Napoleon Dynamite is the feature film debut of director Jared Hess, based on his earlier short film, Peluca. Napoleon was filmed in the summer of 2003 in and around Preston, Idaho.
It made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004 and was released to theaters in June 2004. It won Best Feature Film at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival the same year. The film's budget was only $100,000. When they were sold to a professional company with advertising they gave them another $100,000 to shoot a wedding scene at the end of the movie. The DVD was released on December 21, 2004.
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