Trailer

Synopsis

In Quiet City, Katz's deceptively simple drama that has been called "a Terrence Malick film for the new lost generation" (The Austin Chronicle), we meet twentysomething Jamie (Erin Fisher) as she arrives in New York to visit a friend who never shows. On an empty subway platform, she crosses paths with a kindly stranger named Charlie (Cris Lankenau), and an unlikely connection is formed over the next 24 hours through city parks, abandoned apartments, and art galleries in the heart of industrial Brooklyn. Achingly sincere and shot with a painterly eye, Katz's approach is refreshingly devoid of romantic clichés.

Then in his impressionistic and tenderly heartbreaking debut, Dance Party, USA -- hailed as "one of the best films of the year" (The New York Sun) and one of Amy Taubin's Top 10 Films of 2007 (ArtForum) -- apathetic teens Jessica (Anna Kavan) and Gus (Cole Pennsinger) share a fleeting moment at a Fourth of July party in Portland, but their relationship grows closer and more complex after Gus confronts her with a troubling secret. (synopsis from Amazon.com)

Festivals

QUIET CITY:

Awards
Bend Film Festival
Best Director
Best Cinematography

Film Festivals
SXSW Film Festival
Stockholm Int. Film Festival
Milan Film Festival
Independent Film Festival of Boston
Bend Film Festival
Sarasota Film Festival
Maryland Film Festival
Jacksonville Film Festival
International Amsterdam Film Festival
Lone Star Int. Film Festival
Harvard Film Archive

DANCE PARTY, USA:

2006  South by Southwest Film Festival
2006  Free Range Film Festival
2006 Chicago Underground Film Festival
2006 Atlanta Underground Film Festival
2006 Montreal Film Pop
2006 Woodstock Film Festival

Press

QUIET CITY:

"Beautiful! A Fully Realized Work of Mumblecore Poetry."
- Stephen Holden, The New York Times

"Quiet City is a contemplative widescreen experience that views its landscape with painterly patience."
- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

"A Terrence Malick film for the new lost generation."
- The Austin Chronicle

DANCE PARTY, USA:

"Dance Party, USA is a remarkably delicate construction, directed with extraordinary empathy by Aaron Katz."
-The New York Times

"Sincere and unflinching..one of the most vibrant and exciting alive cinematic experiences I've had with a film in a long time. Everyone in front of and behind the camera is flawless"
-Ain't It Cool News

"Aaron Katz's impressionistic, impressive film is a seemingly slight, secretly heartbreaking portrait of teenage ennui that manages to fit a shocking amount of emotional resonance into its barely one-hour running time."
-New York Magazine

"Writer/Director Aaron Katz has a gift for naturalistic dialogue."
-The Village Voice

"One of the best films of the year... a remarkable act of insight and restraint, refreshing in its authenticity and absolute lack of manufactured effect."
-The New York Sun

"Challenging, gritty, and true."
-The Austin Chronicle

"Dance Party, USA is so emotionally resonant, so heartbreaking yet hopeful, so tender yet intense, so realistic yet ethereal that its mesmerizes the viewer and holds their attention rapt... [It] might very well be the best independent film that I will see all year."
-filethirteen.com

"Impressive. The actors are tremendous. I watched it and couldn't quite figure out how it came together. That elusive quality is something special."
-Andrew Bujalski (Director, Funny Ha Ha & Mutual Appreciation)

"The actors are great...Pensinger soars, exuding a pained sense of vulnerability in scene after scene. Katz is devoted to cutting through the bullshit that clogs the passageways between teenage experience and adulthood."
-Slant Magazine

"Pennsinger's performance is flawlessly natural. This is the best truly independent American film I've seen since Mutual Appreciation."
-Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages

"Raw, real, and meaningful. I loved this movie."
-Jay Duplass (Director, The Puffy Chair)

"Katz and his absolutely stellar actors display remarkably subtle, complex insights"
-Time Out Chicago

"Truly phenomenal and completely subtle performances, including the entrancing Anna Kavan and the spot-on-perfect Cole Pennsinger (shockingly this is both of their debut films), Dance Party USA is an intense and magnificent film that you'll want to see at least twice."
-dvdtalk.com

"Brilliantly shot, truthfully acted, an inspiringly masterful tale of hooking up, reaching out, disconnecting and groping for happiness."

-The Oregonian 

Austin Chronicle on "Quiet City"

Quiet City is a Terrence Malick film for the new Lost Generation rapidly gentrifying New York's outer boroughs, who have little to do but attend art openings, sit in parks, and generally waste their days talking about nothing. Katz has an eye for the beautiful shot, and he pays close attention to the humbler skylines and street scenes rarely noticed by other New York directors.

Read Josh Rosenblatt’s full review of "Quiet City"

Cast

QUIET CITY: 

DIRECTOR, EDITOR
Aaron Katz

PRODUCERS
Brendan McFadden
Ben Stambler

WRITERS
Aaron Katz
Erin Fisher
Cris Lankenau

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrew Reed

SOUND
Alex Lipschultz

CAMERA & LIGHTING ASSISTANT
Alex Bickel

SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Marc Ripper

CAST
Erin Fisher
Cris Lankenau
Tucker Stone
Sarah Hellman
Joe Swanberg

DANCE PARTY, USA:

WRITER & DIRECTOR
Aaron Katz

PRODUCERS
Brendan McFadden & Marc Ripper

CINEMATOGRAPHER
Sean McElwee

EDITOR
Zach Clark

COMPOSER
Keegan Dewitt

ASSISTANT CAMERA
Andy Reed

BOOM OPERATOR
Martha Stephens

CAST
Anna Kavan
Cole Pennsinger
Ryan White
Sarah Bing
Natalie Buller
Brendan McFadden
Chad Hartigan