Sci-Fi Horror Comedy 'Flapjax' Lands Worldwide Sales Deal with Blue Finch Films Ahead of Fantastic Fest Premiere
A sci-fi horror comedy about a fast-food manager who accidentally helps an alien invasion has secured worldwide sales representation ahead of its festival debut. Blue Finch Films, a U.K.-based sales and distribution company, has picked up worldwide rights to Rocko Zevenbergen's Flapjax, which will have its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, this September (Variety).
Blue Finch will launch sales at the newly formed industry market attached to the Toronto International Film Festival — a marketplace where distribution companies pitch completed or in-progress films to international buyers who acquire rights for their territories. The deal gives Blue Finch the mandate to sell Flapjax to distributors around the globe.
The film centres on Arrow, a fast-food manager whose overzealous devotion to his job unwittingly advances an alien race's scheme. Arrow unknowingly serves customers a deadly new menu item called Flapjax, folding body horror and dark comedy into a single premise. Zevenbergen co-wrote the screenplay with Estevan Muñoz, and Gabriel Cagan leads the cast.
Blue Finch found the project through Sitges FanPitch, the pitching arm of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. The film had been in development for over six years before the sale. Zevenbergen, who fronts the indie film company Bad Taste Video, shot Flapjax in New York's Capital Region. His debut feature, I Need You Dead!, was released in 2020 (Rue Morgue).
The producing team spans Prowler Pictures and beyond. Rocko Zevenbergen, Aerin Chaklai, George Jones, Jefferson Moneo, Patrick Hackett and Fabiola Caraza produced on behalf of Prowler Pictures, while Daniel Futa, Mike Chapman and Fatima Hayward served as executive producers. Hayward, who works at Blue Finch Films, called Zevenbergen a genuine new voice in genre filmmaking, describing his blend of body horror and campy Nickelodeon-style nostalgia (Variety).
Fantastic Fest, owned by the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain, is the largest genre film festival in the United States, specialising in horror, fantasy, sci-fi and action films. The 2026 edition runs for eight days, from 17 to 24 September, with a lineup headlined by Resident Evil, Carrie and Wild Horse Nine (IndieWire).
For a genre film like Flapjax, the festival circuit serves as both a launchpad and a showroom. A world premiere at Fantastic Fest puts the film in front of genre-focused audiences and press, while the Toronto industry market gives Blue Finch a venue to start selling international rights before the film has a distributor in most territories. The path from festival premiere to theatrical or streaming release often depends on which distributors pick up the film at these markets.
Blue Finch's sales slate at Toronto also includes Kick On, a Midnight Madness title, and Misson, backed by BBC Film and Screen Scotland, starring George MacKay. The company's decision to add Flapjax to that roster signals confidence in Zevenbergen's second feature finding an audience beyond the festival circuit.
