MY TALE OF TWO CITIES - A FUNNY AND INSPIRING COMEBACK STORY

CONNECTICUT PREMIERER

Film which is re-energizing cities across the country kicks off its only Connecticut run with Panel discussion presented by the Town Green Special Services District about successful revitalization efforts in New Haven and its challenges.
My Tale of Two Cities, a funny and heartfelt story of urban transformation and the impact individuals can have in revitalizing their communities—begins its exclusive run at New Haven’s Criterion Cinemas. Immediately following the film, there will be a special panel discussion with the film’s director and screenwriter, Carl Kurlander and the film’s producer, Yale Law School grad Stephanie Dangel, along with New Haven’s Economic Development Director Kelly Murphy and Matthew Nemerson, president and CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council and former president of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce in discussing the film’s themes of people and cities reinventing themselves for a new age. The premiere screening is scheduled for 7pm on Friday, June 25th, with the panel discussion immediately following. Tickets are $11.00 and include a pre-screening cocktail reception at 6pm featuring refreshments courtesy of 116 Crown. Seating is limited.

My Tale of Two Cities, directed by Carl Kurlander (writer of St Elmo’s Fire and writer/producer of Saved by the Bell) was inspired by Kurlander’s return to his hometown of Pittsburgh to teach at the University of Pittsburgh in search of a more meaningful life. This journey soon landed Carl as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but just as Carl told Oprah how happy he was living in the real life Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Fred Rogers passed away and the city of Pittsburgh went bankrupt.

With both himself and his hometown in crisis, Kurlander set out to make a film to help the city in which he grew up. Armed with a cranky cameraman, funded by his dermatologist, and often battling his wife, who longed to return to the sunny West Coast, Carl asks his neighbors, from the famous (Teresa Heinz Kerry, Franco Harris) to the not so famous (his old gym teacher, his first crush who inspired St. Elmo’s Fire) how the city which built America with its steel, conquered polio, and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac, can reinvent itself. As comedian Louie Anderson jokes in the film, My Tale of Two Cities is not a “Roger & Me”, but a “Mister Rogers & Me.”-- a funny, heartfelt, feel-good movie which explores whether you can go home again and how all of us can make a difference in the communities where we live.

“The biggest hurdle isn't really the job losses -- it's the mentality. You have to start believing in yourself again," Kurlander told Windsor Star when My Tale of Two Cities recently played Windsor, Ontario. In March, My Tale of Two Cities, which is playing in selected cities this summer, became the first film ever to be invited to play Capitol Hill at the new $621 million Visitor’s Center where a packed, appreciative house shared Congressman Mike Doyle’s sentiment that the film is “a comeback story which can inspire cities around the country.”

About My Tale of Two Cities:

My Tale of Two Cities is distributed by Panorama Entertainment and is also scheduled to play in the upcoming weeks in Harrisburg, PA., Cleveland, Oh., and Boston, Ma. For clips and more on the movie, visit www.mytaleoftwocities.com

Proceeds from the screening will benefit the Steeltown Entertainment Project’s “Youth and Media Program” which helps at risk young people make films about their lives and to discover career opportunities in the entertainment industry.

All Ages