World Premiere of Award-Winning New Film BIG EASY EXPRESS Available Exclusively on the iTunes Store Today

NEW YORK, LONDON and LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- S2BN Films, the film division of S2BN Entertainment Corporation, and B.E.E. LLC announce Emmett Malloy's new film BIG EASY EXPRESS is available worldwide exclusively in 50 countries on the iTunes Store today (itunes.com/bigeasyexpress), more than a month ahead of any other release.  Three months after Malloy's film won the "Headliner Audience Award" at the 2012 SXSW Film & Music Festival in Austin, BIG EASY EXPRESS is now available to purchase on the iTunes Store in high-definition for $12.99 or $9.99 for standard-definition.

The documentary directed by Emmett Malloy (The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights) celebrates the bond created among three of the independent music scene's brightest lights — Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show — as they travel aboard a vintage train for an eight-day journey through the vibrant landscape of the American Southwest, making six stops to perform for jubilant crowds from Oakland to New Orleans, on what they called the Railroad Revival Tour in April 2011.

"We are thrilled to bring this musically charged documentary film to the world on the iTunes Store," says Karol Martesko-Fenster, President of S2BN Films. "The iTunes Store is a distribution vehicle that allows us to bring BIG EASY EXPRESS to 50 countries on the same day.  The film will be presented in pristine quality with great viewing options for movie and music fans alike."

S2BN Films and the three bands worked closely together on the pre-release campaign that rolled out at SXSW with a sold-out afternoon worldwide festival premiere at the Paramount Theater and late-night screening and open-air concert on the LBJ Lawn of Austin University for 8,000 people. The film recently screened as the opening night film of the Maui Film Festival, as a special presentation at the XPN Music Film Festival, Hot Docs and LA Film Festival, and as the closing night film of the Nashville Film Festival and AFI/Silverdocs Film Festival.

In a joint statement from S2BN Entertainment Chairman and Executive Producer Michael Cohl, director Emmett Malloy, and producers Tim Lynch, Bryan Ling, and Mike Luba, the filmmakers said: "We always wanted to incorporate a global digital platform into our release strategy and to find a novel approach to bringing BIG EASY EXPRESS to both new and traditional film audiences. We are delighted to be working with all of our partners in crafting an innovative distribution model."

July will kick off a multi-platform, multi-territory direct release of the film that includes the global Blu-ray/DVD combo pack release on July 24 via Alliance Entertainment, followed by a subscription video on demand and theatrical run later this year. S2BN's Karol Martesko-Fenster and Ben Weiss of Paradigm worked closely to arrange the deals on behalf of the film and B.E.E. LLC.

Ben Weiss of Paradigm said of the partnership: "We are thrilled to be working with S2BN Films on this revolutionary rollout of BIG EASY EXPRESS. It highlights the true potential of the digital direct release and reaffirms our mission to be exploring all distribution models available to content owners. And the timing couldn't be better. Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show will release new albums in 2012, while Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros' latest album Here was released on May 29 and has quickly become one of the best-selling albums on the iTunes Store."

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"Being on an vintage train, riding the rails through the heart of America took us all back in time a bit. It was easy to get lost and imagine that we were just there for the fun of it all — rolling along with your friends and playing music because you loved it. Our cameras were there to participate in the journey and never get in the way of the moving train."

Emmett Malloy, Director

"It was about the joy of music and the joy of camaraderie. We're each quite different bands. We come from different places — England, Los Angeles, Nashville — but we all came together and played our hearts out. It was really amazing."

Gill Landry, Old Crow Medicine Show

"It was a romantic idea from the start. The journey became something that we could never have planned."

Marcus Mumford, Mumford & Sons

"BIG EASY EXPRESS tells its story through wall-to-wall music and the lyrical beauty of the passing landscape, enabling the audience to see the country the way people saw it more than 100 years ago."

Alex Ebert, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

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ABOUT S2BN FILMS
S2BN is a diversified international family show and event entertainment company specializing in the acquisition, development and production of high caliber touring exhibitions, unique live music tours, arena events, theatrical performances, feature films and multimedia product offerings. The core team at S2BN has been together for over three decades working in live entertainment and have created some of the most endearing and best loved spectacles ranging from the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, U2, to Fuerza Bruta, Spider-Man, Yo Gabba Gabba! and many others.  The company and/or its principals have developed a wide range of live attractions and award winning theatre, opera, television programs, and feature films, Recent critically acclaimed and Award-winning feature documentaries include LENNONNYC, Pete Seeger: Power of Song, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune and Sing Your Song. Operating unit 2 Lefts Don't Make a Right Productions, focuses on development of narrative projects including the baseball epic Ed Lucas penned by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, Attica, an insider's view of the 1971 prison with script being written by Geoffrey Fletcher and The Retaliator, a never-before-seen superhero, written by Jim and Jake Hart based on an original story by Stan Lee. For more information visit www.s2bnentertainment.com.

