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Film Archive

The Hottest State

Forum of Independents - Competition 2007 / The Hottest State / USA 2006

When William meets Sarah at a bar appropriately called “The Bitter End”, he is almost 21 and about to act in his first movie. An affair with her will take William from a tenement on the Lower East Side to a hotel room in Mexico, and from a rash proposal of marriage to the extremities of passion, and the wisdom that comes only to true survivors.

The Hottest State The Hottest State

Synopsis

When William meets Sarah at a bar appropriately called the “Bitter End”, he is almost 21 and about to act in his first movie. He is so used to getting what he wants that he has never been able to care deeply for anyone. But all of that is about to change. It is Sarah who will become William’s undoing and his salvation. An affair with her will take William from a tenement on the Lower East Side to a hotel room in Mexico, from a hurried proposal of marriage to the extremities of need and the wisdom that comes only to true survivors. “The hero is a young actor from Texas, arriving in New York, without any real sense of authenticity or identity; which was exactly where I was 15 years ago when I first started writing my novel. My hope was that, with a little bit of time, I could better understand the themes of this story and make an honest personal film.” Ethan Hawke

About the film

117 min / Color, 35 mm

Director Ethan Hawke / Screenplay Ethan Hawke / Dir. of Photography Christopher Norr / Music Jesse Harris / Editor Adriana Pacheco Rincon / Producer Alexis Alexanian / Production Elixir Films / Cast Mark Webber, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Michelle Williams, Ethan Hawke / Contact THINKFilm International
www: www.thinkfilmcompany.com

About the director

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke (b. 1970, Austin, Texas) began his film career at the age of 14 as an actor in The Explorers. He has since acted in over 35 films including Dead Poet’s Society by Peter Weir, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset by Richard Linklater and Training Day by Anthony Fuqua. He made his directorial feature debut with the drama Chelsea Walls (Director’s Fortnight, Cannes 2001). The Hottest State is his second feature as a director, based on his own novel published in 1996. In 2002 he published another novel Ash Wednesday. As artistic director of the Malaparte Theater Company, Ethan Hawke has directed and acted in numerous plays.

Contacts

THINKFilm International
, W2 1LA, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 298 6200
Fax: +44 207 298 6201

Guests

Eve Schoukroun

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