Though it takes the form of a classic road movie, the true terrain covered by Handsome Harry is the male psyche. In a series of carefully observed, beautifully acted vignettes, the film explores what brought these men together, what drove them apart, how they betrayed one another and, worse still, how they betrayed themselves. Gordon, whose emotionally wrenching climax reveals the enormous gulf between who Harry might have been and who he eventually became, proves that, sometimes, it takes a woman to show us what it takes to be a man.
Bette Gordon (Director)
A pioneer in the American Independent Film world, Gordon is best known for her bold explorations of themes related to sexuality. Her early short films, most notably Empty Suitcases, have won numerous awards and Festival acclaim worldwide, including showings at The Berlin International Film Festival, New York's Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Biennial, as well as prizes at The Chicago International Film Festival and Atlanta Festival of Film and Video. Variety (1984) marked her debut as a feature film director, particularly in light of the film's invitational showing at The Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Director's Fortnight. Variety has also been shown in international Film Festivals, including Berlin, Toronto, Montreal, Sydney and Melbourne, Jerusalem.
Luminous Motion, Gordon's next feature, opened to rave reviews in 2000. Based on the acclaimed novel History of Luminous Motion, it was produced by Ted Hope and Anthony Bregman of Good Machine. It starred Deborah Unger (Crash, The Game), Eric Lloyd (Deconstructing Harry), Terry Kinney (Oz for HBO, Sleepers) and Jamey Sheridan. It was the only US film selected for competition at the Locarno International Film Festival. It was also invited to the Toronto Festival, the Munich Film Festival in Germany and received a prize for Best Cinematography at the Florida Film Festival in Orlando.
Gordon's work in television includes a recent film for Oxygen Cable Network, Life on the Line with Ally Sheedy and Bill Sage, as well as segments for Laurel Entertainment's syndicated series Monsters. She also directed Greed (Kate Valk and Roberta Wallach) for the German television series Seven Women Seven Sins; and two short films for Playboy's Cable TV network, as part of their Director's Showcase series.
Gordon is a Professor of Film at Columbia University's graduate film division in New York City and is the Supervisor of the directing program there. She is also a staff writer for the magazine BOMB, a journal of theatre, film, art and literature, where she has interviewed a variety of actors and directors, including David Cronenberg, Mike Figgis, Barbet Schroeder, Mike Leigh, Allison Anders and Al Pacino.
Anton Sanko (Composer)
Anton Sanko was born and raised in New York City. He attended NYU, where, majoring in music theory and composition, he studied Stockhausen by day and played in downtown Manhattan's new wave clubs by night. In addition, he also found time to study guitar and composition with jazz legend Ralph Towner. It was also during this time that he played with the avant-garde acts Shox Lumania and Our Daughter's Wedding. From 1985 to 1991, Sanko played keyboards with Suzanne Vega. In 1989, he recorded, co-produced and co-wrote songs on Days of Open Hand (released in 1990) with Vega. He toured to support that album as Suzanne's music director. Sanko continued to produce, play and write with other artists including Anna Domino, Jim Carroll, Lucy Kaplansky, Percy Jones, Kashif, and Sonny Okosun.
When the opportunity to provide scores for films presented itself, Anton found a new calling. His credits include cult films like Party Girl, Ripe, and An Occasional Hell, as well as Scotland, PA and Nyack Jumpers. He has scored films for television including ABC's recent irreverent biopic of Donald Trump, Ambition, TNTs 2004's release Bad Apple starring Chris Noth and other television projects such as the short lived but well loved Peter Berg creation Wonderland, The Loft, and HBO's Subway Stories. Sanko scored the Sony Classics release Saving Face, Alex Steyermark's One Last Thing, and Tom DeCillo's upcoming release Delirious, starring Steve Buscemi. The Hollywood Reporter had this to say about his score to Delirious: “DiCillo and his composer, Anton Sanko, make terrific use of music to drive and cut between scenes. The score rocks the movie."
Sanko recently relocated to Los Angeles where he is currently wrapping his first season on the highly acclaimed HBO television series Big Love. His new approaches have won wide critical praise and have contributed greatly to a heightened awareness and increased ratings for the show in its third season. He has also scored two horror shorts for director Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Next Stop Wonderland), one for the Showtine series Masters of Horror and one for the current NBC series Fear Itself.
Jumaane Smith (Jazz Cues)
Jumaane Smith has established himself as a strong leader and inspired colleague of some of the most highly acclaimed musicians in the United States and abroad. He has performed and recorded with artists such as Rashied Ali, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Michael Buble, Boys II Men, The Jonas Brothers, Brian Mc Knight, Bobby Brown, Reggie Workman, Benny Golson, Wynton Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Wycliffe Gordon, Jon Faddis, Eddie Locke, Bobby Short, Christian McBride, Herb Jeffries, Frank Lowe, Derrick Hodge, Antone Roney, Michael Bland, Sonny Thompson, Steve Kirby, Derrick Gardner, Eric Reed, Ron Blake, Chris Botti, Gerald Wilson, Carl Allen, Joe Wilder, Rodney Whitaker, James Hurt, Jeff Watts, Ron Westray, Herlin Riley, Wes Anderson, Don Friedman, Clark Terry, Loren Schoenburg and Percy Heath.
Jumaane has performed on a variety of television shows including The 2009 Grammy Awards with Stevie Wonder and the Jonas Brothers, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The David Letterman Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, The Chris Issak Show, and many others around the world. Smith has performed at a variety of legendary venues, among them Madison Square Garden, Royal Albert hall, The Sydney Opera House, Birdland, Blue Note, Iridum, Jazz Standard, Caf Carlyle, Knitting Factory, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Village Vanguard.
Jumaane has also toured with a variety of ensembles throughout North America, Central America, The United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Australia. Smiths performances abroad have included many music festivals such as The Montreux Jazz Festival, The North Sea Jazz Festival and The Montreal Jazz Festival. In 2002 he was selected to attend and perform at the International Academy of Achievement Summit in Dublin, Ireland as a “Marsalis Scholar" and was recognized as one of the first musicians ever selected to attend the event. In 2004 Jumaane Smith preformed at the White House in the legendary East Room as part of the declaration of February as Black Music Month. Smith is a highly versatile musician: his performance, composition, and arranging credits range from Jazz to Classical and include various world music styles. Many of his performance credits have included music composed by and/or arranged by Mr. Smith. As a lead trumpeter Smith's ability stands out among most trumpeters of today.
Born in Seattle, WA, Jumaane moved to New York City in January of 2000 to attend New School University on scholarship where he studied with artists such as the Jimmy Owens, Cecil Bridgewater, Charles Toliver, Nick Payton and Jon Faddis. In 2001 Smith was accepted into The Juilliard School of Music with a full scholarship to participate in the inaugural class of jazz studies at the Juilliard School. Over the following four years at the Juilliard School, Smith studied with many world-renowned trumpeters such as Wynton Marsalis, Mark Gould, Lew Soloff, Joe Wilder Terrel Stafford and others.
