Chad Alexander Hartigan (born August 31, 1982) is an filmmaker.

Early life

Chad Alexander Hartigan was born in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

on August 31, 1982, the son of an Irish father from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

and an American mother from

Sparks, Nevada Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904, incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno, Nevada, Reno. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 108,445 residents in the city. It is the List of citi ...

. His parents met as

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and a ...

aries at a

Youth with a Mission Youth With A Mission (typically shortened YWAM, generally pronounced ) is an interdenominational Christian mission organization with a focus on missionary work and training for Christian missions. Founded by American missionary Loren Cunningha ...

camp in England, where they were married before relocating to Nicosia. The family moved in 1995 to

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

, where Hartigan attended Tallwood High School and became heavily involved in theater and video production. He graduated and was accepted to the

North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is a public art school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants a high school diploma, in addition to both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina Sc ...

, the only college he applied to. He attended the filmmaking program at the college, where he was roommates with fellow filmmaker Aaron Katz, and graduated in 2004 with a BFA in directing.

Career

Hartigan's 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 ...

in 2008 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 () to honor achievement in Argentine cinema by Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, ...

. His second film, ''

This Is Martin Bonner ''This Is Martin Bonner'' is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Chad Hartigan. It stars Paul Eenhoorn in the title role, with Richmond Arquette, Sam Buchanan, Robert Longstreet, and Demetrius Grosse in supporting roles. It rev ...

'', premiered at the 2013

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and won the Best of NEXT Audience Award. It was also screened at the

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (, KVIFF) is an annual film festival held in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Eur ...

Stockholm International Film Festival The Stockholm International Film Festival () is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year since then during the second half of November, and focuses on emerging and early career fil ...

, 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 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 $1,000,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named aft ...

at the

Film Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

. In 2014, Hartigan 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. The film was released by

A24 A24 Films LLC, commonly referred to as A24, is an American Privately held company, independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. The studio is based in Manhattan. The company ...

. 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 ...

and an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

, and was 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 the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

. In 2017, Hartigan directed an episode of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

Room 104 ''Room 104'' is an American anthology television series created by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, first broadcast on HBO between 2017 and 2020. Premise Set in a single room of an American roadside motel, each episode explores different character ...

''. His fourth film, and the first that he directed without being a writer or co-writer, was '' Little Fish''. It was scheduled for release in 2020 before being delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It was released by

IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

in February 2021 to critical acclaim.

Filmography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartigan, Chad 1982 births Film directors from Virginia Living people Male actors from Virginia People from Virginia Beach, Virginia Screenwriters from Virginia University of North Carolina alumni Sundance Film Festival award winners