Irish horror movie Citadel won big at this year’s South by Southwest Festival (SXSW), picking up the Midnighters Audience Award. To top off this already impressive feat, the movie was recently picked up for US theater distribution by Cinedigm, and for DVD/Blu-Ray distribution by New Video.

“I'm absolutely thrilled that Citadel will have US distribution with Cinedigm and New Video,” writer/director Ciaran Foy said. “I have always had the audience in mind when creating this feral little movie, and to have the opportunity for it to play on such a vast stage is exhilarating.”

Citadel is an Irish/Scottish co-production from Dublin-based Blinder Films and Scottish Sigma Films and features actors Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Amy Shiels and Wunmi Mosaku. Funded by the Irish Film Board, Creative Scotland, Section 481 and UK Tax Credit, Citadel tells the tale of an agoraphobic father who hires a rogue priest to rescue his daughter from a gang of evil feral children. The creepy horror film is set in modern day Ireland.

“It is a great achievement for Citadel, the debut feature film from up and coming Irish film maker Ciaran Foy, to be selected for this prestigious lineup and it will serve as an excellent launch pad for the film,” James Hickey, CEO of the Irish Film Board, said.

Citadel will makes its American debut sometime this autumn and will be released on DVD/Blu-Ray in early 2013.