Drafthouse Films Picks Up TIFF And Fantastic Fest Fave I DECLARE WAR

A favorite at the Toronto International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest - where it won the Audience Award at the 2012 edition of the festival - Drafthouse Films have picked up US distribution rights to Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson's I Declare War. The film has been a big favorite around these parts as well, so it's good news that general audiences will get a crack at it sometime in the second half of 2013.

AUSTIN, TX - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, announced their acquisition of US rights to 2012 Toronto International Film Festival favorite and Fantastic Fest Audience Award winner I Declare War, directed by Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson. Produced by Lewin Webb,  Robert Wilson and Patrick Cameron from SamaritanEntertainment, the film centers on an epic game of capture-the-flag. In their quest for victory, a group of adolescents pushes beyond the game and the boundaries of friendship into an adventure where fantasy blurs with reality. A VOD and theatrical campaign is planned for the second half of 2013.
 
Directors Lapeyre and Wilson set out to construct an action film from the darker side of a 13-year-old's mindset, while also examining sincere conflicts of enduring friendship. Using the kids' overactive imaginations, a neighborhood forest setting becomes a full-fledged woodland battlefield: sticks transform into guns, water balloons into grenades and eyeballs can shoot lasers. Charles Webb of MTV Geekhas praised the film for "vividly capturing a point in time as a kid where everything was important, even the imaginary things."
 
"Not since Stand By Me have we experienced such a poignant and sincere film about kids for adults," says Drafthouse Films CEO/Founder Tim League, "Armed with an arsenal of extremely talented child actors and combining shades of Full Metal Jacket and Lord Of The Flies, Jason and Rob have created a one-of-a-kind action film that we couldn't be more excited to handle in the US."
 
Producer Lewin Webb noted, "We are thrilled that Drafthouse Films have picked up I Declare War and a wide US audience is going to have the opportunity to see it. We are proud to be part of the Drafthouse Family of films."
 
"Drafthouse Films is our ideal partner for I Declare War in the US. From Fantastic Fest on, they have been a huge supporter," says director RobertWilson. "Drafthouse are the most progressive of US based distributors and we know that they will deliver the widest and best audience for the film."
 
The deal was negotiated by Drafthouse Films COO James Emanuel Shapiro on behalf of Drafthouse Films and Andrew Herwitz of Film Sales on behalf of the film's producers.