner, the upcoming feature from two-time Academy Award®-nominated Cartoon Saloon (Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells), which Beckman and Jesteadt joined as executive producers.

ABOUT GKIDS

GKIDS is the acclaimed producer and distributor of award-winning feature animation for both adult and family audiences. Since 2010, the company has scored an unrivaled eight Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations – second only to Disney/Pixar – with The Secret of Kells in 2010, A Cat in Paris and Chico & Rita in 2012, Ernest & Celestine in 2014, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea in 2015, and Boy and the World andWhen Marnie Was There in 2016. GKIDS is an executive producer of Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner, which is slated to release stateside in 2017.  GKIDS also handles North American theatrical distribution for the famed Studio Ghibli library of films, one of the world’s most coveted animation collections with titles Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and others. www.gkids.com

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