Matthew Lillard’s SXSW premiere is adapted from K L Going’s young adult novel about a suicidal teenager who is plucked from despair by a high school drop-out and embarked upon a friendship that concerns his father.

Fat Kid Rules The World is a Whippany Park Production and Whitewater Films presentation. Michael MB Galvin and Peter Speakman wrote the screenplay and Rick Rosenthal of Whitewater Films and Nick Morton produced.

Jacob Wysocki, Matt O’Leary, Billy Campbell, Lili Simmons and Dylan Arnold star. The film won the SXSW Audience Award for Best Narrative Spotlight Feature.

“We are thrilled to be working on Fat Kid Rules The World,” said Paul Hudson, co-founder of Outsider Pictures. “It’s a film that I think everyone can identify with.”

Rosenthal will announce US distribution plans shortly and anticipates a late summer release.