FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HAL HARTLEY’S “MY AMERICA” TO DEBUT EXCULSIVELY ON FANDOR THIS JULY 4th
SAN FRANCISCO (JUNE 18, 2014) – Fandor announced today that the streaming service will exclusively host the world premiere of MY AMERICA, the latest feature film from renowned filmmaker, Hal Hartley on Fandor this July 4th.
Fandor is fostering a community of filmmakers and film enthusiasts online and throughout the world. With the debut of MY AMERICA, Fandor continues to provide unique and original films to wider audiences through its subscription streaming service. Earlier this month, Fandor debuted Agnieszka Holland’s critically acclaimed BURNING BUSH day-and-date with its theatrical run in New York City at Film Forum.
Originally commissioned by Centerstage (the State Theater of Maryland), MY AMERICA is comprised of twenty-one inventively staged monologues by leading American playwrights; the film addresses the variety and complexity of America’s current anxieties.
The debut of this new work by Hartley reflects both Fandor’s mission to offer new films from the most exciting cinematic voices but also marks another collaboration with long-time colleague Ted Hope, celebrated producer and Fandor CEO. “I owe a large part of both my career and critical eye to Hal Hartley,” said Hope, “So it is a true joy to host the exclusive premiere of Hal’s latest film.”
“Working with some of our best playwrights, Hal gets at the core of NOW,” continued Hope, “And like every thing Hal has done, MY AMERICA is bold, funny, insightful, and formally daring — and isn’t that what we all always want from OUR America and our filmmakers, actors, and writers? Thankfully we have Hal (and Fandor) to deliver it directly to you.”
“It was great to work with such an array of talents - the writers and the actors,” said Hartley. “And to use my skills and sensibility to render these very heart-felt and sometimes hilarious insights into a portrait of the nation.”
Continued Hartley, “I’m excited to be distributing MY AMERICA on Fandor as it offers such an uncomplicated and direct outlet for the film to connect with audiences.”
These twenty-one monologues, written by some of the nation’s most exciting playwrights including Neil LaBute, Danny Hoch, Dan Dietz, Marcus Gardley, 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. The keenly observed and crafted monologues are performed by notable actors from Jefferson Mays to Kathleen Chalfant, as well as Hartley regular Thomas Jay Ryan.
Hartley is a prolific American filmmaker whose work has won numerous awards at Cannes and Sundance. His work includes such feature films as SIMPLE MEN starring Bill Sage and Robert John Burke, NO SUCH THING with Sarah Polley and Helen Mirren, and FAY GRIM with Parker Posey and Jeff Goldblum. Hartley’s works off-screen have included various acclaimed theater productions and MY AMERICA marks the first of Hartley’s films to capture stage-work on film.
With the release of MY AMERICA on Fandor, Hope is once again reunited with Hartley, for their eleventh film collaboration (not including music videos). Their first film together was THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH (1989), an unconventional love story about a teenager falling in love with a mechanic with a criminal past, which was Hartley’s first film. They have been frequent collaborators and colleagues since.
Additionally, Fandor will host a special screening and Q&A of the film with Hartley and Hope on Wednesday, July 9th at IFC Center in New York City.
MY AMERICA will become available on Fandor starting Friday, July 4th. For further information, visit:http://www.fandor.com/films/my_america
