Adam Yauch’s Film Company Up for Three Academy Awards

Though Beastie Boy Adam "MCA" Yauch joked with the LA Weekly that he's planning to spend the Oscars distributing "sandwiches outside the theater ... Maybe Harvey Weinstein will be hungry," his film company is very real. Oscilloscope Laboratories, Yauch's indie film distribution company, which is based in New York, has two films up for Academy Awards this year.

'The Messenger,' a film about the people responsible for notifying the relatives of soldiers killed in action, received nominations for best screenplay and best supporting actor (Woody Harrelson), while 'Burma VJ' is up for best documentary.

Though the company has only been around for two years, they've managed to thrive in an almost impossible economic climate. "A lot of people said, 'What the hell are you guys doing?'" Yauch explained. "I said, 'We're small. This isn't going to hurt us.'"The company's first film was Harlem basketball doc 'Gunnin' for That #1 Spot,' which was directed by Yauch himself. "My interest in starting this company was not to distribute my own films," he explained. "I was interested in the idea of working with filmmakers." Since then, Yauch has built Oscilloscope into a pretty serious success story, releasing 10-15 critically acclaimed films a year. "The really great thing about the Oscars is that a bunch of people know about these films," he says. "For filmmakers, this is evidence that the staff at Oscilloscope knows what they're doing."

Check out the company's catalog, they've released some wonderful films.