4/05/2009

About The Film

Running Time: 75 min.
Color, NTSC

Synopsis: Morty can’t seem to make heads or tails of anyone; himself least of all. And to make matters worse, all he’s got in his pockets is a collection of heads and tails. What if he were to go into business for himself? He’s got a Jeep, and there are plenty of empty parking lots in the seedier areas of Chattanooga. Anything to make a buck, right? By the way, he likes the way you smell, sexygirl. Want to go out with him?

“Written” and Directed By:
Jarrod Whaley

Produced By:
Jarrod Whaley
w/ Elizabeth Worthington

Principal Cast:
Richard Johnson as MORTY
Mary Beth Sanders as EMMY
Jonathan Nichols as RYAN
Rebecca Allen as ANDIE
Tom Landis as MORTY’S POT DEALER
Elizabeth Worthington as ELIZABETH
Katlyn Wittenburg as RECEPTIONIST

Music Performed By:
Mary Beth Sanders
TRUE STEREO

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Reactions:

"An existential nautilus shell wound as tightly as it is loose."
--Sara Schieron, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

"HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE functions as a seeming farewell to a place where the vistas aren't as large as they might be."
--Richard von Busack, METRO SILICON VALLEY

"Deft portrait of morally decaying figures surrounded by that same urban decay in the rundown South."
--Sam Ippolito, PITTSBURGH INDIE MOVIE EXAMINER

"Whaley has launched a counter-movement [...] that now just needs a catchy name to spread like wildfire."
--Brian Darr, HELL ON FRISCO BAY

HIOP On Twitter:
Director's Statement:

What is it about financial poverty that so often impoverishes the inner lives of those who suffer from it? Does the relationship even operate in this fashion, or does emotional poverty precede—even serve as a primary cause of, in some cases—the pecuniary variety? ... [This] is a private story whose movements could only be written by one man holding one camera.

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On Limitation:

Don’t get me wrong; I love Chattanooga. ... I have learned to make large things from small nothings. My resolve has been permanently strengthened. I have been taught to know what I want and to aim only for that[.]

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Director's Bio:

Jarrod Whaley is a Chattanooga, TN filmmaker who has, to this point, worked primarily with digital video. Whaley graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a double-major B.A. in English and French. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Shaking Ray Levi Society, a non-profit arts organization which has been bringing non-traditional creative work (such as improvised music, video, film, and performance arts) to Chattanooga, TN and elsewhere for over 20 years. In 2005, Whaley was one of several individuals appointed to the Chattanooga Film Commission by Mayor Ron Littlefield.