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Drafthouse Films Lands Acclaimed Sundance Doc 'The Overnighters'

by Alex Billington
March 31, 2014

Now here's some acquisition news that we're very happy to report. One of our favorite, groundbreaking docs out of this year's Sundance Film Festival, called The Overnighters from filmmaker Jesse Moss, has been acquired by Drafthouse Films, the same studio that released The Act of Killing and Nick Cave's 20,000 Days on Earth. Drafthouse announced that it has acquired North American theatrical, home video, transactional and other rights to Jesse Moss' riveting documentary The Overnighters. The film will be released in theaters late 2014, likely making it a strong contender for this year's awards season, but that's too far out to discuss.

"I have shown the film to a small group of friends and family. After each screening, a lengthy and heated discussion has arisen on the themes of the American dream, forgiveness, what it means to be a good person. We hope to take this spectacularly thought-provoking documentary all the way to the Oscars in 2015," says Drafthouse's Tim League. "Ten years ago I screened my first documentary Speedo at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. It was an event that re-defined the theatrical movie-going experience for me," says Jesse Moss "Tim League's commitment to distributing brave, bold and uncompromising movies through Drafthouse Films is an evolution of that extraordinary vision. So when Tim proposed working together to bring The Overnighters to audiences across America and sparking conversation, I knew I'd be in great hands." Indeed.

This is indeed great news and Drafthouse is the perfect home for The Overnighters. I caught the doc late in the fest but was blown away, calling it "a refreshingly modern documentary, an utterly compelling, nuanced film that precariously balances the big questions of one of the great dilemmas of this day and age." Highly recommended. Jesse Moss spent 18 months in North Dakota as a one-man-documentary-crew intimately capturing extraordinary portraits of broken men and examining the tension between the moral imperative to "love thy neighbor," and the response of one small town congregation and community. See it in theaters.

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