Most independent films – even ones that do well at the Sundance Film Festival – are lucky to line up one major distribruter. But one of this year’s biggest winners, Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, has scored three.

The film, based on the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire (and given the oddly descriptive title to avoid confusion with the sci-fi flick, Push, opening this week), became only the third film ever to win both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance, the annual mecca of indie films in Park City, Utah. Monday Lionsgate announced that it’s teaming with Oprah Winfrey and and her Harpo Films and Tyler Perry’s 34th Street Films, in its first venture, to distribute the film nationwide.

This Push is the story of Precious Jones, an African American teenager growing up in poverty and an abusive home in Harlem, who must pull herself up and out of the difficult circumstances of her childhood to discover her own unique voice. It stars newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, Paula Patton (Mirrors, Swing Vote), Mo'Nique (The Parkers, Soul Plane), Sherri Shepherd (30 Rock, The View) and Grammy Award-winning musicians Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz. (Mo'Nique's performance as Jones' unbearably cruel mother one her a Special Jury Prize to complete the film's trifecta.) The executive producer and director of the film, Lee Daniels, previously worked with Lionsgate as producer for the Academy Award-winner Monster’s Ball.

In what’s likely to be a ground-breaking partnership, Oprah Winfrey has stepped forward and put the weight of her Harpo Films behind the movie. "I've never seen anything like it,” Winfrey said in a statement. “The moment I saw Push, I knew I wanted to do whatever I could to encourage other people to see this movie. The film is so raw and powerful - it split me open."

Perry, whose 34th Street Films will also be helping with the distribution of the movie as its first official project, added, “I am honored to join Oprah Winfrey and Lionsgate in releasing Lee Daniels' exceptional film. I was immensely moved by Push, and wanted to do whatever I could to help others share in its redemptive experience.”

This is Daniels’ second venture as a director, his first being 2006’s Shadowboxer, which starred Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr. Of the partneship, he says, "I know from my Monster’s Ball experience that Push has found the best home possible. I'm really looking forward to working again with smart, innovative friends at Lionsgate."

There's no word yet on when the film will be released to a broader audience, but with such an unprecedented partnership behind it, it’s unlikely that it will be long before Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire appears in a theater near you.