Hal Hartley

A funny and thought-provoking farce told in the rhythms of a sci-fi thriller. (Possible Films)

Writer-Director Hal Hartley takes a humorous and satirical look at a society concerned only with instant gratification and voyeuristic sensationalism. (MGM)

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

Isabelle is an ex-nun waiting for her special mission from God. In the meantime, she is making a living writing pornography... (imdb)

When high school dropout Maria Coughlin announces her pregnancy to her parents, her father drops dead on the floor... (imdb)

The same situation is played out in different cities (New York, Berlin and Japan). 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 ? (imdb)

A ten-years-later continuation of Hal Hartley's "Henry Fool", where Fay Grim (Posey) is coerced by a CIA agent (Goldblum) to try and locate notebooks that belonged to her fugitive ex-husband (Ryan). Published in them is information that could compromises the security of the U.S., causing Fay to first head to Paris to fetch them ... (imdb)

Bitter about being double-crossed by the women he loved, (and with the police after him to boot), Bill vows to seduce the next woman he sees, then throw her away. His brother Dennis, meanwhile, is equally determined to track down their long lost father, a revolutionary who has been in hiding for 20 years. (imdb)

Socially inept garbage man Simon is befriended by Henry Fool, a witty roguish, but talent-less novelist. Henry opens a magical world of literature to Simon who turns his hand to writing the 'great American poem'. As Simon begins his controversial ascent to the dizzying heights of Nobel Prize winning poet, Henry sinks to a life of drinking in low-life bars. The two friends fall out and lose touch until Henry's criminal past catches up with him. (imdb)

Comedic satire written for Comedy Central

It is March 1 1994 and we see four characters while New York is under attack. (imdb)

A multimedia collaboration with Dutch composer Louis Andriessen (sospeso.com)

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? (imdb)

Parker Posey and Sabrina Lloyd are in an apartment, speaking typical Hartley dialogue back and forth in this shot on video fifteen minute film. (J. Magovern at Amazon.com)

The end of the millenium has taken on a certain significance in modern day prophecies. What happens if Jesus Christ has second thoughts about the Apocalypse? It is December 31, 1999 and New Year's Eve takes on new meaning when the Devil, Jesus Christ, and Christ's assistant Magdelina discuss and debate the end of the world, the opening of the seven seals, and the essence of being human. (imdb)

A 60 minute film about the relationship between a college professor and one of his female students.

This short film was packaged on video with Hartley's featurette "Surviving Desire." It 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. (imdb)

Short which affectionately examines the lives of a group of "young, middle-class, white, college-educated, unskilled, broke, drunk" Brookylnites who would love to make something of their lives -- assuming they can pay the rent first. (imdb.com)

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. (possiblefilms.com)

Henry 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. (imdb)

A slow, meditative piece of visual music commissioned by the Paris Gallery of the Foundation Cartier for their group show, "Amours." Different artists, filmmakers and writers were asked to make something treating the concept of "amour" (or "love"). Hal Hartley decided to treat that aspect of love which is charity and deconstructed the well known phrase from the gospel of Mark regarding "turning the other cheek." (fandor.com)

A coming-of-age comedy set in the "go-go" 80s about a college student enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end--and the future begins. (imdb)

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. (imdb)

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." (imdb)

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.

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. (imdb)

Hal Hartley's senior thesis film from Suny-Purchase. A young man named Ned (Ricky Ludwig) attempts to leave his Long Island suburb, but is thwarted by a series of absurd obstacles.

A cartographer works in his spare time on a map which he wants to look like an old, very important archaeological find.The man is also very shy, which does not prevent him from falling in love with a girl who suddenly seems to appear from nowhere. She moves in with him, but doesn't say anything about herself. He doesn't ask because, he says, things are good they way they are. But this isn't enough for her and she leaves after ripping his map from the wall. (iffr.com)

An artist-criminal far from home asks his assistant to pirate a rare videotape before the German Post Office Authorities come to confiscate it. (imdb)

Twenty-one monologues, written by some of the nation's most exciting contemporary playwrights, form a fractured portrait of the American psyche. Sad, hilarious, angry, celebratory, many of the major issues defining our fraught but beloved union are reconsidered with elegance, wit, brutal honesty, and a little outright insanity. (halhartley.com)

Bursts of canine aggression punctuate a portrait of three men confronting their friendship and failings. (criterionchannel.com)

Parker Posey and Sabrina Lloyd star in an experimental short set to the titular song by the Breeders. (criterionchannel.com)