Drafthouse Films and Cinedigm have officially announced and detailed their upcoming Blu-ray release of Jesse Moss' film
The Overnighters (2014). The release will be available for purchase on February 3.
Director Jesse Moss' (Full Battle Rattle) award-winning film is an intimate portrait of job seekers desperately chasing the broken American Dream to the oil boomtown of Williston, North Dakota. Tens of thousands of unemployed hopefuls from across the country show up in the tiny town with dreams of honest work and a big paycheck. However, the busloads of newcomers step into a stark reality of slim work prospects and nowhere to sleep. Williston lacks the infrastructure to house the overflow of migrants, even for those who do find gainful employment.
With the town lacking the means to house the sudden influx of migrants, a local pastor, Jay Reinke, steps in to try to make a difference. Reinke is driven to deliver the migrants some dignity. Night after night, he converts his Concordia Lutheran Church into a makeshift dorm and counseling center, opening its doors to allow the "Overnighters," as he calls them, to stay for a night, a week or longer. They sleep on the floor, in the pews and in their cars in the church parking lot.
Many who take shelter with Reinke have been living on society's fringes and have checkered pasts, and their presence starts affecting the dynamics of the small community. The congregants and other residents begin slinging criticism and the city council threatens to shut the controversial Overnighters program down, forcing Reinke (who "may be the most compelling character you see in any film, fictional or not, in a long while," Jordan Adler, We Got This Covered) to make a decision that leads to profound consequences he never imagined.
The Overnighters won the best documentary prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival, Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking at Sundance Film Festival among a slew of other awards, and was a critical darling across the country on the festival circuit. The film engages and dramatizes a set of universal societal and economic themes: the promise and limits of reinvention, redemption and compassion, as well as the tension between the moral imperative to "love thy neighbor" and the resistance that one small community feels when confronted by a surging river of desperate strangers. It is ultimately a portrait of hope and perseverance in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.
Special Features:
- Deleted scenes
- Follow-up interview with subject Jay Reinke
- Booklet
- Theatrical trailer
- Digital download