Bernard and Huey to close Slamdance – from Jules Feiffer and Dan Mirvish

Slamdance Film Festival Official Closing Night Film

Bernard And Huey

From a script by Oscar and Pulitzer-winner Jules Feiffer (Carnal Knowledge), Bernard and Huey is a particularly timely story of two men behaving badly, and the strong women who rein them in. Roguish Huey and nebbishy Bernard are unlikely friends in late 1980s New York. Decades later, a bedraggled Huey crashes at reluctant Bernard’s upscale bachelor pad and it becomes clear how much growing up the two still need to do.

Already an award-winning hit on the international festival circuit, playing 19 festivals on five continents since September (including Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinema, Tallinn’s Black Nights, and São Paulo’s Mostra), Bernard and Huey, directed by Slamdance co-founder Dan Mirvish, will come “home” to debut at the festival as its official Closing Night Film.

Dan is also the author of the The Cheerful Subversive’s Guide to Independent Filmmaking, distributed by Focal Press, and will be signing copies at Dolly’s Bookstore on Main Street on Sunday, January 21 at 2:00PM.

Legendary Jules Feiffer wrote the screenplay in 1986 based on characters he originally developed for his 1957 cartoon strips in the Village Voice.  “I was 27 when I thought up the character ‘Bernard’ for my new Village Voice cartoon. I was 28 when I met the prototype for ‘Huey’ at a Village party, and added him to the cast of the strip. The day after Slamdance screens Bernard and Huey will be my 89th birthday. Who would have thought Bernard, Huey, and I would last this long? I want to thank Dan for bringing about this funny and thoughtful generational-splicing geriatric reunion.The dance goes on, added Feiffer

The cast features Oscar-winner Jim Rash (“Community,” co-writer on Alexander Payne’s The Descendants and co-director of Sundance-winner The Way Way Back) and David Koechner (Anchorman) in the title leads, accompanied by a terrific ensemble that includes Sasha Alexander (“Rizzoli & Isles,” “Shameless”), Eka Darville (“Jessica Jones”) Richard Kind (Argo, “I’m Dying Up Here”), Jake O’Connor (Margaret), Lauren Miller Rogen (Superbad, For a Good Time, Call…) Nancy Travis (So I Married an Axe Murderer, “Last Man Standing”), Bellamy Young (“Scandal”), and Mae Whitman (“Parenthood,” “Arrested Development,” The DUFF).