Montreal-based Atopia Distribution has announced its acquisition of all North American rights to Aron Gauder’s acclaimed Hungarian art comedy THE DISTRICT! (“Nyocker!”), an edgy animated social and political satire musical that the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival described as “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 DISTRICT! is the story of a group of teens from the wrong side of Budapest’s tracks who 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 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.
Atopia will be taking the film out theatrically in the United States and Canada begining 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.
