Freestyle Releasing and Freestyle Digital Media have announced that they have acquired theatrical and all DVD and VOD rights to The Playroom, the critically acclaimed drama directed by Julia Dyer (Late Bloomers), which stars Academy Award-nominee John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone, The Sessions) and Molly Parker (“Dexter,” “The Firm”). The film, which premiered in the gala/spotlight section of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, was produced by Stephen Dyer (Hysteria) and Angie Meyer (Wuss), and is slated for a day and date release on theatrical and DVD/VOD February 8, 2013.
Set in the suburbs during the 1970s, the story unfolds like a dream wrapped around a family drama, one in which all members of the Cantwell family struggle to find their way in a rapidly changing world. Maggie (newcomer Olivia Harris) is a vulnerable yet tempestuous teenager who acts as big sister and surrogate mother to her three younger siblings. Upstairs in the attic she tells them fantastical stories, but only to mask what is happening downstairs. As her hard-drinking parents, Martin and Donna (Hawkes and Parker), entertain guests, Maggie grapples with their flawed choices and is thrust into a world she might not be ready for.
“Julia Dyer has created a beautiful time machine back to the ’70s,” said Susan Jackson, President of Freestyle. “The film is a bird’s eye view of a tumultuous period told from the perspective of children.”
