Belleville studio premieres first local feature film to sold-out Empire Theatre

Eighty Twenty Studio premiered its first-ever feature film, Butter Bandits, to a sold-out crowd at the Empire Theatre on Thursday.

The studio is based in Belleville with the film fully shot in the Bay of Quinte area.  It also featured an all-local cast and used primarily local crew.

Butter Bandits is based on a true story of a butter heist in southern Ontario in 2021.

Victor Cooper, co-owner of Eighty Twenty Studio, directed the film and co-wrote it with his wife Jodi.

Cooper, and Eighty Twenty co-owner Kelly McKinney, who also stars in the project, procured funding from local investors to fund the film.

You can read the full press release below:

Last night Eighty Twenty Studio, a Belleville-based production company, premiered its first ever feature film, Butter Bandits, to a sold-out crowd at the Empire theater.

The film, based on a true story of a butter heist in southern Ontario in 2021, was fully shot in the Bay of Quinte and also featured an all-local cast and used primarily local crew. Eighty Twenty Studio has a sizeable studio in downtown Belleville where they also built many of the interior sets for the production.

Victor Cooper, co-owner of Eighty Twenty Studio, who already has a multi-season TV show to his name, Stoney Lonesome, which was featured on Bell Fibe and also produced locally, directed the film and co-wrote it with his wife Jodi.

Cooper, and Eighty Twenty co-owner Kelly McKinney, who also stars in the project, procured funding from local investors to fund the film and bring it to life.

Says Cooper about the filming, “We were so overwhelmed by the amount of support from this community, not just tonight, but since we started preproduction back in October. They’ve had our backs every step of the way.”  One of Butter Bandits’ lead actors, Allisha Pelletier, who has had roles on projects featured on OUTTV and Amazon Prime, even moved to the region as a result of filming.

In terms of next steps for Butter Bandits and Eighty Twenty Studio, Cooper says there are multiple plans. “We’ll be taking it to some festivals to get it in front of more audiences and in front of some production companies.  TIFF has a marketplace coming up that we’re excited about and we’ll also be taking pitch meetings with distributors.”