Susan Margolin
With over 25 years’ experience in the global film and television distribution business, Susan Margolin has built a reputation as a pioneer of digital distribution and a dedicated supporter of independent filmmakers and of the filmmaking community. After spending her early career in international film sales and television she launched New Video Group in 1991 with partner Steve Savage. Over the span of two decades New Video became a leading home entertainment distributor and global digital aggregator, featuring award winning film, TV and online content with an international presence in over 45 territories. A launch partner with key platforms including iTunes, Xbox, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Sony PlayStation, Google and others, New Video distributed content via digital download, streaming, VOD, Blu-Ray and DVD and platform theatrical releases. During that time she partnered with over 500 content creators including A+E, History, Lifetime, Tribeca Films, Major League Baseball and Scholastic. In 2011, her company signed on as Sundance Institute’s exclusive digital content aggregation partner for Sundance Artist Services, providing a unique gateway to digital distribution that emphasized filmmaker involvement and rights management.
In 1999, while at New Video, Margolin launched Docurama Films, a subsidiary of the company. Through Docurama, Margolin has championed more than 400 award winning non-fiction films, from Academy Award nominees including Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War, Danfung Dennis’ Hell and Back Again and Joe Berlinger’s Paradise Lost trilogy to Josh Fox’s Gasland, Mike Lerner’s Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer and D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, to name a few.
In 2012, Margolin and Savage sold New Video to Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM), the leading digital cinema company, forming Cinedigm Entertainment Group (CEG), a full-service end-to- end digital releasing studio specializing in acquiring and distributing independent films and specialty content both theatrically and through digital, mobile and home media platforms. While in the role of Co- President of CEG, Margolin released such critically acclaimed independent films as Destin Daniel Crettin’s Short Term 12, Penny Lane’s Our Nixon, Kelly Reichert’s Night Moves, and Godfrey Reggio’s The Visitors.
Margolin was most recently President of Docurama and Special Acquisitions at Cinedigm. She oversaw the recent launch of The Docurama Channel, a streaming VOD service, as well as the Docurama brand of award winning documentary films across all platforms including theatrical, home entertainment, and digital distribution.
Margolin currently serves on the board of directors of BAFTA NY, and Hamptons Doc Fest, and on the advisory boards of Chicken and Egg Pictures and New York Women in Film and Television. She was honored in 2012 by the Producers Guild of America as one of the “Digital 25: Leaders in Emerging Entertainment.” She received her B.A. in Semiotics from Brown University.
Margolin currently lives in New York City with her husband and two children.