Film Movement has nabbed U.S. and Canadian rights to filmmaker Joseph Infantolino’s debut feature, “Helena From the Wedding.” The indie distributor plans a theatrical release Nov. 12 followed by a VOD launch in December.

Gillian Jacobs (“Choke”), Melanie Lynskey (“Up in the Air”) and Dominic Fumusa (“Nurse Jackie”) star in the story of newlyweds who host a New Year’s Eve party at their remote mountain cabin that goes awry when the gorgeous Helena shows up. The indie drama had its world premiere in the narrative competition at the SXSW Film Festival in March.

“ ‘Helena from the Wedding’ was one of the films to really stand out this year at SXSW,” said Adley Gartenstein, Film Movement’s president. “A mature, adult drama with a top notch ensemble cast, intelligent dialog and impeccable direction by Mr. Infantolino.”

IFC Films has acquired North American rights to Judith Krant's "Made in China" and Dia Sokol's "Sorry, Thanks" for VOD release in June. Both films had their world premieres at the SXSW Film Festival in 2009. Krant's debut comedy, about a rural East Texas inventor who travels to Shanghai looking for a manufacturer for his latest invention, won both the grand jury prize in the narrative competition and the inaugural Chicken and Egg award for Emergent Female Director. Krant co-wrote the script with Dan Sumpter, who also stars. Sokol's debut, which she co-wrote with Lauren Veloski, details the comedic fallout when a woman reeling from a bad break-up has a one-night stand with a disheveled guy who already has a girlfriend. “'Made in China' and 'Sorry, Thanks' are charming and hilarious feature debuts," said IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring. "We're really excited to welcome Judith Krant and Dia Sokol, two rising filmmakers, into the IFC family.”

In another post-SXSW Film Festival deal, Phase 4 Films has acquired North American rights to Will Canon’s debut feature “Brotherhood.” The indie distributor plans a late 2010 theatrical release. Directed by Canon, who co-wrote the script with Doug Simon, “Brotherhood” follows a college freshman forced to rob a convenience store as part of his fraternity initiation and the unintended consequences of the botched effort. The thriller won the SXSW audience award for narrative feature in March. Chris Pollack, Steven Hein, Tom O’Hair and Jason Croft produced the film. Jamie Patricof, Kevin Iwashina, Darryn Welch and Chris Ouwinga executive produced.

IFC Films has acquired North American distribution rights to Aaron Katz’s indie drama “Cold Weather.” The company also picked up multiple foreign rights in Asia, the Middle East and East-Central Europe. Katz wrote, directed and edited the film, which had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March. Brendan McFadden, Ben Stambler and Parts & Labor’s Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy produced it. Through its IFC in Theaters platform, IFC Films will release the film on its on-demand channel the same day it hits theaters.

FilmBuff has cut a deal with the filmmakers of the soccer documentary “Pelada” to release the film in June during the World Cup in South Africa. The film, which explores the global obsession with pick-up soccer (called “pelada” in Brazil), had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March. The doc follows Luke and Gwendolyn, two former college soccer stars, as they travel from Bolivia to Kenya, from China to Iran, searching for games.

IFC Films has acquired North American and most foreign-territory rights to Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture.” The company plans to release the film in theaters and via on-demand through its IFC in Theaters program. It acquired worldwide rights excluding the U.K., South Africa, Germany, France, Benelux, New Zealand and Australia.

The SXSW Film Conference and Festival, which ended yesterday, announced its additional audience award winners Monday morning. The films recognized come from the Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, Lone Star States, 24 Beats Per Second and Midnighters categories. The jury, design and early audience awards were handed out March 16.

Is the Austin-set SXSW Film Festival getting too big for its chaps? As far as problems go, excessive demand is a good one to have for a film festival. It means programmers are making strong choices, the venues are attractive and the regional vibe welcoming. But as of the 2010 edition, which featured crowds of badge and ticket holders turned away from nearly every screening, the festival’s organizers have some hard decisions to make. Take over more venues to increase the screening count and you risk angering the locals, limit badge and ticket sales to cap demand and you risk undercutting SXSW’s populist credibility.

Well, I'm a little late with these SXSW feature awards, since I foolishly decided to fly back to L.A. during the Tuesday night ceremony, but I hear a bunch of people broke the embargo early, which is a shameful bungle. The narrative feature jury award was given to Lena Dunham's "Tiny Furniture," which had its world premiere Monday. The documentary feature jury award was handed to Jeff Malmberg's "Marwencol," about a brain-damaged man who creates a 1/6-scale model of a World War II-era town in his backyard. Runner-up in the doc category was Rebecca Richman Cohen's "War Don Don."

Within hours after "Monsters" premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, Magnet Releasing scooped up distribution rights for the U.S. and Mexico. Gareth Edwards' first feature, a sci-fi tale about alien lifeforms that have infected a quarantined zone in Mexico, was shot using actors like Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able working alongside local people they met during a road trip through Guatemala, Mexico and the U.S.

I was happy to have scored a seat at the SXSW Midnight Shorts screening at the Lamar late Monday night. It had started to rain and, once again, the theater sidewalk was packed with moviegoers. A dozen weird, whimsical, raunchy and freaky shorts made the cut, and almost all of them were engaging and, often, hilarious.

“Rock 'n' roll is Lemmy. Lemmy is rock 'n' roll.” After sitting through Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver’s Jack-and-Coke-drenched documentary “Lemmy” at its raucous world premiere Monday night, I couldn’t possibly argue. The Motörhead life force — and the rest of the band, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee — were in attendance at the Paramount to christen the brain-numbingly long but definitive rock doc with a Panzer full of metal credibility. I mean it literally when I say that this film, and its subject, is about as rock 'n' roll as you can get. From his custom-made boots to his bandolier belt to his war-memorabilia headgear, Lemmy Kilmister is a rare breed of old-school rocker who, at 63 years old, apparently still lives as he did at 19. The whiskey, the endless cigarettes, the women, the house a block off Sunset, the ear-splitting shows — and a few things I certainly didn’t expect, like his obsession with one-arm bandits and the trivia game at the bar at the Rainbow Bar and Grill.