For filmmaker Hal Hartley, the premise for his new film “Where to Land” came from a couple of certain real-life scenarios the Lindenhurst native was navigating.
One was getting his estate in order, with the other being preparations he and his siblings were making for his late father’s last days. It all manifests in this slice-of-life scenario where rom-com director Joe Fulton (Bill Sage) is addressing his will and testament, leading friends and family to mistakenly assume he’s dying.
At the upcoming Long Island premiere of the film at Cinema Arts Centre, Hartley and friend/frequent collaborator Edie Falco, who plays Fulton’s ex-wife Clara, will be addressing this scenario during a Q&A following the movie’s screening.
What started as a couple of scenes from Hartley’s forthcoming 2026 novella “Our Man” provided the impetus for “Where to Land,” along with the aforementioned personal passes with mortality the filmmaker wound up navigating.
“My lawyers had been telling me to write my last will and testament for many years because I have a lot of things in movies, which I own,” he recalled. “I finally had that meeting with my lawyer and on the way home on the subway, I was laughing to myself thinking it would make a great story. It’s so funny; somebody has to figure out what they own and who they want to give it to. There is so much potential for drama.”
He added, “Caring for my dad in his last few years made that closeness to the end of life made it that more real. When you’re in that kind of situation, it’s not tragic.
But you have serious conversations with your parent, your siblings, aunts, uncles and people like that about what’s important in life. Dying or passing away is a very key part of life. You can do that well, or you can do that badly. I was happy my dad passed on the way he wanted to pass on. It wasn’t torturous.”
For Hartley’s first cinematic project since 2014’s “Ned Rifle” and the documentary “My America,” the independent film stalwart rolled up his sleeves, raised funding via GoFundMe and was set to start shooting on March 11, 2020.
The global pandemic had other plans, leading to investors being refunded and Hartley leaning into composing instrumentals that resulted in two separate albums—“Earlier” and “Begin Again.” Many of these tracks also wound up in the film once the project was restarted in 2023.
Hartley-regular, Robert John Burke (“Rescue Me,” “Gossip Girl”) was also tapped to join fellow SUNY Purchase alums Falco, Sage and the director/producer for this production. Burke is part of a multi-generational cast of characters that gives heft to the question of mortality being interpreted differently depending on where people are during life’s journey.
“What I really like about the script I was writing is there’s a good representation of ages,” Hartley recalled. “The older people who are probably in their sixties, down through the girlfriend Joe’s girlfriend Muriel (Kim Taff), who is probably 40 and then there are the kids who are probably in their twenties, so you get a lot of input there.”
For Hartley, who grew up “hiding out in my high school’s art department because I felt comfortable there,” the idea of being a filmmaker didn’t take hold until he attended SUNY Purchase. It was here that he discovered his affinity for making movies.
“Visual arts is where I felt at ease and where I could do things,” Hartley said. “There’s a kind of constructivist aspect to making a film, even writing it. Screenplays are very much like ground plans. There’s this and then that follows that. With film, I think it must have been that kind of constructivist kind of thing that pulled me in—the dialogue and liking how things worked. I wasn’t great with machinery, but I was intrigued by it.”
At this stage of his life, the notion of being an independent filmmaker wearing multiple hats tied to funding, casting, directing, production and distribution makes this Hartley’s last project of this ilk. (“It’s a young man’s game.”) With plans to move to Portugal while pursuing creative endeavors like playwriting and publishing, the native Long Islander hasn’t completely closed the book on making movies.
“At 65, I’m better at the work than I’ve ever been, so if somebody wants to come in and go into business on a Hal Hartley film on my terms, I would do that,” he said. “I know I’m going to be working until the day I kick off, but I do a lot of that writing. That I find very satisfying.”
Hal Hartley and Edie Falco will be appearing on Friday, Sept 19, for the Long Island premiere of “Where to Land” at Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. For more information, visit www.cinemartscentre.org or call 631-423-7610.
