Trinity Films: the UK distributor behind Trinity X and The Bunny Game

Overview

Trinity Films is a United Kingdom independent film distributor, co-directed by Mark Sandell, that launched the DVD genre label Trinity X at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2011 (Love Horror). In June 2011 it acquired UK rights to Adam Rehmeier’s The Bunny Game from sales agent Jinga Films, planning an early-2012 Trinity X release — but the BBFC refused the film a certificate that October, and the planned release collapsed (Screen Daily; Screen Daily).

Trinity X: a label for risky genre cinema

Trinity announced Trinity X from Cannes as a home-entertainment label for films its mainstream operation could not easily handle: Sandell said it would “take on much more risk-taking projects that may not sit very easily with exhibitors,” films that “won’t be exploitive” but would “challenge the distribution norms and traditional windows” (Love Horror). The launch title was Simon Rumley’s Red, White and Blue, a psycho-sexual chiller starring Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller and Marc Senter, released that September; Rumley praised Trinity as a company “which isn’t afraid to pick up challenging material and prove to the industry that there is a market for well made and provocative cinema” (Love Horror; Screen Daily). The positioning was deliberate — a prestige-genre brand that could absorb controversy as a marketing asset rather than a liability.

The Bunny Game — the acquisition that became a ban

Weeks after the label’s launch, Trinity Films acquired UK rights to The Bunny Game from Jinga Films, slating it for an early-2012 Trinity X release even though the film was “yet to be certified in the UK” (Screen Daily). Sandell defended the pick: “Although The Bunny Game is acquired viewing and deals with disturbing issues, it fits the Trinity X brand perfectly in that it is distinctive and independent film-making at its best, with strong performances and a highly original filmic eye” (Screen Daily). Screen Daily’s June report noted the gamble explicitly — Trinity was “hoping UK film censors are more lenient with The Bunny Game than they were with Eureka’s The Human Centipede II which last month became the first title banned by the BBFC in two years” (Screen Daily). They were not. In October the BBFC refused the film a certificate; Trinity’s co-director called the decision “disappointing, worrying and sad,” while Sandell said: “We did imagine that the BBFC might ask for cuts but an outright ban gives the film a twisted notoriety that, quite frankly, it doesn’t warrant” (GamesRadar; Screen Daily). Trinity said it was considering its options; the release never materialised.

A ban as a market signal

The episode exposed the economics of the Trinity X bet. The company paid for a film it could not legally supply: meanwhile Jinga Films kept selling The Bunny Game elsewhere — closing Germany (Illusion Unlimited) and Scandinavia (Njuta) while the UK release sat in limbo (Screen Daily). Screen Daily’s observation that The Human Centipede 2 was the first BBFC-banned title in two years implies the refusal was a genuine outlier, not a pattern — which makes Trinity’s loss a calculated risk that misfired rather than a foreseeable outcome (Screen Daily). Trinity X’s short public arc is summarised below:

Date	Trinity X milestone	Outcome
May 2011	Label announced at Cannes	Launched with Simon Rumley’s Red, White and Blue
September 2011	Red, White and Blue released	Trinity X’s first — and best-documented — release
June 2011	UK rights to The Bunny Game acquired from Jinga Films	Planned early-2012 release
October 2011	BBFC refuses the film a certificate	Release collapses; distributor “considering its options”

Frequently asked questions

What is Trinity Films? Trinity Films is a UK-based independent film distributor, co-directed by Mark Sandell. In May 2011 it launched Trinity X, a DVD/home-entertainment genre label for controversial and risk-taking films, announced from the Cannes Film Festival.

What was Trinity X’s first release? Simon Rumley’s psycho-sexual chiller Red, White and Blue, starring Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller and Marc Senter, released in September 2011. Director Rumley endorsed the label as one unafraid of challenging material.

Why couldn’t Trinity release The Bunny Game in the UK? Trinity acquired the UK rights in June 2011 and planned an early-2012 Trinity X release, but the BBFC refused the film a certificate in October 2011 — meaning it could not be legally supplied in the UK. Cuts were deemed unviable given the pervasiveness of the abuse depicted.

What did Trinity say about the ban? Co-director Mark Sandell said an outright ban gave the film “a twisted notoriety that, quite frankly, it doesn’t warrant,” and the company’s co-director called the decision “disappointing, worrying and sad.” Trinity said it was considering its options.

Is Trinity Films the same as Trinity Content Partners? Unverified. A UK home-entertainment company called Trinity Creative Partnership rebranded as Trinity Content Partners in May 2025; no full-read source establishes any lineage to the Trinity Films that launched Trinity X in 2011, so this profile does not merge them.

Timeline

• 2011-05 — Trinity X announced from Cannes; launches with Red, White and Blue (Love Horror).
• 2011-06 — UK rights to The Bunny Game acquired from Jinga Films; early-2012 Trinity X release planned (Screen Daily).
• 2011-09 — Red, White and Blue released as Trinity X’s first title (Screen Daily).
• 2011-10 — BBFC refuses The Bunny Game a certificate; Trinity calls it “disappointing, worrying and sad” (Screen Daily; GamesRadar).

What we could not verify

• The exact timing of the rights pickup: JoBlo says Trinity X picked them up “back in January” 2011; Screen Daily and GamesRadar tie the deal to Cannes (May) with announcement in June. Not resolved.
• Whether “Trinity Entertainment” (Screen Daily, November 2011) is a naming variant of Trinity Films or a different entity.
• The identity of the co-director(s) alongside Mark Sandell — unnamed in all full-read sources.
• Whether Trinity X survived the ban, or ever resubmitted The Bunny Game in cut form.
• Any connection between Trinity Films and the similarly named Trinity Creative Partnership/Trinity Content Partners.

Sources

• Screen Daily — Trinity picks up horror The Bunny Game for UK (tier2; the acquisition)
• Screen Daily — BBFC bans Adam Rehmeier’s The Bunny Game (tier2; the ban and Trinity’s reaction)
• Screen Daily — Jinga closes more deals for The Bunny Game; BBFC refuses to classify film (tier2; Sandell’s fuller reaction; parallel sales)
• Love Horror — Trinity Films announces new label Trinity X (tier3; the Cannes launch)
• GamesRadar — BBFC bans The Bunny Game (tier3; Cannes pickup; distributor reaction)
• JoBlo — Adam Rehmeier’s The Bunny Game banned by British Board of Film Classification (tier3; the “back in January” timing account, flagged)