After putting the Canadian IRA drama 50 Dead Men Walking round the festival circuit, TVA Films on Friday is releasing the Kari Skogland picture into theaters countrywide.

TVA will open the Belfast-set drama — pitched to potential cinema-goers as a high-octane suspense thriller — on three screens in Montreal and Vancouver, four in Toronto, two in Calgary and a single screen in Winnipeg, TVA Films said Thursday.

The film will then move on Aug. 4 to Victoria, with further summer and fall dates planned elsewhere countrywide.

The Canadian/British coproduction from Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures and Britain’s Future Films was inspired by the true story of street hustler-turned-IRA infiltrator Martin McGartland, who is played by British actor Jim Sturgess.

The Canadian movie poster for 50 Dead Men Walking captures Sturgess on the run, a slight departure from the British marketing campaign ahead of the April 2009 release that paired Sturgess up against his British Special Branch handler, played by Ben Kingsley.

The Canadian marketing campaign relied mostly on print features and reviews, and included sneak previews, including one on July 27 at the AMC Forum arranged by Ioncinema.com and TVA Films.

50 Dead Men Walking will be released stateside on Aug. 21 by Phase 4 Films, the newly spun-off distribution unit of Peace Arch Entertainment.