Gravitas Ventures has acquired all North American rights to the anticipated drama Foster Boy, produced by Reel Red Films.

Foster Boy is set for a theatrical and on demand release on September 25, 2020.

The film stars Matthew Modine (47 Meters Down, The Dark Knight Rises), Academy Award Winner® Louis Gossett Jr. (Watchmen, Roots, An Officer and a Gentleman) and Julie Benz (Dexter, Rambo), Shane Paul McGhie (Unbelievable, What Men Want), Brenda Bakke (If Loving You Is Wrong, L.A. Confidential), Amy Brenneman (The Leftovers, Private Practice), Michael Beach (If Beale Street Could Talk, Chicago PD), and Greg Germann (Grey’s Anatomy, Ally McBeal).

Directed by Youssef Delara, Foster Boy is executive produced by Shaquille O’Neal and produced by Jay Paul Deratany, Andrew Sugerman, Peter Samuelson and Anne Marie MacKay.

Foster Boy has earned critical acclaim from festival audiences, and won 17 major awards across a diverse variety of competitions including the International Black Film Festival, Sedona Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, and the Dallas Film Festival. It has received honors including Best Picture, Best Full Length Picture, and Best of the Fest.

“Compelling, relevant, engaging. Foster Boy is a film that will demand attention and tells it like it is. It has a loud and clear voice reminding us that foster children deserve a safe and bright future, and are not a commodity. We are very proud to represent this film and to work with the producers,” said Nick Royak Senior Acquisitions Manager at Gravitas Ventures.

“On behalf of Shaquille O’Neal, and the entire dedicated team behind Foster Boy, we are so thrilled to be working with Gravitas. This film is meant to touch people, give them hope, shake them to their core, and inspire them to get up and fight for foster kids, who have no voice. We know this story and the way it has been brought to life on screen will have a profound positive impact on children’s rights and foster care for decades to come,” said writer-producer Jay Paul Deratany.

Michael Trainer is a hardened corporate lawyer unwittingly dragged into an ominous trial in which a for-profit foster care agency put a known sex offender into the same foster home as his young client Jamal, resulting in catastrophic trauma and immediately altering Jamal’s future. Michael, a successful litigator with a long career in protecting high-power corporate clients, has been blinded from recognizing the real damage those very clients can cause. He wants nothing to do with Jamal’s case until a Judge forces him to represent him. Initially, he complains to the Judge that Jamal is a “thuggish” African American youth trying to get a piece of corporate profits. But when Jamal refuses to settle the case for any amount of money,

Michael begins his representation in earnest and forges a strong bond with the young man. Shocked at what he begins to find and at the sinister tactics that he witnesses, Michael digs in to fight for Jamal. As their work together reveals the horrifying depth of the corrupt and abusive for-profit foster care agency, as well as its blatantly racist and classist exploitations of the system, Michael is transformed from reluctant defender to fierce warrior in the battle for justice. As importantly, Jamal helps Michael open his eyes.

Gravitas Ventures Acquisitions Manager, Nick Royak negotiated the deal with producer Jay Paul Deratany and Mark Padilla of Double Dutch International.