FILMCRASH

Written and directed by Matthew Harrison

World Premiere - the 23rd Avignon Film Festival Avignon, France June 23, 2006.

"kinetic visuals, naturalistic perfs and a frequently compelling take on a 700-year-old poem." Lisa Nesselson, Variety

"a radical experiment, with a unique charm and poetry". Independent Reihe, Oldenburg

In Matt Harrison's hypnotic investigation of Dante Alighieri's DIVINE COMEDY, a troubled young woman crosses 9 levels of Hell on her quest for absolution.

Katharine Hyde and Tami Reynolds in Matt Harrison's DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

In Matt Harrison's visually textured feature adaptation of Dante Alighieri's DIVINE COMEDY, a troubled young woman crosses 9 levels of Hell on her quest for absolution.

Matt Harrison won a Sundance Jury Prize with his bold feature film RHYTHM THIEF. His first studio feature KICKED IN THE HEAD (Universal) was Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese. THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP is Mr. Harrison's fourth feature film. His network and cable directing credits include Sex And The City.

Adapting Dante Alighieri's epic 14th century love poem THE DIVINE COMEDY for the screen, and setting it on the streets of downtown New York City, Matt Harrison's DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP features a cast of fresh young talents, bringing Dante's poem alive for a new generation.

The 23rd Avignon Film Festival featured the WORLD PREMIERE of THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP. Each year five European and five American feature films are chosen by the Avignon programming staff, representing the best of independent filmmaking from Europe and the States.

"The devil is a sadist porn-producer, amour is a cynical panderer and God...well God is a moody lover, irresistible but also inhumane, never answering to our needs and enjoying our suffering. American icon Matthew Harrison renders Dante's DIVINE COMEDY into a tragic-comedic lover story set in contemporary New York. Looking for her lover Neville, Emma is led by her guide Brady through nine circles of the Big Apple, where every party is a gathering of sinners and each disco one of the courts of hell itself. In the paradise of light-flooded Long Island beaches she finally finds redemption. There is much to be discovered in Harrison's strange world, where the actors recite their archaic dialogue in verse-like manner. The digital camera-work plays tricks with the light, the editing slows the action down and speeds it up, sometimes skipping whole parts. This is a radical experiment, with a unique charm and poetry to it". Independent Reihe, Oldenburg

Subtitled in French by Myriam Despujoulets. DVD contains EPK and Director's commentary.

Midnight elopement in Neville's Trans Am: Emma and Neville in a scene filmed by Gina Garan with her Blythe dolls for Matt Harrison's THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP.

Hell's Kitchen: Tami Reynolds as Emma in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP.

New York City: Kris Park leads Tami Reynolds into uncharted subterranean worlds in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

Life on the streets of Hell's Kitchen (l to r: Kevin Slowick, Kris Park, Jimmy Drago, John Cotugno)

John Ortiz as angel at the gate withTami Reynolds in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

Slava Teris as Muscovite bondage film director Meseke in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

Milo Addica as Thomas in Brooklyn in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

Tami Reynolds and Neil Jain on the South Shore of Long Island in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

Jessica Lawson as Madlener at the Gowanus Canal in THE DEEP AND DREAMLESS SLEEP

81 minutes
16mm/S8mm/DV
Color/B&W
2006

Cast:
Tami Reynolds, Kris Park (DRIVE ME CRAZY, I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU NOT, RAIN), Ivan Martin (RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS, PREY FOR ROCK AND ROLL), John Ortiz (AMISTAD, CARLITO'S WAY, Dennis Leary's THE JOB, JESUS HOPPED THE A TRAIN), Neil Jain (LAW AND ORDER, THE THIRD DATE), Katharine Hyde, Andrew Fiscella, Kara Peterson, Gabriel Carpenter (DRIVE ME CRAZY), Daniel Harnett (THE MANSON FAMILY), Jessica Lawson, Shane Franklin (OLIVER TWIST), Mark Bendo, Ed Vassallo (SEX AND THE CITY), Slava Teris, Jorg S. Tittel, Danyelle Freeman, Evan Brenner (WAKING UP CRAZY), Brian Schmiedel, Milo Addica (MONSTER'S BALL), Lauren Lake (RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS), Yusef Austin, Ariel Kiley (SOPRANOS), Francesco Cura, Jimmy Drago, Kevin Slowick, Raphael Fetta, John Cotugno, Jessica Asch, Daniel Phillips, Anatoly Starr, Eric Anthony, Tim Dowlin, Andrew Tatolos, Daniel Kohler, Leonardo Urbina.

Crew:
Written and Directed by Matthew Harrison
Produced by Matthew Harrison and Daniel Blumberg
Executive Produced by Eric M. Klein
Co-Produced by Edy Enriquez, Alex Macleod, Kris Park
Music by LUXURIOUS Lee Curreri, Peter Freeman, Jeff Rona
Camera by Matthew Harrison and Howard Krupa
Special doll segments by Gina Garan
Edited by Johannes Weuthen
Sound Design by Lisa K. Fowle Dragonfly Sound
Sound Effects editor Geoffrey Woodhall

Synopsis:
A troubled young woman crosses 9 levels of Hell on her quest for absolution.

Review:
Avignon Variety. Posted: Wed., Jun. 28, 2006, 10:00pm PT
By Variety film critic Lisa Nesselson
"A freewheeling urban retelling of Dante's "Divine Comedy" set on the unkind-to-truly mean streets of contempo New York City, "The Deep and Dreamless Sleep" features kinetic visuals, naturalistic perfs and a frequently compelling take on a 700-year-old poem. Viewers who dislike restless lensing and scruffy young people may label this a circle of Hell but, drawing heavily on the original verse for its dialogue, pic has strong classroom prospects in the same vein as Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet." Beyond fests, venture is a modest hard sell, so abandon hype all ye who enter here. Pic world preemed in Avignon. After bittersweet prelude in which two animated dolls discover their eternal bond, trusting Emma (Tami Reynolds) arrives at the Port Authority to search for her lost love. Streetwise Brady (Kris Park) volunteers to be Emma's guide. Together they undertake a pilgrimage awash in challenges and obstacles en route to Paradise. Conceptual highlights including a bondage session that asks the rhetorical question "But what is torment to a soul that craves it?" and the novel sacrifice of a reel of 16mm film. Wall-to-wall score is inventive."