Wednesday, February 29 at 8pm

IFC Center
323 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY

Hal Hartley in person

Tickets on sale now

Hal, editor Kyle Gilman, and star D.J. Mendel discuss the music in Meanwhile and Hal’s composing process.

Editor Kyle Gilman talks about the production workflow of Meanwhile and the newer ways to watch movies.

Another new song from Meanwhile which will be included on the CD.

A brief chat with the three main actresses in Meanwhile about their relationships with Joe Fulton.

From Meanwhile…

“Caroline” is by Pete Galub and his band, the Annuals, circa 2002 from the album Boy Gone Wrong. Pete has another song in the film too and is close to finishing a new album. I’ve been a fan for years. Hope you enjoy it.

P.S.
Today Meanwhile is Kickstarter’s Project Of The Day!

Back at Roger’s cardboard condo, Emily lies unconscious on the floor. Lola and Chet burst in and find Roger standing over her, dumbstruck. They stop, startled, moved and troubled by the image of this young woman laid out like a perishing saint on the faux parquet. Chet lifts his iPad and starts to film but—when simply aimed at the sleeping beauty—the cool and convenient consumer device makes the noise of a television rudely unplugged and expires.

CHET: Damn!

ROGER: It’s no use.

Lola comes forward reverently, kneels, and covers Emily’s bare shoulder with the sheet she is otherwise wrapped in. She recognizes the girl from episode one and is surprised she hadn’t noticed then her strangely plain but striking charm.

LOLA (to Roger): Is she ok?

ROGER (helpless): She’s never ok. It’s always something.

CHET (looking around): Where’s Franklin?

ROGER (remembers): Oh, shit. He fell off the balcony!

Terrified and displaying some intimacy Chet turns away to avoid noticing, Lola jumps up, sees the busted railing, and runs outside just in time to see Jasmin’s ambulance turn the corner and drive away, the siren wailing.

LOLA: He must be alive, the siren’s going! (comes back in, to Roger) What happened!

But before Roger can answer Emily wakes and sits up with a start.

EMILY: Oh no!

They all come down around her.

LOLA: Are you ok?

EMILY: I did it again, didn’t I?

Exasperated, Roger falls on the couch and one of its legs snaps off. He slides sideways and tumbles to the floor with a bang.

ROGER: Oww! Damn it! (nevertheless) Look, Emily, it was a mistake! He was surprised to see you and he lost his balance.

Emily drops her face into her hands and sighs tragically. Meanwhile, Chet is fascinated to discover—

CHET: Look at this! When I point the iPad at the windows it works. When I pan over and aim at Emily it dies!

EMILY (distraught): I’m cursed!

Roger stands and Lola looks up at him for an explanation.

ROGER: You see what I mean! To hell with this. I’ve gotta go to work!

Lola helps Emily up and together they retreat to the bedroom in back. The guys watch them go. The door closes. Chet’s mobile-device resumes consciousness.

CHET: Damn. What, she emanate some sort of electronic negative force field or some shit?

ROGER: Please! Don’t talk that way around her. She’s got her own freaky explanation for things. Where are my shoes?

In the bedroom, Emily falls to the mattress face down with her head buried in the pillows. Lola waits to make sure she’s ok then speed dials her cellphone, not failing to notice Emily’s figure as the sheet has come loose. She herself is used to stopping conversation when entering a room. But as she waits for her call to go through, Lola nods in respect for the other girl’s lovely and uncomplicated form. Finally—

LOLA (into phone): Franklin?

In the back of the ambulance—

FRANKLIN (answers): Lola? (then…) Excuse me, Octavio. (returns…) What’s going on?

LOLA: Are you ok?

FRANKLIN: Hard to tell. I might die all of sudden from internal brain injuries. But otherwise things are swell. What are you wearing?

LOLA (rolls her eyes): Where are they taking you?

FRANKLIN: Some convent-run emergency outfit on the lower east side. The nuns there take in people without insurance on principle. Wish me luck. Our Lady of the Highway, I think it’s called.

LOLA (repeats): “Our Lady of the Highway?” Are you sure?

