Simon Ennis’ feature directorial debut You Might as Well Live will have its world premiere in competition at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival — making a busy January for Canadians even busier in Park City, Utah. The independent-themed festival screens parallel with the more established Sundance Film Festival, where four Canadian features are screening in competition.

Ennis co-wrote the screenplay with Josh Peace (Lars and the Real Girl), who starred in his short films The Waldo Cumberbund Story (2005) and The Canadian Shield (2007).

The film is produced by Ari Lantos and Jonas Bell Pasht for Serendipity Point Films. Michael Dowse is the executive producer. Backers include Telefilm Canada, Astral Media, the Ontario Media Development Corporation and Corus Entertainment through Movie Central. Entertainment One will distribute in Canada and handle international sales.

The story follows the picaresque adventures of a young man (Peace) who has managed to make being a loser into an extreme sport. Having botched his own suicide, he is then kicked out of the psychiatric ward because he is too happy. In a statement, producer Lantos promised ‘an uncompromising, no-holds-barred comedy.’

‘There isn’t a better festival anywhere to premiere a movie as outrageous and twisted as this one,’ he added. His partner-in-crime Bell Pasht suggested the film will ‘test Slamdance’s threshold’ for political correctness.

Ennis added, ‘I’m thrilled that we’ve been invited to unleash our demented cinematic offspring in a place that is not only the true bastion of independent film but also in the shadow of the Mormon church.’ Nearby Salt Lake City is the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Other players in the film are Stephen McHattie (The Watchmen, 300), Dov Tiefenbach (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), Kristen Hager (Wanted, I’m Not There), Liane Balaban (Last Chance Harvey, Definitely, Maybe) and Michael Madsen (Sin City, Kill Bill 1 and 2).