Days after its Tribeca Festival premiere, a Georgia-produced film about opioid addiction has landed a North American distribution deal.
Deadline reported Tuesday that Vertical has acquired North American distribution rights to “Clean Hands,” which made its world premiere June 7. The film was produced by Atlanta-based WW/SF Entertainment in conjunction with Jake and Conor Allyn, the filmmaking brothers behind the project.
Written and directed by Jake Allyn, “Clean Hands” stars Zach Braff as Kevin Simmers, a narcotics officer working the heroin pipeline in Hagerstown, Md., while privately fighting to save his 19-year-old daughter Brooke from opioid addiction. Esther McGregor portrays Brooke, whose dependency spirals from prescription painkillers into heroin use, forcing her father to confront the personal cost of the system he spent his career enforcing. The film also stars Holt McCallany, Abigail Spencer and Lucas Till.
The story is drawn from true events. The real Kevin Simmers, a former narcotics sergeant, founded Brooke’s House in Hagerstown, Md., following the loss of his daughter. The organization has since grown into a structured support program focused on long-term rehabilitation for women overcoming addiction.
“This film was born from a very real mission and a very real pain,” Allyn said. “We wanted to tell a story that feels authentic to people who have experienced addiction firsthand, whether personally or through someone they love. At its heart, this is a film about humanity and the possibility of change.”
Allyn produced the project alongside his brother Conor Allyn. The brothers have collectively written, produced and directed more than 10 theatrical feature films and television projects for Netflix, Paramount+, IFC Films and Lifetime, working with actors including Rob Lowe, Mickey Rourke, Frank Grillo, Amber Heard, Andie MacDowell, Kellan Lutz and George Lopez. Additional producers include James Suttles, Jason Winn, Brian Loschiavo and JR Rappaport.
For Suttles and Winn, the acquisition caps a film that reflects the kind of grounded, character-driven storytelling that has defined WW/SF Entertainment’s work for decades. The Atlanta company has produced more than 15 films in the past five years, backed by more than 45 years of combined filmmaking experience Suttles and Winn bring to the company.
In a video interview with Georgia Entertainment’s Jezlan Moyet for Discover Dunwoody last year, Winn said the state’s evolution as a production hub has given independent filmmakers the kind of support that once existed only in New York or Los Angeles.
“As an independent filmmaker, as a storyteller, as a creative, Georgia can be home to you,” Winn said. “There’s the infrastructure there. There’s public-private collaboration and support. The cities are behind it. The communities want this and celebrate it.”
That foundation has deepened over the years. Winn pointed to programs such as Camera Ready Georgia and the state’s film tax incentives as catalysts that shifted Georgia from a regional market into a full-service production ecosystem.
“I think there is going to be a paradigm shift in how films are done and how budgets are allocated,” Winn said. “From an indie standpoint, you’re going to see some smaller pictures that are going to get more chances now.”
For Winn, who grew up in Atlanta going to the movies at the neighborhood theater his mother used to take him to, Georgia has always been home. The success of “Clean Hands” at Tribeca reflects what he has long believed the state’s film community is capable of producing.
“I am a Southern filmmaker,” he said. “I grew up here.”
Additional information is available at tribecafilm.com/films/clean-hands-2026.
An Indie Spotlight feature with Winn is planned to run on Georgia Entertainment. Check back soon.
Watch the full interview here.
