Live Free or Die, from Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin, won the jury prize for best narrative feature, after making its world premiere at the festival this week. The quirky comedy, about the misadventures of a wannabe criminal in small-town New Hampshire, stars Aaron Stanford as the parka-wearing, chain-smoking John "Rugged" Rudgate. Paul Schneider plays his only friend, a lovable goofball named Lagrand; Zooey Deschanel co-stars as Lagrand's bossy older sister.

Kavet and Robin, both 37, met while studying at Harvard and writing for the Lampoon. They thought New Hampshire would provide a great source of comedy, especially compared with Vermont and Maine, which Robin describes as more "effete." They took their title from the state's motto, inspired by the Revolutionary War, and shot the movie there over 21 days.

"The state's trying really hard," Robin, who lived briefly in Sandwich, N.H., chimes in. "It's got kind of a dumb, in-your-face attitude, which is evident in the state motto. You know, Live Free or Die, everything's so extreme.

But Robin and Kavet were quick to add that the locals in the western New Hampshire town of Claremont (population 13,000) were extremely helpful in getting the film made -- after their location manager did a little schmoozing.

"All of a sudden it went from being a place that was really skeptical about filming to a place that, like, would do anything," Kavet said.

Having the "former Seinfeld writers" tag attached to their first film brought with it a great deal of expectation. Robin (who worked on the series for six seasons) and Kavet (who teamed up with him for four) won a Writers Guild Award and earned three Emmy nominations during that time.

The only truly good person in the film is Schneider's Lagrand. He's dimwitted, insecure and eager to please, but as he hangs out with Rugged he gains the confidence to stand up to his sister, with whom he runs a U-Lock storage centre.

"The script was really specific and really funny when I read it," Schneider (All the Real Girls, The Family Stone) said after the premiere. "He was written as this tall kind of giraffe character.

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