And the Roots of Rhythm Remain Presented by Joe Boyd

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Philip Hartman graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, where he founded the P.U. Film Society and was film critic for The Daily Princetonian. After selling several screenplays in his early 20s, he opened the Great Jones Cafe on the Bowery, a pioneering Cajun restaurant that became a downtown cultural hub for 35 years. Using earnings from the restaurant, Hartman wrote and directed NO PICNIC (1985), with executive production by Wim Wenders’ company Grey City. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won Best Cinematography (for Director of Photography Peter Hutton), and went on to screen internationally and have a record-breaking run at Anthology Film Archives. To finish NO PICNIC, Hartman co-founded Two Boots, the Cajun-Italian pizza chain that grew to multiple locations nationwide. He later opened the Pioneer Theater, Two Boots Video, Mo Pitkin’s, and The Levee. His subsequent films include EERIE on the Erie Canal, starring Felicity Huffman, Will Arnett, and Luis Guzmán, and the short In Bed With…Paul Bridgewater. Always active in the community, Hartman founded initiatives including the Downtown Historic Plaque Program, the East Village Softball Association, Howl Festival, and the East Village Film Fest, which commissioned work from Steve Buscemi and Jim Jarmusch. He lives in Brooklyn and continues to write, with current projects in film and publishing.