Fullscreen Makes Bold Move Into Indie Film Industry Through Sundance Hit

Back in January 2016, First Girl I Loved won the Best Of NEXT Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival; nine months later, it has been scooped up by Fullscreen. The self-proclaimed “youth media company” has picked up Kerem Sanga’s teen drama and will give it a theatrical release.

First Girl I Loved tells the story of a lesbian high school romance between an outsider (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Dylan Gelula) and a popular girl (Deadpool’s Brianna Hildebrand). Several Hollywood notables, including Tim Heidecker and Pamela Adlon, have supporting roles in the film. The It Gets Better project, which seeks to empower LGBT youths is helping with the film’s promotion.

Fullscreen’s plan is to distribute First Girl I Loved in a limited number of U.S. theaters beginning on October 18th. In December, the film will arrive on the company’s recently-launched streaming video on-demand service, which is also called Fullscreen.

First Girl I Loved is a smart pickup for Fullscreen. The film’s teenage leads should allow it to resonate with the young viewers who subscribe to the Fullscreen SVOD service, and its presence within that service’s library will help lift up the other movies available there. Titles produced under the Fullscreen Films

banner include The Outfield, starring Vine star Nash Grier, and #O2LForever, a documentary about a YouTube supergroup.

Fullscreen is not the only digital media company taking an interest in Sundance. YouTube has had a regular presence at the film festival in recent years, and Hulu also emerged as the exclusive SVOD home for one of the films that premiered there in 2016 thanks to its acquisition of the buddy comedy Joshy.