After flourishing on the festival circuit, *Charliebird *is ready to spread its wings theatrically.

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired director Libby Ewing’s Charliebird and will release it in theaters in late February, *The Hollywood Reporter *has exclusively learned. Freestyle Digital Media, which is the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen‘s Byron Media Group, will also release the project via digital formats and DVD at that time.

Making her feature directorial debut, Ewing helmed the indie film from a script by Samantha Smart (Jane Austen’s Period Drama), who also stars. Gabe Fazio (Is This Thing On?), Maria Peyramaure (Ferdinand) and newcomer Gabriela Ochoa Perez round out the cast. Smart, Ewing and Elliot Gipson serve as producers on the movie that hails from The Smart Space and Art Brut Films.

Charliebird centers on Al (Smart), a music therapist who works at a children’s hospital and struggles to make ends meet. Al finds new direction upon meeting teenage patient Charlie (Perez), and the two bond over a secret passion project.

The film premiered at this year’s Tribeca Festival, where it won the Founders Award for best U.S. narrative feature, in addition to Perez winning best performance in a U.S. narrative feature. Other accolades have included best narrative feature at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.

“The team at Freestyle has been incredible champions of Charliebird from the very beginning,” Ewing says. “They have a deep understanding of the film’s vision, heart and soul, so it was a natural alignment for our team. I am thrilled to be partnering with them to bring Charliebird to a wide audience. It is an honor to share this film with the world, and we are grateful to be on this journey with the folks at Freestyle.”

Adds Smart, “We are so grateful to be working with Freestyle. Very aware of the current landscape for independent cinema, we are humbled to have the chance to distribute our film. Freestyle has championed us since Tribeca, and we love that they are supporting female voices. We look forward to being able to share this in theaters and reach as many people as possible.”

Freestyle Digital Media and Glen Reynolds of Circus Road Films negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers. Ewing is represented by UTA.