ABOUT ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT
Alliance Entertainment is the largest wholesale distributor of home entertainment audio and video software in the United States as well as an accomplished distribution channel for apparel, hardware and accessories. As a best in-class distribution solution, Alliance provides the highest level of service in eCommerce fulfillment (CDF), vendor managed inventory systems, category captain analysis and processes, traditional retail distribution and 3PL functions. Boasting a 400,000 square foot, centrally positioned distribution facility and an established a network of strategic corporate office locations in Dallas, Los Angeles and South Florida, Alliance has the ability to handle the outbound distribution, returns processing and storage of wholesale product and consumer direct fulfillment orders in the multi-millions annually.  For more information visit www.aent.com.

ABOUT EMMETT MALLOY
Over the past 12 years, Emmett Malloy's filmmaking career has lured him into some strange and wild surroundings. For 2000's Thicker Than Water (the seminal surf film he co-directed with his professional-surfer cousin Chris Malloy and musician Jack Johnson), Malloy filmed in remote surf spots throughout India, Indonesia, and Australia. In Under Great White Northern Lights (the 2009 documentary that earned Malloy a Grammy nomination), he accompanied the White Stripes on a tour that fulfilled the band's pledge to play every province and territory in Canada. Malloy's work as a multiple-award-winning music-video director includes Metallica's "St. Anger" video, for which he and his co-director/brother Brendan Malloy filmed in San Quentin Prison. For more information visit www.malloybrothers.com.

ABOUT MUMFORD & SONS
Inspired by folk, rock, country, and bluegrass, the London based Mumford & Sons feature Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett and Winston Marshall. The Foursome started playing together as Mumford & Sons in 2007, although they were all playing with different bands at the time, they bonded over their shared love of rootsy music. Between 2008 and 2009 the band released three 10" vinyl EP's, before being signed to Island Records in the UK and beginning work with producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Maccabees) on their first full length. Sigh No More was released in October 2009 and the band was shortlisted for the BBC's Sound of 2009 Poll. It was issued in February 2010 in America through Glassnote Records. The achievements of Mumford & Sons since the albums' release has been a success story rarely matched of recent years, in an industry we're regularly led to believe is in constant decline. In each and every town and city that has welcomed the band has been treated to a jubilant and suitably intimate performance, regardless of the size of venue. For more info visit www.mumfordandsons.com.

ABOUT EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros formed in 2007 after singer Alex Ebert met fellow singer Jade Castrinos outside of a cafe in downtown Los Angeles. In 2009 the 10 member troupe released their debut album Up From Below that featured the universally appealing hit "Home" as well as fan favorite's "40 Day Dream" and "Janglin". The past few years have been spent constantly touring the world while winning over audiences at festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Leeds, Austin City Limits and more. With their follow up album Here featuring "Man On Fire" and "That's What's Up" recently being released, the band will tour Europe and the North America this summer while a third album is expected by the end of the year. For more information visit edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros.com.

ABOUT OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW
Old Crow Medicine Show got its start busking on street corners in New York state and up through Canada, winning audiences along the way with their boundless energy and spirit. They eventually found themselves in Boone, North Carolina where they caught the attention of folk icon Doc Watson while playing in front of a pharmacy. Watson immediately invited the band to play at his MerleFest, helping to launch their career. Shortly thereafter the band relocated to Nashville for a residency at the Grand Ole Opry, where they entertained the crowd between shows.

It's been nearly fifteen years since those humble beginnings, and the band has gone on to tour the world, sell over 700,000 albums, become frequent guests on A Prairie Home Companion, and play renowned festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

Old Crow Medicine Show (Ketch Secor, Critter Fuqua, Morgan Jahnig, Gill Landry, Chance McCoy) now have four studio albums to their name, three of which were released by Netwerk Records -O.C.M.S and Big Iron World produced by David Rawlings, and Tennessee Pusher produced by Don Was. On their newest album, Carry Me Back, Old Crow continue to craft classic American roots music while pushing themselves in new directions. Carry Me Back, released by ATO Records and produced by Ted Hutt, represents a new stretch of road in the timeless journey of a rambling string band. For more info visit www.crowmedicine.com.

SOURCE S2BN Films