Park City, Utah and Los Angeles, CA – Liberation Entertainment and Netflix’s Red Envelope Entertainment (REE) jointly today announced that they have signed unique distribution deals for the documentary KICKING IT. Produced by award-winning filmmaker Ted Leonsis (Nanking) and directed by Susan Koch (Mario's Story, City at Peace), KICKING IT chronicles the personal struggles and triumphs of seven soccer players from six countries who participated in the 4th Annual Homeless World Cup. The film is both compelling entertainment and a specific effort to stimulate public discussion and charitable involvement. A week ago, just prior to KICKING IT’s Sundance Film Festival world premiere, ESPN acquired exclusive television rights worldwide, and agreed to execute the film’s digital distribution as well as to advance the film’s distribution on other media platforms. Under today’s announcement, Liberation will be handling North American and Central American theatrical, DVD and ancillary rights to the film. Breaking with traditional release windows, the ESPN television premiere will follow theatrical release, and the film will be provided by REE to Netflix subscribers to rent on DVD or watch instantly on a PC, day-and-date with the ESPN premiere, when DVD sales via Liberation will begin. REE will also promote the ESPN telecast of KICKING IT to Netflix subscribers via their iconic mailers. CAA and Submarine represented the producers in the negotiations with Liberation and Netflix.

“This film struck an emotional chord with all of us at the company,” says Liberation CEO Jay Boberg. “It’s a unique statement about global homelessness and how when given the chance, people can in fact rise again”.

KICKING IT’s Producer and AOL Vice Chairman Emeritus Ted Leonsis, whose first documentary Nanking won one of the major awards at the 2007 Sundance Festival said "We are humbled by the extraordinary audience reaction to KICKING IT at our Sundance screenings. Now, thanks to our distribution alliances with ESPN, Liberation and Netflix, we are certain to get these compelling stories to the broadest possible audience."

"We couldn't be more thrilled to make this inspirational and important film available to Netflix subscribers day and date with ESPN" said Liesl Copland, Head of Red Envelope Entertainment, Netflix's original content arm. "It is exactly the type of film that will benefit from its powerful message reaching American homes via the greatest possible penetration of television, DVD and instant watching working together."

KICKING IT exemplifies “filmanthropy”, a term Leonsis coined one year ago at the Sundance Film Festival to describe a new approach to filmmaking where storytelling activates discussion as well as volunteerism and new funding to benefit social causes. A public service announcement with Colin Farrell (who appears in the film) has been developed to accompany airing of the film, directing viewers to the film’s website, www.kickingitthefilm.com, which features opportunities for viewers to support of the kinds of programs for the homeless spotlighted in KICKING IT.

ABOUT LIBERATION ENTERTAINMENT

Based in Los Angeles with a burgeoning office in London, Liberation Entertainment Inc. is a leading independent global distributor of visual content. Launched in 2006 by influential media entrepreneur Jay Boberg, with the financial backing of media and communications private-equity firm Clarity Partners LP, Liberation Entertainment owns the rights to a wide variety of premium audio-visual content, including independent and feature films, classic television, CGI animation, music and lifestyle programming. With unmatched expertise in worldwide television sales and domestic and international DVD distribution, Liberation Entertainment will continue to grow as a compelling force in the global entertainment market. For more information, please visit www.liberationentertainment.com.

ABOUT NETFLIX

Netflix is committed to providing consumers with access to the widest variety of films available. With over 90,000 DVD titles plus a growing library of over 6,000 titles that can be watched instantly on a PC, the Netflix catalog spans every major genre, from documentaries and dramas to comedies and how-to. To that end, Red Envelope Entertainment is acquiring and funding original content projects to increase consumer options and provide an innovative method for film distribution. While giving filmmakers a platform to expose less commercial projects to a broader audience, Red Envelope Entertainment looks to leverage its proprietary technology to offer the nearly seven million Netflix subscribers unique and original content to which they wouldn’t otherwise have access. This original content initiative creates a national distribution channel for films and entertainment programming otherwise not available to broad audiences. For more information, visit www.netflix.com.

ABOUT KICKING IT

An estimated one billion people watched the last soccer World Cup. An estimated one billion people are homeless, worldwide. Narrated by soccer enthusiast Colin Farrell, KICKING IT tells the compelling story of seven athletes living in both worlds. The film follows them as they train hard, kick drugs and alcohol, and compete on the soccer pitch in Cape Town, South Africa, at one of the most unique sporting events, the 4th Annual Homeless World Cup. Some 500 homeless soccer players represent the national teams of 48 nations in the tournament. Knocked down by life, the players hail from such disparate parts of the world as war torn Afghanistan, the slums of Kenya, the drug rehab clinics of Dublin, Ireland, the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, the overflowing public shelters of Madrid, Spain, and the unforgiving city of St. Petersburg, Russia, where the homeless have no rights or identity. Despite their homelessness, the players wear the colors of their country with pride. From shattering misconceptions about the homeless to seeing people living at the edge of society, discovering that they can also be winners, the film powerfully shows that sports can and does change lives. Learn more about the film at www.kickingitthefilm.com or www.facebook.com/kickingit.