Michael Matzdorff is banking on a Wisconsin-anchored theatrical self-release of his feature directorial debut “Feed the Fish” to maintain the comedy’s momentum to Jan. 25, when Strand Releasing puts it out on DVD and VOD.
“We are trying to keep the film in theaters into January and believe there is support from audiences which will justify that to theater owners,” Matzdorff says.
Matzdorff, Wisconsin native and Hollywood editor of “Code Name: The Cleaner,” filmed “Feed the Fish” last year in Green Bay and on his family’s Door County farm.
His uncle is Green Bay native Tony Shalhoub who plays an obsessive sheriff.
“We have been focusing on Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest primarily,” he says. “Since we are a digital film, we don’t have a film print, due to the cost. We’ve been playing HD in different formats in the theaters that can support that technology.”
Ross Partridge stars as a children’s author who seeks inspiration in a polar bear plunge in Northern Wisconsin where he meets a hockey pro love interest (Katie Aselton, “The Freebie”), a sage (Barry Corbin, “Northern Exposure”) and the sheriff (Shalhoub).
Matzdorff financed “Feed the Fish” with producing partners Alison Abrohams and Nick Langholff through Matzdorff’s company, Triplefinger, and Feed the Fish LLC, which is also their theatrical distribution company.
