KUSH GROUP BIOGRAPHY
(KUSH MEDIA GROUP INCORPORATING: Palmer PR Ltd & Nu-Urban Image International Pictures)

THE KUSH FILM CLUB
Entrepreneur Marlon Palmer originally formed Kush Promotions & the Kush Film Club in May 1998, after 18 years of working in the music entertainment industry as a promoter. The Film Club’s aim & objectives were & still are to create an accessible & consistent exhibition platform for independent ethnic minority filmmakers to showcase their work within mainstream cinema venues whilst developing new audiences. Exclusive mainstream features were used as a marketing tool to pull patrons in; they were then forced to watch short films from talented local filmmakers before the main feature.

The film club became very popular within the ethnic-minority community of London, Bristol & other regions where screenings took place, through its mixture of guest hosts, short films, premier’s, Q & A’s and after-parties. Various “urban guerrilla style marketing” techniques were utilised to make the film club one of the most exciting and hyped-upped events in the urban event calendar. Many of the UK ethnic minority actors like George Muhammad (Gus – Eastenders), Chuck Venice (Footballers Wives), Will Johnson (Baby Father & Waking The Dead), Ellen Thomas (Teachers), Tameka Epsom (3 Non Blondes), Cyril Nri (The Bill) attended screenings along with many other media Industry personnel.

The Kush Film Club is quite unique & became the only all-year round marketing & exhibition platform for Black & Urban films in the UK. Creating a dynamic relationship with mainstream UK film distributors. Film Club Members were the some of the first in the UK to attend Exclusive & Premier screenings of these films: 'The Players Club’ (Ice Cubes directional debut, the screening was well received by a capacity audience of 500, including stars from the local Tottenham Hotspur Football Club). Kush has since gone on to work on direct marketing & PR campaigns plus exclusive screenings for films like; 'Belly, Thicker Than Water (DVD), Bamboozled, Shaft, Scary Movie, Nutty Professor 2, Romeo Must Die, Down To Earth, RAY, Ong Bak, Freedomland (DVD), In My Country (DVD) & the recently released independent film Dead Mans Cards plus too many others to mention here (See list below). In 2005 the “Kush Film Club” was re-branded & launched as the ‘Film Boutique’ with a new home at the renowned Odeon Cinema in Covent Garden in the heart of central London, an objective Marlon always wanted to achieve for the promotion of black & urban films. Members were some of the first to see films like: Coach Carter, Bullet Boy, Beauty Shop, The Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow & CRASH. To this date there has been over 100 screening events and Marlon Palmer is regarded as the leading independent exhibitor of Black/Urban Films in the UK.

PALMER PR
Palmer PR Ltd was set up in 2005 to specifically offer specialised Marketing/PR & Event Management services to UK film distributors plus anyone else planning to organise specialised targeted events. UK film distributor Pathè Films were the first to hire the services of Palmer PR to organise a targeted London urban marketing campaign for the release of their Oscar ® winning film ‘Crash’. The company has since worked on Home Entertainment releases for Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Medusa/Hong Kong Legends, M.I.A, Snapper Music & Contenda as well manging PR campaigns for events like the BFM Film Festival and other events.

Now in our 10th year and with a good body of work behind us, The Kush Group is recognised jointly as the UK’s leading independent specialist PR / Marketing and Exhibition Company of Black/Urban films.

KUSH COMMUNITY ARTS & MEDIA DEVELOPMENT
Kush Community Arts is the not-for-profit Training & Development arm of the group. In 2001 Marlon Palmer devised the innovative ‘A Bridge To Normal Living’ a 12-week Digital Video Production course aimed at socially disadvantaged young people from the London borough of Hackney. The course also included personal and professional development and the chosen students remit was to produce a short community safety video educating other young people about the harm of drugs & crime.

Both the local police & the Hackney Community Safeties Team held up the course as a shining example of a pioneering and productive community-training programme that actually worked, with a percentage of students then going on to media courses at University or local further education establishments. A number of the community safety videos produced by the students were used as the highlight of the annual Hackney Community Safety Conference.

Kush is looking to gain funding for a number of Film Workshops in 2008 aimed at disadvantaged communities.

BHM FILM FESTIVAL
SIGHTS & SOUNDS FROM THE PAST is the first l - week film festival in the UK that celebrates ‘Black History Month’ (October annually in the UK) each year and has been financially supported by; Film London, Southwark Arts Council, West Green Community Chest (Haringey), Hackney Council for the Voluntary sector & various private funders.

WWW.KUSHFILMS.COM
kushfilms.com is the only urban film entertainment website in the UK that promotes all films but specifically caters for the film-loving ethnic minority communities. Currently with over 120,000 unique hits per month & over 720,000 page impressions, Kushfilms.com is taking the urban community by storm – especially as it’s the only place to find out about the renowned Kush ‘Film Boutique’ monthly film screenings & after-parties.

Website features: New Releases news & reviews / Competition Corner / Star Profiles / Brit Fliks (features on the British Indie film scene) / The Screening Room (Trailers, clips etc) / Film Festivals Page / In Production News (new films about to go into production) / Training & Development Page (Jobs & Training) / Special Features…

A new dynamically visual interactive kushfilms.com site is currently been developed and will be launched in May 2008 with many new features.

FILM DISTRIBUTION
Nu-Urban Image International Pictures is the latest addition to the Kush Group and will be launched in May 2007. This will be the first full time film distribution company in Europe to acquire & distribute black & urban films. Even though acquiring black films from around the world will be a priority the company will distribute any financially viable film that is available to it.

Kush Films-‘More Than Just Film’.

PROMOTIONAL SERVICES OFFERED BY KUSH PROMOTIONS & PALMER PR

KUSH IS PLEASED TO OFFER THESE SPECIALISED PROMOTIONAL AND MARKETING SERVICES TARGETED AT THE ETHNIC MINORITY COMMUNITIES OF THE UK, WHICH INCLUDES:

• FLYER & POSTER DESIGN / PRINT & DISTRIBUTION
  
• NATIONAL & LOCAL NEWSPAPER PRESS ADVERTISING
  
• PUBLIC RELATIONS (Press / Media)
  
• EVENT MANAGEMENT (Screenings/Parties etc)
  
• NIGHTCLUB PROMOTIONS
  
• TARGETED URBAN CONSUMER DATABASES (sms, email & snail mail)
  
• E - MARKETING/ ONLINE PROMOTIONS & CAMPAIGNS
  
• WEBSITE DESIGNS
  
• YOUTH DEVELOPMENT (Career paths in the creative industries/Educational film screenings)
  

FILMS KUSH HAS SCREENED: 1998 – 2008

INDEPENDENT SHORT FILMS SCREENED
CREATING A PLATFORM FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS

Kush - Making A Difference In The Community!