Contemporary Films is the oldest independent film distribution company in the UK. It was founded by Charles Cooper (1910–2001) in 1951. It brought to UK cinemas many acclaimed films from countries around the world, including works by such famous directors as Andrzej Wajda, Milos Forman, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir, Robert Bresson, Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky, Werner Herzog, Satyajit Ray, Yasujirō Ozu, Nagisa Oshima, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Luis Bunuel. It continues to distribute films to cinemas and TV, and videos and DVDs to the general public, as well as supplying footage to programme-makers.
Between 1967 and 1989, Contemporary Films also operated three cinemas in England. These were the Paris Pullman cinema in South Kensington, from 1967–1983, The Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley, from 1975-1985 and The Phoenix Picturehouse in Oxford, from 1977-1989.