Hal Hartley

Hal Hartley (b. November 3, 1959, Lindenhurst, New York) is an American film director and writer, and a pioneer of the independent film movement who was educated at the State University of New York at Purchase. Early on, Hartley was interested in painting and attended the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. While studying there, he took a few courses in filmmaking and realized that this was what he wanted to do. He moved back to New York in 1980 and attended SUNY because he liked that it was a working class film school.