Reel Citrus Sets Dec. 11 U.S. Release for Summer School, 2001

Reel Citrus will release Summer School, 2001 in a limited U.S. theatrical run at Cinemark cinemas starting Dec. 11, according to hollywoodreporter.com. The film will then stream on Amazon from Dec. 18 ahead of a global rollout.

The distributor acquired North American rights across all media and worldwide streaming rights to the film from AZN kru. Most of the selected U.S. cinemas are in areas with large Vietnamese American populations, including Southern California, the Bay Area, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Las Vegas and the Washington, D.C. area. Other theaters are in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Central Texas.

The theatrical launch opens a week before Dune 3 and Avengers: Doomsday arrive in cinemas. The film is in Vietnamese and Czech with English subtitles.

Festival run and awards

In 2025, Summer School, 2001 had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and drew more than 20,000 moviegoers during its run in Czech cinemas.

At the Czech Lion Awards, the film won best screenplay for writer-director Dužan Duong, Jan Smutný and Lukáš Kokeš, and best supporting actor for Dũng Nguyễn, the first Vietnamese actor to win a Czech Lion. The Czech Film Critics' Awards named it best screenplay and Discovery of the Year. At Viet Film Fest it won the Bronze Drum (Trống Đồng) Award for best feature film, best actor for Tô Tiến Tài and the Audience Choice Award for best feature.

In March, a screening at the Avalon Theatre in Washington, D.C. was co-presented with the Embassy of the Czech Republic as an early test for Reel Citrus, the company led by founder and managing director Brittany Tran.