New Director, Familiar Film: Ryan Fleck Turns Short Into Feature

halfnelson.jpgYou may know him from such blog entries about Sundance-winning short films as Gowanus, Brooklyn. Now director Ryan Fleck has made Half Nelson, a feature-length adaptation of Gowanus, which debuted at Sundance 06, where ThinkFilm picked it up.
Half Nelson will also be the opening night feature of this year’s New Directors/New Films program, which rocks. Both leads, Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps, got huge acting props from critics in IndieWIRE’s Sundance poll.
See the full ND/NF 2006 lineup at moma.org
[a big high five to greg.org idol Hunter Gray, who helped produce Half Nelson]