North American distribution rights to Arkansas filmmaker Amman Abbasi’s debut feature “Dayveon” have sold to distribution company FilmRise after a Jan. 19 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 


The film, which Abbasi wrote, directed and produced, is about a 13-year-old boy (Devin Blackmon) growing up in a small town in Arkansas who joins a gang after the death of his older brother. The film was executive produced by another Arkansas native, writer/director David Gordon Green. A theatrical release is planned for the spring. Read Variety’s review of the film here.

The son of Pakistani immigrants, Abbasi got his start with Arkansas documentary filmmakers Brent and Craig Renaud, working as a cameraman. You can read a short interview with him from about “Dayveon” at this link from Filmmaker Magazine.

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