Chad Hartigan (born August 31, 1982 in Nicosia,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

) is a Cyprus-born, Irish-American

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Early life

Chad Hartigan was born in Nicosia,

in 1982. His father is from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and his mother is from Sparks, Nevada. They were both missionaries who met at a YWAM camp in England and got married there before relocating to Cyprus. The family moved to the United States in 1995 and Chad attended

Tallwood High School Tallwood High School is a secondary school in southwest Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was built on the site of an old colonial plantation whose manor house was Tallwood, hence the name of the school. Tallwood was remodeled during 2004–2005. One ...

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

, becoming heavily involved in theater and video production. He graduated and was accepted to the one and only college he applied for, the

North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

. He attended the filmmaking program there and graduated in 2004 with a BFA in directing and was roommates with Aaron Katz.

Career

His first feature as director, ''Luke and Brie Are on a First Date'', premiered at the

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and went on to spawn an Argentine remake in 2013 called ''Luna en Leo'' which was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the

Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences Awards The Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences Awards are given by the Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences ( es, Academia de las Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de la Argentina) to honor achievement in Argentine cin ...

. His second feature, '' This Is Martin Bonner'', premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013 where it won the Best of NEXT Audience Award. It was also screened at the 2013 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Stockholm International Film Festival, and

Torino Film Festival The Torino Film Festival (also called the Turin Film Festival, TFF) is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival. It was f ...

among many others. In 2014, it was awarded the

John Cassavetes Award The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after ac ...

at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. In 2014, he returned to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to serve on the Independent Camera jury. His third feature, '' Morris from America'', premiered at the

2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi E ...

in the U.S. Dramatic Competition where Hartigan was awarded the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and was released by

A24 Films A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Prior ...

. It was nominated for a

Gotham Award The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

, an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glas ...

and named one of the top 10 independent films of the year by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

. In 2017, he directed an episode of the HBO series

Room 104 ''Room 104'' is an American television anthology series created by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass. The series debuted on July 28, 2017, on HBO. A twelve-episode second season aired between November 9 and December 15, 2018. On February 8, 2019, HBO ...

. His fourth feature, and first that he didn't write or co-write, was '' Little Fish''. It was filmed in 2019 and scheduled for release in 2020 before being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...

released the film in February 2021 to critical acclaim.

Filmography

*''Luke and Brie Are on a First Date'' (2008) *'' This Is Martin Bonner'' (2013) *'' Morris from America'' (2016) *'' Little Fish'' (2021)

External links

"Luke and Brie Are on a First Date" Myspace Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartigan, Chad 1982 births Cypriot actors Cypriot emigrants to the United States Cypriot screenwriters Film directors from Virginia Living people Male actors from Virginia People from Nicosia People from Virginia Beach, Virginia Screenwriters from Virginia University of North Carolina alumni