UnionDocs will be screening a 16mm print of Matthew Porterfield’s debut narrative feature Hamilton. Richard Brody, editor and writer at the New Yorker and author of Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard, will be present to moderate a post-screening discussion with Porterfield. Following this Porterfield will provide a preview of his forthcoming feature Metal Gods. Producer Jordan Mintzer and cinematographer Jeremy Saulnier will also be present.
Hamilton chronicles two summer days in the life of a young family. Lena, 17, and Joe, 20, are two recent and accidental parents residing in a diverse, suburban neighborhood in northeast Baltimore City. When the picture begins, Lena is looking for Joe. Lena, who lives with Joe’s family, wants to see him before she leaves town for the month of August. He’s rented an apartment from a neighbor and works two jobs, providing her with money, but very little of his time. Through Lena’s search we are introduced to her daughter, her family and friends, her neighborhood, and Joe, her baby’s father.
“Matt Porterfield directs in a near-subliminal style…his frequently wordless images capture mood and emotion with surprising effectiveness. [Hamilton] builds an ineffable sadness around the loneliness of teenage parenting and the disconnect between sex and its consequences.”
– Jeannette Catsoulis, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Astonishing in its simple beauty, amazing performances, and hypnotic pace. The real thing.”
-John Waters, ARTFORUM INTERNATIONAL
“It recalls the films of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, particularly Dust in the Wind. Eschewing cuts, dialogue, and plot in general, it teeters between minimal storytelling and pure Warholian observation, and such deliberate reticence is easy to admire.”
-Ben Kenigsberg, TIME OUT CHICAGO
Two damaged teenagers living in a Baltimore suburb form an unlikely bond when their lives are thrown together by a sudden act of violence.
Matthew Porterfield’s upcoming narrative feature Metal Gods is a relationship drama and coming-of-age story about a group of heavy metal teens in Baltimore skirting the fringes of the city. Following the Hamilton Q&A Matt will discuss the development process for his new feature, highlighting how the concept was born and turned into a screenplay, the casting process, and the search for financing. Metal Gods won the Panasonic Digital Filmmaking Grand Prize Grant at Independent Film Week and is scheduled to begin shooting this July.
An Evening with Matt Porterfield was curated by Steve Holmgren ([email protected]).
Don’t forget to email [email protected] for reservations!
This event is made possible by The Experimental Television Center’s Presentation Funds program, which is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts.
