About Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. His films include The Unbelievable Truth (1989), Trust (1990), Simple Men (1992), Amateur (1994) and Henry Fool (1997), which are notable for deadpan humour and offbeat characters quoting philosophical dialogue. Hartley frequently scores his own films, sometimes under the pseudonym Ned Rifle, and his soundtracks regularly feature music by Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo and PJ Harvey. The film garnered positive reviews, and it was entered into competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, where Hartley won the Best Screenplay Award. Hartley was awarded a fellowship by The American Academy in Berlin in late 2004, where he did research related to a proposed large-scale project concerning the life of French educator and social activist Simone Weil. Trust won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival.
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