Berry Meyerowitz, President & CEO of Phase 4 Films, has announced that the company has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to writer-director Andrew Edison’s groundbreaking high school comedy “Bindlestiffs”. This is the first film to be released under the company’s new “Kevin Smith’s SModcast Pictures Presents” banner.
In “Bindlestiffs”, three smart-mouthed high school virgins, suspended from school on a graffiti charge, flee to the inner city to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye.Edison wrote the screenplay with Luke Loftin, and the two also produced (with Mike Akel and Matt Patterson) and star in the film. “Bindlestiffs” made its world premiere at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival where it took home the Audience Award for Best Feature Narrative.
“We are beyond stoked to have Kevin Smith present “Bindlestiffs”,” said Edison and Loftin. “If he didn’t already pave the way with Clerks for films like ours to find an audience, he is definitely doing that now in his partnership with Phase 4. For us, this is truly a dream come true.”
Phase 4 will release the film in June, in conjunction with an event theatrical tour and Q&A’s with Kevin Smith and the filmmakers. Meyerowitz and the Phase 4 team will be on the ground with Kevin Smith and his SModcast Pictures team at the South By Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) looking for other films for the label.
“SModcast Pictures Presents is ecstatic about our first feature,” said Smith, “a ballsy high school comedy that was conceived by real, live high schoolers (who are actually way funnier than the 20-something adults who usually play teens in movies)! This mind-bendingly original and gut-bustingly hysterical first film is so confidently made and one-of-a-kind, I cannot wait to stand on a stage beside the “Bindlestiffs” boys and smell the room after the audience has pissed themselves laughing at their debut film.”
Phase 4 and SModcast Pictures’ distribution partnership, which was announced in early 2012, will allow Phase 4 to acquire exclusive rights to exhibit and distribute up to twelve films per year under Smith’s banner. Phase 4 will release four of these films theatrically each year, and these will include a live tour with Kevin Smith. To submit a film for consideration under the “Kevin Smith’s SModcast Pictures Presents” label, please email SMacquisitions@phase4films.com.
