Gravitas Ventures has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Sheridan O’Donnell’s feature debut “Little Brother,” starring Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”), Phillip Ettigner (“First Reformed”), Academy Award winner JK Simmons (“Whiplash”) and Polly Draper (“Thirtysomething”). The film is scheduled for a September 2024 theatrical release.

“Little Brother” opens after Pete (Ettinger) attempts suicide, prompting his overbearing father Warren (Simmons) to recruit his little brother Jake (Diemer) to drive Pete from Albuquerque to Seattle for a family intervention. The brothers aren’t just oil and water; they’re fire and gasoline — and they’re both crammed into a broken-down van for 1,400 miles with nowhere to run. As they traverse the American West, the two struggle to reconcile their pasts and forge a new bond.

The film, which won the Audience Award at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival, is a deeply personal film for writer-director O’Donnell, who was inspired in part by his friend’s suicide. “I wrote the film to capture their warmth and humor and to try to understand their mental health journey, which I hope resonates deeply with viewers,” he said in a statement. “We are grateful to Gravitas Ventures for promoting the film and are thrilled to partner with them to bring ‘Little Brother’ to audiences.”

Gravitas Ventures' SVP of Acquisition and Operations Bill Guentzler said, "Gravitas is thrilled to bring Little Brother to audiences this September. Filmmaker Sheridan O'Donnell brilliantly directs Daniel Diemer and Philip Ettinger to bring out the raw, heartfelt, honest and deep emotion that only two brothers with deep affection for each other can have."