If there was one film that took Sundance by storm (literally) it was Benh Zeitlin‘s impressive debut feature Beasts of the Southern Wild. In our top 10 of the festival, the film takes you on a journey into the Bathtub, a fictionalized bayou backwoods community of Louisiana that serves as parable for living on the edge of the world. Told through the eyes of 6 year old girl Hushpuppy, Quvenzhané Wallis who delivers perhaps the greatest child performance of recent history, the film is a whirlwind of wonder and foreboding doom.

Quickly acquired by Fox Searchlight, the film took home the top Dramatic Grand Jury Prize award and now the distributor has set a date for the film. BoM reports it will arrive on June 29th, 2012, next to a limited release of Sarah Polley‘s Take This Waltz and wide releases of two Channing Tatum features, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Magic Mike. Searchlight has something magical on their hands and I can’t wait to see how they handle it. In the middle of summer seems like a perfect time to release this one. In the meantime check out a poster below and my full review here.