Hal Hartley

As the muse of Hal Hartley’s indie classics and as writer/director of the critically acclaimed Waitress, Adrienne Shelly was a shining star in the indie film firmament. A devoted young mother, her life was right on track until her husband found her dead. Filmmaker Andy Ostroy has been fighting to discover the truth about his wife’s death ever since.

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A series of impromptu interviews with Hal Hartley, Adrienne Shelly, and some of Hartley's other most frequent collaborators on his style, career, and process.

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Hartley's conscientious assistant in Berlin receives weekly letters from her boss and sends him the books he needs as he struggles in Amsterdam to create the staging for Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's opera, "La commedia."

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Hartley and his wife, Miho Nikaido, travel to Japan to see her parents and reflect on 12 years of marriage, her career ambitions, and the adventures of growing older.

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A short documentary about the making of 'Fay Grim.'

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An 18-minute documentary made in 2005 by perennial Hartley actor D.J. Mendel, reunites the director and line producer Ted Hope with actors Adrienne Shelly and Martin Donovan for an off-the-cuff, affectionate, and surprisingly candid (it was hardly an easy shoot) recollection of their collaboration on the demanding Hartley's second feature.

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A documentary concerning the periods between the actual takes during the production of Hartley's short film "Iris," revealing the imagination, diligence and patience that goes into composing a shot.

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A behind the scenes look, including an interview with Hal Hartley, surrounding his play "Soon," a production inspired by the 1993 events in Waco, Texas involving the religious sect called the Branch Davidians and their collision with the US Federal Government.

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The life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters.

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A documentary on the career of filmmaker John Waters. Featuring interviews with actors and fellow film-makers. The life and death of the actor Divine is also discussed.

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The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Tokyo). A lover has to choose whether to commit to a partner who is returning home. In each case there are other people involved, an ex-partner and someone else in a "permanent" relationship, what do they choose to do?

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A Paul Joyce documentary on the American independent film scene.

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Joseph Fulton, a famous director, wants to work at a cemetery. Meanwhile, he has his last will and testament drawn up. His girlfriend thinks he's dying. Rumor spreads and soon everyone he knows gathers to say their last farewells.

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Henry’s and Fay's son Ned sets out to find and kill his father for destroying his mother's life. But his aims are frustrated by the troublesome Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even his arrival in the lives of the Grim family.

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21 monologues written by American playwrights form a sort of fractured portrait of the American collective psyche. Ranging from the sad to the hilarious, from the angry to the tentatively celebratory, many of the major and recurrent issues associated with our fraught but beloved union are reconsidered with elegance, wit, brutal honesty, and a little outright insanity.

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Meanwhile concerns Joe Fulton, a man who can do anything from fixing your sink to arranging international financing for a construction project. He produces online advertising and he’s written a big fat novel. He’s also a pretty good drummer. But success eludes him. For Joe can’t keep himself from fixing other people’s problems. His own ambitions are constantly interrupted by his willingness and ability to go out of his way for others.

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A commercially realistic but artistically conflicted playwright lends his Berlin apartment to a young actress friend so she can rehearse her drama school audition while he goes off to save his doomed production in New York.

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An ambitious and idealistic young actress comes to Berlin to convince an American ex-pat filmmaker that she must be his next muse - the leading lady of his first great German film.

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Many years after her notorious husband, Henry Fool, fled after killing a neighbor, Fay Grim receives a visit from CIA agent Fulbright, who tells her that Henry is dead, but that some of his journals have been unearthed in France. She sets forth on a globe-trotting odyssey that soon leads to the discovery that he is alive, and his journals are more than they appear to be.

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A comic drama about a time in the near future when citizens are happy to be property traded on the stock exchange.

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Excerpts from performances of Hal Hartley's play "Soon", a production inspired by the 1993 events in Waco, Texas involving the religious sect called the Branch Davidians and their collision with the US Federal Government.

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Over one night in New York City, lives of disparate strangers intersect by fate and circumstance.

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A young doctor believes that the spirit of his late wife has possessed a troubled patient in his hospital.

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A young journalist journeys to Iceland to find her missing fiancé only to encounter a mythical creature who longs to die.

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A hot summer day on a country road. A young woman in her bridal dress gets kicked out of a car. Lost and frustrated, she wanders off across a sea of grass into a dark wood - and discovers an abandoned house. Tired and worn out, she lies down on a bed. When she is awakened from her nap by a clap of thunder, she sees a cup of steaming hot tea and a package on the floor. She opens it - and finds a kimono. The bride knows she no longer is alone ... but should she put on the kimono?

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New Year's Eve takes on new meaning when the Devil, Jesus Christ, and Christ's assistant Magdalena discuss and debate the End of the World.

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An egocentric bum transforms the lives of a shy New Jersey garbageman and his sister.

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A minimalist, atmospheric, meditation on the theme of "Love" or "Amour" that focuses on reconciliation and forgiveness.

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The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Tokyo). A lover has to choose whether to commit to a partner who is returning home. In each case there are other people involved, an ex-partner and someone else in a "permanent" relationship, what do they choose to do?

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The mundane circumstances of a city under siege.

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A man wakes up in an alley, bleeding and with no memory of who he is. He stumbles into a coffee shop and is befriended by a charitable ex-nun who is failing in her attempts to write marketable pornography.

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A comical mini opera following the exploits of two goddesses interfering with the lives of mortals. Mistaken identities, miscast spells, and rollerblades abound.

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Two diametrically opposite brothers set off on a journey to reunite with their estranged father but when their motorcycle breaks down while passing through a small town, they become entangled in local life.

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Follows a day in the life of a young artist who longs for professional success and the attention of beautiful women, but who encounters only frustration and violence.

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Jude, a college professor, is obsessed with Sophie, his student. She, in turn, is intrigued by his scholarly charm. Flirtation turns to lust and the two become lovers.

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This short film was packaged on video with Hartley's featurette "Surviving Desire." It affectionately examines the lives of a group of "young, middle-class, white, college-educated, unskilled, broke, drunk" Brooklynites who would love to make something of their lives -- assuming they can pay the rent first.

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After being thrown away from home, pregnant high school dropout Maria meets Matthew, a highly educated and extremely moody electronics repairman. The two begin an unusual romance built on their sense of mutual admiration and trust.

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After serving time for murder, Josh Hutton returns to his home town where he meets Audry Hugo. No one can remember exactly what Josh did...

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A short film about friendship, disillusionment, loathing and despair, in which the pictures of three young men talking are juxtaposed with slowmotion shots of aggressive dogs. Three young men are talking about Richie's marriage to Evelyn, which has put their friendship on the back burner. Richie explains how that could happen. "She fell for me, and they hate me for it", he says. Everyone was mad about Evelyn, but Richie makes it clear that their marriage is not exactly a bed of roses. He admits that be bluffed and lied and more or less asks his friends for forgiveness.

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Self-funded Hal Hartley project shot on 16mm with a focus on a somewhat bizarre romance.

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Hal Hartley's senior thesis film from SUNY-Purchase. A young man attempts to leave his Long Island suburb, but is thwarted by a series of absurd obstacles.

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American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

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