Kindling – Watch the trailer for the new coming-of-age British tale

Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired North American VOD rights to the life-affirming coming-of-age dramatic feature film KINDLING. KINDLING will be available to rent/own on all digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms in North America, as well as on DVD, starting on October 3, 2023, through Freestyle Digital Media.

Inspired by true events, KINDLING follows a group of young men who return to their hometown to turn their terminally ill friend’s final summer into a celebration of life, love, and friendship. Facing mortality, Sid wants to create a legacy and be remembered forever. With his obsession for astronomy and the atmosphere, he comes up with a plan. He gives each boy a category – love, home, friends, family and location – and asks them to find an item that connects them all with the word they’ve been given. Together, they’ll burn the items on a gigantic fire, making the particles and his memory a part of the atmosphere forever.

Written and directed by Connor O’Hara in his feature directorial debut, KINDLING was produced by Jamie Gamache (DEAR FUTURE CHILDREN) and Mark Foligno (THE KING’S SPEECH). The featured cast includes George Somner (SEX EDUCATION), Conrad Khan (COUNTY LINES), Wilson Mbomio (THE WITCHER), Mia McKenna-Bruce (HOW TO HAVE SEX, PERSUASION) and Tara Fitzgerald (LEGEND). The Executive Producing team for Roundtable Entertainment includes Dominic Ianno (SOUL SURFER), Sarah Donnelly, Amorette Jones, and Jason Resnick.

“I grew up on American coming-of-age movies. It was important to me to bring the American sunshine and positivity that I grew up seeing in films to this coming-of-age British tale,” said filmmaker Connor O’Hara. “When I was 21 years old, I lost two people close to me within two days of each other. Seeing how my friends responded to this loss, I wanted to make a film that encapsulated that experience of grief and represented young men on screen in a new light. KINDLING is dedicated to ‘those we’ve loved and lost’ and acts as a positive reminder to celebrating the life lived rather than only mourn the life that’s been lost.”

“Not since SOUL SURFER have I felt the spirit of a movie so profoundly,” said Dominic Ianno of Roundtable Entertainment. “This movie is a feel-good story in the vein of CODA and PEANUT BUTTER FALCON. The world needs movies like this right now for our collective well-being and we are proud to be associated with it at Roundtable.”

Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire KINDLING directly with Dominic Ianno and Sarah Donnelly of Roundtable Entertainment and Evelyn Xing of Carnaby Sales & Distribution.