Logline: 1992 Connecticut. Desperate to keep the attention of her intoxicating older best friend, Frankie sets out to prove that sex is no big deal.
Please join us at the Connecticut Premiere of F*CK THAT GUY, a film by Hanna Gray Organschi, produced by Tara Sheffer and Elizabeth Woodward of WILLA, and Executive Produced by Oscar® winner Spike Lee and Tony® winner Riva Marker. An unflinching look at adolescence, desire, and autonomy, the film stars Carys Douglas in a breakout performance alongside Victoria Pedretti (PONYBOI, ORIGIN, YOU), Micheal Neeson (SOMEWHERE QUIET, ON OUR WAY), and Dagmara Dominczyk (PRISCILLA, SUCCESSION) with Sydney Lemmon (SUCCESSION, TAR).
The Cinematropolis described the film as “subtle and painfully real, expertly [capturing] expectations that rarely match reality. Douglas’ performance features a tact and discipline well beyond her years, bounding between playful defiance, solemn reflection and reverence for the friend she may soon lose. F*CK THAT GUY is light-hearted for the most part, but strikes a deeply emotional chord when it matters most.”
Disclaimer: This film contains scenes of intimacy. Parental discretion is advised.
This film is supported by the Spike Lee Production Fund and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Reproductive Rights Accelerator Award, received the NYU Tisch King Awards Commendation in Directing, premiered at Geena Davis’s Bentonville Film Festival, won the Silver Grand Jury Award at PROOF Film Festival by the American Cinematheque, won the Jury Award at the Woods Hole Film Festival, and won the Oscar-Qualifying Best Live-Action Short Film Award at the DeadCenter Film Festival.
Friday, October 17
Lost In New Haven (80 Hamilton St, New Haven, CT 06511)
Doors open: 6pm
Screening: 6:30pm (Run Time: Approx. 20 Minutes)
Q&A to follow
**Cash bar operating at Lost in New Haven’s historic, restored Anchor Bar**
ABOUT THE TEAM
Hanna Gray Organschi (Writer-Director) is a New England filmmaker with an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She received the New York Women in Film & Television Scholarship for her breakout short film BEA, SERIOUSLY (Hamptons International Film Festival), won the NYU Tisch Wasserman King Award for her short film MERCI, POPPY (HollyShorts Film Festival), and is the recipient of the Spike Lee Production Fund and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Reproductive Rights Accelerator Award for her thesis film F*CK THAT GUY (Silver Grand Jury Award at PROOF Film Festival by the American Cinematheque and Best Live-Action Short Film at the Oscar-Qualifying DeadCenter Film Festival). Hanna’s upcoming feature debut RUBBER HUT was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters, Directors, and Producers Labs, The Gotham Week Project Market, the NYU Purple List, the NYU Production Lab Development Studio, the Sundance Walt Disney Company Project Advancement Fund, and the Film Independent Fast Track Finance Market. Hanna’s work explores strong, stubborn female protagonists who seek autonomy with self-knowledge.
Tara Sheffer (Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker from Arkansas with an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is a Sundance Producers Lab, Gotham/Rotterdam Producing Lab, and Film Independent Fast Track fellow and received the the Robert Oberman/Gregory Pickert Media Services Award for excellence in creative producing. She recently produced the feature IN TRANSIT (Edinburgh, Deauville, NewFest, starring Jennifer Ehle. Her work includes dozens of critically-acclaimed short films, notably A LIEN (Academy Award nominee for Best Live Action Short), F*CK THAT GUY (deadCenter Best Live Action Short, PROOF Grand Jury Award), TRAPPED (SXSW Jury Award, Palm Springs ShortsFest Best U.S. Short), and PLAISIR (SXSW Official Selection, Searchlight Short). She previously worked as an assistant to Scott Rudin and as coordinator at the Department of Motion Pictures.
Elizabeth Woodward (Producer) is the founder and CEO of WILLA. She was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, Berlinale Talents, DOC NYC 40 Under 40, and is a Sundance Institute Catalyst Fellow, an Impact Partners’ Producer Fellow, and a Film Independent Fast Track Fellow. Her recent films include YOU RESEMBLE ME (Venice Film Festival, Executive Produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed, Claire Denis), LA COCINA (Berlinale, Starring Rooney Mara, Film Independent Spirit Award nominee), Netflix’s THE GREAT HACK (Academy Award shortlist, Emmy nominee, BAFTA nominee, Sundance Film Festival). Upcoming projects include Claire Denis’s THE FENCE (NYFF, TIFF, San Sebastián) and THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (Venice Film Festival, London Film Festival, San Sebastián). She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, BAFTA, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations Young Professionals Group, the Documentary Producers Alliance, and the Frontline Club.
Director's Statement: I’m obsessed with women who stand out because they don’t like what it means to fit in. Frankie, our protagonist, loves the power of her youth and vitality. She says what she thinks. She talks back. She decides what she wants and goes after it, always with a dose of humor and a lack of self-seriousness. Frankie is grappling with how her desire and sexuality can break free from the constraints of her time. F*CK THAT GUY is a story about Frankie’s self-discovery as she navigates who she is and stumbles her way toward who she wants to be. She’s a messy stew of a young person. My film gives her the space to be every part of herself all at once. Any attempt to grow up – a process marked by painful, hilarious, and infuriatingly contradictory impulses – is heroic.
Special Thanks to Robert Greenberg, Sarah Pero, Amy Caplan, and John Guillemette at Lost in New Haven for making this event possible. Thanks also to my Connecticut community for being the village it took to make this film, to my drama teacher Julian Schlusberg for making me love the arts, to Dawn Walsh for encouraging me to be myself always, to Tara Sheffer and Elizabeth Woodward for being my rocks, to Riva Marker for seeing something in me, and to my family for being my forever champions.
Upcoming projects: RUBBER HUT, a narrative feature written and to be directed by Hanna Gray Organschi, produced by Tara Sheffer and Elizabeth Woodward of WILLA, and supported by the Sundance Institute, the Gotham, Film Independent, and NYU Tisch Graduate Film. Follow along on our socials @hannaorganschi and @willa.willa.willa for project news.