Oscilloscope Laboratories announced that it has acquired all North American rights to Joel Potrykus’ audacious, offbeat comedy, BUZZARD. The film had its World Premiere on Saturday at South by Southwest; it will then immediately go to NYC’s prestigious New Directors/New Films Festival at Lincoln Center. O-Scope plans further festival play followed by a theatrical release later this year.

BUZZARD follows a small-time scam artist named Marty, a caustic young man who makes ends meet by drifting from one small con to the next. When paranoia forces him out of a lousy temp job, he gets thrust on a journey that—after a brief stopover in his loser co-worker’s basement—ultimately brings him to Detroit with nothing but a pocket full of bogus checks, a not-so-subtlety-modified Nintendo® Power Glove, and a bad temper. It’s like Albert Camus meets Freddy Krueger.

About the acquisition, O-scope’s Dan Berger and David Laub said, “BUZZARD is an incredible discovery – a contemporary and sophisticated look at the struggles bred from our capitalist society, told in a completely original, bitingly funny way. It also features the sexiest spaghetti-eating scene since Lady and the Tramp.”

Filmmaker Joel Potrykus said, “We’re all psyched to have Oscilloscope releasing our crazy movie. They get it. We’re out to slash the face of corporate America, one screen at a time. And we’re just looking for justice and a big bag of Doritos®.”

Potrykus won the Best Emerging Director and Best First Feature awards at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival for his previous film, APE. BUZZARD was produced by Michael Saunders, Ashley Young, Kevin Clancy, and Tim Saunders and represented by BGP Films’ Bill Straus.