This interview with director Hal Hartley was recorded in 2023.

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1989 • United States
Starring Adrienne Shelly, Robert John Burke, Christopher Cooke

Audry (Adrienne Shelly in her first film role), a young woman bound for Harvard and disturbingly preoccupied with the threat of nuclear destruction, abandons her college plans for someth...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1990 • United States
Starring Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, Rebecca Nelson

One of the defining American independent films of the 1990s, Hal Hartley’s second feature is a romantic comedy told with the filmmaker’s characteristic verbal dexterity and mordant wit. A hila...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1992 • United States
Starring Martin Donovan, Mary B. Ward, Matt Malloy

Sofie (Mary B. Ward) won’t tell anyone she’s sleeping with her professor, Jude (Martin Donovan). He’s young, handsome, and passionate—perfect for Sofie, who just wants to write about love. When they...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1992 • United States
Starring Robert John Burke, Bill Sage, Karen Sillas

Dennis (Bill Sage) is a quietly handsome and bookish college student. His older brother, Bill (Robert John Burke), is a rough-hewn ladies’ man and thief. Thrown together to search for their long-lo...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1994 • United States
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan, Elina Löwensohn

Indie maverick Hal Hartley puts his typically gonzo, deadpan spin on the crime thriller in this wild tale of sex, sin, and spiritual redemption. Isabelle Huppert delivers one of her all-too-...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1995 • United States
Starring Bill Sage, Dwight Ewell, Miho Nikaido

A sexy, unconventional story of love and loss unfolds three times in three different cities: New York, Berlin, and Tokyo. Repeating the same situations and dialogue but with subtle shifts of emphasis, F...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1997 • United States
Starring Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, Parker Posey

Shy and clumsy garbage man Simon Grim (James Urbaniak) endures a colorless life with his depressed mom and promiscuous sister Fay (Parker Posey), until he’s befriended by their strange new tenan...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1998 • France, United States
Starring Martin Donovan, P J Harvey, Dave Simonds

Hal Hartley imagines the apocalypse—with typically atypical results. On the last day of the twentieth century, Jesus Christ (Martin Donovan) and his assistant Magdalena (art-rock icon PJ Harv...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 2005 • United States
Starring Bill Sage, Sabrina Lloyd, Tatiana Abracos

One of director Hal Hartley’s most intriguingly experimental efforts is a cunning science-fiction satire that plays something like Godard’s ALPHAVILLE updated for our era. In a future New York City ...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 2006 • United States, Germany
Starring Parker Posey, Liam Aiken, James Urbaniak

Hal Hartley’s follow-up to his acclaimed HENRY FOOL brings us deeper into the world of the enigmatic Grim family with an inventively off-kilter tale of international intrigue. Parker Posey r...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 2011 • United States
Starring D. J. Mendel, Danielle Meyer, Pallavi Sastry

This generously openhearted fable offers a glimpse of New York City through the eyes of Joe Fulton (D. J. Mendel), a guy who can fix seemingly anything. When Joe’s bank account and credit cards a...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 2014 • United States
Starring Aubrey Plaza, Parker Posey, Liam Aiken

In the satisfying closing chapter of director Hal Hartley’s trilogy about the fractured Grim family (preceded by HENRY FOOL and FAY GRIM), young son Ned (Liam Aiken) embarks on a quest to kill his fath...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1984 • United States
Starring Janine Eriksen, George Feaster, Bob Gosse

Hal Hartley’s thesis film at SUNY Purchase features a number of actors who would continue to appear in his films in the early 1990s. A young man attempting to leave town to find his estranged girlfr...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1987 • United States
Starring Marissa Chibas, George Feaster, Steven Geiger

A shy and introverted city surveyor has his quiet, scholarly world turned upside down when a young woman mysteriously appears in his apartment in this poetic, sometimes surreal look at male assu...

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1988 • United States
Starring Ricky Ludwig, Mike Brady, Gary Sauer

Bursts of canine aggression punctuate a portrait of three men confronting their friendship and failings.

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1991 • United States
Starring George Feaster, Hannah Sullivan, Rick Groel

Hal Hartley chronicles 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.

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1991 • United States
Starring Bob Gosse, Jessica Sager, Jeffrey Howard

Young, middle-class, white, college-educated, unskilled, broke, drunk. An aspiring writer tries his hand at real estate, selling Brooklyn as the next great art capital of the world.

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1994 • United States
Starring Patricia Dunnock, Parker Posey, Adrienne Shelly

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

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1994 • United States
Starring Dwight Ewell, Lianna Pai, Paul Schulze

Hal Hartley chronicles the mundane circumstances of a city under siege.

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1994 • United States
Starring Parker Posey, Sabrina Lloyd

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

Directed by Hal Hartley • 1997 • United States
Starring Miho Nikaido, Elina Löwensohn, James Urbaniak

A minimalist, atmospheric meditation on the theme of love focuses on reconciliation and forgiveness.

Directed by Hal Hartley • 2000 • United States
Starring D. J. Mendel, Miho Nikaido, David Neumann

An intricately choreographed fight breaks out over the solution to a math problem.