Mannahatta

Hi friends,

I’ve been working on a little project over the past year that just completed shooting. It’s a personal film about becoming a New Yorker and working as an artist in Manhattan.

It’s my directorial debut and a postcard to living in The Big Apple. I had this incredible opportunity at the end of July to work with cinematographer, Luc Ung. We spent an entire day walking the city from Central Park to the Battery capturing vignettes.

This film is an intimate portrait of my experiences over the span of ten years. Personal triumphs and failures, the death of my father, things I learned from Ethan Hawke, being neighbors with Lea Salonga, and a birthday party at Studio 54. Along with my thoughts on the allure, and disgust of life in the concrete jungle.

The film is named after the aboriginal name for Manhattan and the Walt Whitman poem: Mannahatta. I hope you’ll consider making a donation.

Your donation will help me recover upfront costs of rental equipment, insurance, and transportation. Along with compensation for all my collaborators such as Director of Photography, Editor, Composer, Sound Engineer, and Graphic Design. A portion of these funds will also go towards film festival entrance fees.

Here is a breakdown of costs:

$1000 camera rental package, insurance, transportation

$2600 collaborators: DP, Editor, Composer, Sound Engineer, Poster

$400+ starter cash for festival entrance fees

Funds raised above initial goal will go towards festival fees and promotion of film.

Creative:

John Hardy (Writer / Director)

is a New York City based artist, working across a broad expanse of mediums that include film, theatre, costume, and scenic. His career started in Atlanta, Georgia, working for the Alliance Theatre on projects like Stephen King and John Mellencamp’s Ghost Brothers of Darkland County and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Bring It On. He has gone on to work over thirteen productions on Broadway including recent revivals of True West with Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano, All My Sons with Tracy Letts, Ivo van Hove’s West Side Story, and Sam Gold’s Macbeth.

He recently served as creative producer and designer for Nicholas Hutchison’s film, Errand. John has nearly twenty years of experience working in the theatre and film industry. He is an MFA candidate at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. johnpetehardy.com

Luc Ung (cinematographer)

Luc is a Franco-Chinese cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Some of his notable work include "Kasbi" and "Chicken" which both premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2024 and 2022 respectively, “New Shoes” which premiered at the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, “The Martyr of Hudson Yards” which premiered on NOWNESS ASIA and "Talk to me in Silence" which won Best Short Film at Los Angeles Short Film Festival and was nominated for Best Short Film and Best Director at Nice International Film Festival. Lucung.com

Ethan Labouisse (Producer)

A California native, Ethan graduated from Harvard with honors in Comparative Literature and participated in the Harvard/Berklee Dual Degree Program, where he deferred a Master’s in Bass Guitar Performance to pursue a career in film. Ethan recently produced Nicholas Hutchison’s short film: Errand, which was selected for the LA Shorts International Film Festival. He currently works as a Film Assistant to Trudie Styler, at Maven Screen Media (American Honey, Filth, Eleanor the Great). He has also worked in production and development roles at Circle of Confusion and Cover Story. This is Ethan’s second collaboration with John Hardy.

Adolfo Mena Cejas (Co-Producer)

Adolfo Mena Cejas is the founder and Director of Admenas Movies LLC.

He is a screenwriter, producer, and director of award-winning short films that have been screened in the United States and abroad.

Adolfo studied Art History at the University of Havana. His films are influenced by his experience working as Assistant Director at El Público Theater Company, directed by the renowned director Carlos Díaz.

Since 2016, Adolfo has been living and working in New York City as a freelance videographer and editor. His third short film, 'The Machine,' premiered at the Academy Awards Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival in 2017 and was an official selection at numerous festivals, including NewFilmmakers LA and London Eye International Film Festival, where it won the Best Narrative Short Film Award.

He made his Broadway debut in 2019 as an onstage cameraman and cast member in the adaptation of WEST SIDE STORY directed by Ivo Van Hove. Adolfo is currently working on the post-production of a new short film ('To All the Girls I Could've Loved Before') and his first feature film ('Monona'). admenasmovies.com

Joseph Tuzzolino (Editor)

works as a video editor in NYC, with a specific interest in documentary films, reality as subject matter, adjusting to the present tense, memory, tales, etc. Select projects for Work Editorial include campaigns for Nike, Apple, Audi, Samsung Galaxy, On Running, and LeCourt. josephtuzzolino.com