Andrew Karpen, the respected CEO of Bleecker Street Media who founded the indie distribution company after spending a decade as a top executive with Focus Features, died Monday. He was 59.
“Our industry has lost a giant,” Bleecker Street president Kent Sanderson said in a statement. “Andrew taught us all so much, foremost of which is the value of kindness, honesty, and family above all else. His leadership and courage will inspire all of us at Bleecker Street for the rest of our lives.”
Karpen launched New York-based Bleecker Street in 2014 with the backing of Manoj Bhargava, founder of the 5-hour Energy drink. He named his company with a nod to the old Focus headquarters at 65 Bleecker St.
“I’m looking forward to bringing the work of great filmmakers into the marketplace, and I couldn’t be more excited to be launching this new company in New York City,” Karpen said in a statement at the time. “Bleecker Street will be well positioned to distribute films on a platform or national basis, whatever best suits each title.”
Among the films released under his watch were Trumbo (2015), Beasts of No Nation (2015), Danny Collins (2015), Elvis & Nixon (2016), Eye in the Sky (2016), Logan Lucky (2017), Hotel Mumbai (2018) and, more recently, the 2023 releases Golda, One Life, What Happens Later and Mafia Mamma.
“Some people will like some of our movies. Some people might not. But I’d like to think when they see a Bleecker movie, it’s at least thought-provoking,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.
Andrew Marc Karpen, whose father was an obstetrician and gynecologist in New York, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1988 and earned his master’s degree in business administration from the NYU Stern School of Business.
He began his career in the industry with a four-year stint at Miramax Films, where he rose to senior vp finance & operations, then worked at Sunbow Entertainment, at Independent Pictures as CFO and at Oxygen Media as senior vp finance & planning.
He joined Focus Features in 2003 as COO, was upped to president in 2006, adding responsibilities for domestic marketing, publicity, distribution and management of Focus Features International, and then promoted to co-CEO alongside James Schamus in 2012.
He announced he was leaving Focus in 2013 — while choosing not to relocate from New York to Los Angeles — after Peter Schlessel took over for Schamus.
Films during his tenure at Focus included Brokeback Mountain (2005), Atonement (2007), Milk (2008), The Kids Are All Right (2010), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) and Dallas Buyers Club (2013).
He was a big fan of the New York Giants.
In April 2024, Bleecker Street promoted Sanderson to president.
Survivors include his wife, Pam, whom he married in March 1993 — THR noted in 2018 that she owned a four-screen movie theater in Bethel, Connecticut — and their children, Joshua, Zack and Sloan.
