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Oscilloscope  Laboratories has picked up and released (or will soon release) several films that we’ve covered here on S&A in the last year or so – Wuthering Heights, Tchoupitoulas, Mother Of George, Welcome To Pine Hill, and others. All films that tend to be just outside the mainstream, which is great! 

If they didn’t pick these films up, who knows what might have become of them…
The company continues that trend by announcing, this morning, that it has acquired all North American rights to Lotfy Nathan’s debut feature, 12 O’Clock Boys, which world premiered earlier this month at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX.  

Here’s the synopsis:

Pug, a wisecracking 13 year old living on a dangerous Westside block, has one goal in mind: to join The Twelve O’Clock Boys; the notorious urban dirt-bike gang of Baltimore. Converging from all parts of the inner city, they invade the streets and clash with police, who are forbidden to chase the bikes for fear of endangering the public. When Pug’s older brother dies suddenly, he looks to the pack for mentorship, spurred by their dangerous lifestyle. Pug’s story is coupled with unprecedented, action-packed coverage of the riders in their element. The film presents the pivotal years of change in a boy’s life growing up in one of the most dangerous and economically depressed cities in the US.

The film slated to next screen at the Hot Docs and Full Frame Documentary Festivals, among others, and Oscilloscope says, via press release, that it’ll continue to roll the film out to more festivals prior to its theatrical, DVD, and digital releases. 

Dan Berger of Oscilloscope said, “In 12 O’CLOCK, Lotfy has introduced us to a world so compelling, so foreign, and so relatable all at once.  It’s a portrait of a subculture as much as a window into the state of America, and it’s all in the guise of THE WIRE by way of CIRQUE DU SOLEIL.  It’s seriously like nothing you’ve seen before.”

Filmmaker Lotfy Nathan said, “Oscilloscope’s great. I really hope they don’t f*&k this up.“

Hah! How’s that for a press statement!

The deal was negotiated by Dan Berger and David Laub of Oscilloscope with ICM Partners and Marc H. Simon of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP on behalf of the filmmakers.

No release date set yet, but I’d look to the fall.

Watch the trailer and check out the film’s poster below: