Following its world premiere at TIFF ’18, Keith Behrman’s young adult drama Giant Little Ones has landed a U.S. theatrical release via Vertical Entertainment.

The film is slated for release in March 2019 in both the U.S. and Canada, with more specific details of the respective releases still to be announced. UTA handled U.S. sales on the project, while Mongrel Media is handling the theatrical roll out in Canada.

Euclid431 Pictures producer Allison Black told Playback Daily the sold-out world-premiere screening at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre during TIFF was instrumental in securing the sale. “You could feel the emotional shifts in the audience throughout the screening,” said Black. “[Vertical] had been seeking to get involved with the film since then.” This is the second time California-based Vertical has picked up a Euclid431 project, after also releasing Nathan Morlando’s coming-of-age drama Mean Dreams in 2016.

The deal for Giant Little Ones was negotiated by Peter Jarowey and Josh Spector of Vertical and UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.

Since its TIFF premiere, the film made its international premiere at Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, with a number of additional festival screenings also set to be announced shortly.

The feature, which stars Josh Wiggins (Mean Dreams), Maria Bello (A History of Violence) and Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), shot in Northern Ontario last summer. It’s produced by Euclid431, in association with Storyboard Entertainment, Sugar Shack Productions, Scythia Films and Vigilante.

Vertical has inked a number of deals for Canadian features in recent months, including Barry Avrich’s The Reckoning (Melbar Entertainment Group) and Jeremy Lutter’s feature debut, The Hollow Child (Broken Mirror Films, Like Minded Media).

Giant Little Ones is produced by Allison Black and executive produced by Patrice Theroux, Maria Bello, Nathan Morlando, Ricky Blumenstein, Jason Potash, Paul Finkel, Hussain Amarshi, Daniel Bekerman, Mark Gingras and John Laing.