E1 Entertainment has picked up Canadian distribution rights to Saint John of Las Vegas, a dramatic comedy pairing Steve Buscemi and stand-up darling Sarah Silverman. The company’s sales stable-mate, E1 International, will sell the film internationally.

Written and directed by Hue Rhodes and executive produced by Spike Lee, the film features Buscemi and Silverman as a pair of insurance investigators scouring the underbelly of Las Vegas on the trail of a suspiciously disabled stripper who has filed a claim seeking lost wages. Rhodes was apparently inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The film also stars Peter Dinklage, Tim Blake Nelson and John Cho.

The film is the first project financed and produced by Los Angeles-based IndieVest Pictures, a venture that taps a community of high-net-worth individual and institutional investors with a guarantee of theatrical distribution for its major productions — such as Saint John. The film is expected to be in North American theaters in the fall of 2009.

E1 International EVP Charlotte Mickie negotiated the deal with IndieVest’s president Mark Burton. Fittingly, the film opens the CineVegas Film Festival on June 11.