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Digital release for Oz musical comedy after festival premiere

In another piracy-busting move, the creative team behind Super Awesome! plan to launch the musical comedy on iTunes and other VOD platforms on May 29, the same day as the world premiere in Toronto.

Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes, who co-wrote and co-directed the mico-budgeted film, play struggling actors who are given one last chance to prove themselves by staging a musical, Honey I’m Homeless.

The theme is marriage equality, a topic about which the naïve, straight guys know next to nothing.

The self-funded $60,000 film will premiere at the 25th Annual Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, arranged by the international sales agent, French- based Outplay.

The cast includes Simon Burke (who performs the signature song Man to Man), Patrick Brammall, Rob Carlton, Annie Maynard and New York actor Vinnie Vella, whose credits include Casino, The Sopranos and Coffee and Cigarettes.

Australian distributor Curious Film is closing the VOD deals, after which the filmmakers are planning Q&A screenings for Super Awesome! at the Palace Barracks in Brisbane on June 19 and in Melbourne and Sydney.

Zeremes and Edmonds hope to stage several songs from the film at the screenings, hopefully including Burke’s piece.

The direct-to-digital release is a growing trend following The Mule last year. Shane Abbess and Entertainment One are taking that route with his futuristic action-adventure Infini, which launches on VOD in Australia and in cinemas and digital platforms in the US on May 8.

Zeremes tells IF, “We spoke with a couple of distributors but none was prepared to take a punt on a cinema release so we decided a VOD release was the better option, followed by the screenings.”

They have released on YouTube a music video of Man to Man and are in discussions with a couple of the Australian streaming services.

Edmonds and Zeremes will attend the world premiere in Toronto. Meantime they are directing TVCs for international brands and via, their firm Boomshaka Film, are developing TV series with leading production companies.

“The film has been an amazing calling card for us both without being released,” Zeremes said.

For more information visit www.superawesomemovie.com or visit the festival website at http:// insideout.ca/torontofestival/film/super-awesome