Tribeca Film acquires Big Bird doc for 2015 release

The next Sesame Street character to receive his own documentary for the big screen is about as big as they come.

Tribeca Film announced today that the distributor has acquired the rights to the documentary I Am Big Bird, a career-long look at the man behind the bird, Caroll Spinney, who has played the character for over 40 years.

The film already premiered earlier this year at the Hot Docs film festival and will also be screened at the DOC NYC festival this November. Tribeca Film has set the film for a theatrical and video-on-demand release in the first quarter of 2015.

“Caroll entrusted us with telling his story, and we’re thrilled that we’ll finally be able to share it with audiences across the country,” said Chad Walker, one of the filmmakers behind Big Bird, in a statement.

I Am Big Bird is not the first documentary to take a look behind the characters on Sesame Street, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. 2011’s Being Elmo chronicled the career of puppeteer Kevin Clash, who served as the voice and puppeteer behind Elmo until he resigned in 2012.