The Hamilton Film Festival is forming a distribution arm, with the drama feature East End announced as the first project on its slate.

HFFd will officially launch at the 19th edition of the festival in October. The goal is to amplify indie films, focusing exclusively on the theatrical experience, according to a news release.

Hamilton Film Festival executive director Nathan Fleet said the distribution arm will focus on a few films at first, and will be looking at features at the fall festival’s annual market to potentially fill its initial slate.

East End (pictured) is written and directed by Fleet, who also serves as executive producer. It is produced by Jeremy Major and Rob Morash.

The film centres on a recovering alcoholic with a gambling debt, attempting to make amends with his teenage daughter. It will make its premiere at the Hamilton Film Festival out of competition on Oct. 26.

“I was going to do this festival and theatrical run anyway, and if it worked, HFFd would re-create the model with other films,” said Fleet.

East End will also screen as a special presentation at the Playhouse Cinema, and The Westdale Theatre. A short festival run will follow, with the aim of getting a theatrical release in Canada in 2025, said the release.

In addition to East End, HFFd is also handling grassroots discoverability screenings for writer-director Christena Hampson’s debut feature drama My Lala (The Shooting Eye). The film is produced by Fred Fuchs and Jeremy Major and is based on Hampson’s family’s struggle to have better integration for children with disabilities.

The 19th edition of the Hamilton Film Festival runs from Oct. 18 to 26, with the film market running simultaneously.

Image courtesy of  Hamilton Film Festival