At the mention of this convent, Emily leans up and looks at Lola. Lola sees this and gestures for the girl to relax. Meanwhile—

LOLA (into phone): Yeah. She’s right here. She passed out when you fell.

Emily jumps up, relieved and excited and sits on the edge of the bed beside Lola.

EMILY: It’s him? He’s ok?

LOLA: Yeah. Hold on, Franklin. (reassures Emily) He’s fine, stoned out his mind in the back of the ambulance and as horny as ever.

Back in the ambulance, Franklin waves the pot smoke away and coughs.

FRANKLIN: Listen, Lola, that girl oughta be in the movies! Ask her if she’s got an agent!

LOLA (sighs but obeys and lowers the phone): Are you an actress?

EMILY: No. But I was raised by the sisters at Our Lady of the Highway convent!

LOLA (genuinely interested): Really?

EMILY: The mother superior is still really angry with me for leaving. But I felt my place was in the world, you know? Amongst the people, the suffering, the joys of regular life. I went to secretarial school.

Lola isn’t ready for this rush of back-story. But she’s intrigued. She blinks, having forgotten Franklin, who—

Back in the ambulance—

FRANKLIN: Hey, Lola, you there? (signs off and drop the cellphone in his pocket) Bad signal. (then calls toward the front) Hey, Officer, we almost there?

JASMIN (side-swiping a cargo van): I ain’t a policeman, sir!

Franklin’s cellphone rings again and he answers.

FRANKLIN: Lola?

LOLA: Look, I wanted to tell you Hartley has started a Kickstarter campaign of his own to finance the distribution of his film Meanwhile.

Franklin stands and bangs his head on the roof of the ambulance.

FRANKLIN: Oh! Fuck… (recovering) He what!

LOLA: And it’s going pretty well.

FRANKLIN: That rat-bastard! We had an arrangement!

LOLA: Franklin, it has nothing to do with the film he’s agreed to make for you.

FRANKLIN: It’s a conflict of interest!

LOLA: Calm down. It can only be good for your project. He’s getting a lot of attention because he reached his goal in only ten days.

FRANKLIN: Shit. This is gonna give him this problematic sense of his own independence. I was hoping to make him desperately reliant on me!

LOLA: Franklin, look, I have to go. I’ll meet you at the convent.

She signs off and looks at Emily.

EMILY: I’ll take you there.

LOLA: Are you going to be yelled at by the mother superior?

EMILY: Yes, I think so. But I feel bad. I want to make sure Franklin is ok.

LOLA: It’s not your fault, you know. He shouldn’t have been getting high on the edge of the balcony in the first place.

EMILY: No, it is my fault. It happens all the time. (comes closer, whispers) I cause car accidents.

Lola is equal parts worried and excited. This girl is either the craziest person she has ever met or the most kind and gentle creature on earth. In either case, she is certainly stunning.

LOLA (stands, leaving the room): Ok, get dressed. We’ll be outside.

Left alone, Emily unwraps herself from the sheet and kneels, naked, at the side of her bed. She makes the sign of the cross and clasps her hands in prayer.

EMILY: Dear God, please forgive me my willfulness and—even though I deserve it—please allow the mother superior, Sister Tatiana Magdalena dos Santos, to welcome me home without too much yelling and screaming. Amen.

(to be continued…)

Hal Hartley’s MEANWHILE Kickstarter Update Video #2 is about lead actor DJ Mendel, his character Joe Fulton, and his current one man show, Dick Done Broke, about a messed up steel worker named Donny.

Meanwhile concerns Joe Fulton, a man who can do anything from fixing your sink to arranging international financing for a construction project. He produces online advertising and he’s written a big fat novel. He’s also a pretty good drummer. But success eludes him.

For Joe can’t keep himself from fixing other people’s problems. His own ambitions are constantly interrupted by his willingness and ability to go out of his way for others.

The film is shot and edited. We are raising money through Kickstarter to complete the audio mix and to prepare the various materials needed for commercial exploitation, which includes the design, authoring, and manufacturing of a limited edition DVD and CD of the original music.

From the upcoming film Meanwhile. After visiting the aggravating but loved ex-wife, Joe crosses Central Park and gets the Number 1 Uptown to Harlem.