Press release

Montreal — Thursday September 20, 2007 — Montreal-based Atopia Distribution is pleased to announce its acquisition of all North American rights to Aron Gauder’s acclaimed Hungarian art/comedy THE DISTRICT! (“Nyocker!”), an edgy animated social & political satire musical that the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival described as being “like an Eastern European SOUTH PARK” and which was hailed by Ain’t It Cool News as “startlingly original”. THE DISTRICT! had its North American bow at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at 59 fests across the world, including Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam International, Philadelphia Film Festival, Austin Fantasticfest, Mar Del Plata, Melbourne International and Sitges, winning awards at no less than 13 of them. The acquisition was negotiated between Atopia Distribution Inc’s Pascal Maeder & Mitch Davis and SzimplaFilm Ltd’s Kreet Paljas.

Atopia will be taking the film out theatrically in the United States and Canada beginning next month, with engagements booked in such venues as Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse, Boston’s Brattle Cinema, Seattle’s Grand Illusion, Montreal’s Cinema Du Parc and Toronto’s Bloor Cinema, with additional cities currently being confirmed. The film’s theatrical run will be followed by a supplement-packed dvd release on the 4th of December. Atopia’s dvd output is distributed in the United States by EMI’s Caroline Distribution with Morningstar Entertainment distributing within Canada.

A group of teens from the wrong side of Budapest’s tracks band together to make themselves rich by traveling back in time, burying a horde of mammoths under the city’s streets, then returning to the present and drilling for oil. As creators of a new oil-producing nation, their scheme draws the attention of Vladmir Putin, Tony Blair and George W. Bush. In the midst of it all, star-crossed teen love is in bloom. This outrageous and visually stunning animated satire plays like an unhinged ghetto updating of Romeo & Juliet smash-filtered through a politically-charged — and politically-incorrect — kaleidoscope of clashing world views and social unrest, complete with musical numbers and a wicked soundtrack of Hungarian hip-hop. You have never seen anything like it.

Atopia is an independent film production, distribution and sales company based in Montreal, Canada. Since its inception in 2000, the company has produced and released a string of critically-acclaimed and award-winning feature films including Daniel Cross’ S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks In Traffic (2001), Federico Hidalgo’s A Silent Love (2004), Simon Sauve’s Jimmywork (2004), Sophie Deraspe’s Missing Victor Pellerin [Rechercher Victor Pellerin] (2006), Noel Mitrani’s On the Trail of Igor Rizzi [Sur la trace d’Igor Rizzi] (2006), Antlers [Panache] by André- Line Beauparlant, and most recently, The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez by Heidi Specogna. In order to give our films the richest tour, Atopia Distribution screens them at major festivals around the world, then releases them in art-house and commercial theatres. This allows our titles to garner wide media exposure prior to being launched on DVD through retailers, as well as being sold on line.

News posted Thursday, September 20, 2007.