New York-based multidisciplinary studio Hornet raised a toast this week to Peter Sluszka’s Hardboiled, which will be served up as a world premiere screening in the official selection for Tribeca Film Festival 2022. This produce procedural is ready to pique audience appetites after more than 12 years in the making.
Hardboiled is a stop-motion animated satire of the classic urban American crime drama, in which food and felonies are inseparable.Gritty, noir-ish and absurd, the story follows the exploits of tough-talking detectives Harry and Callaham (an egg and a slice of ham) as they frustrate their boss, shake down a sleazy bacon pimp and tangle with a megalomaniacal strawberry.
“After years of chipping away and at times obsessing over Hardboiled, I’m thrilled to release it into the wild,” said Sluszka, whose credits include the Annie-nominated short Max and Maxine for Eli Lilly and the music video for Regina Spektor’s “All the Rowboats”. “This has been a passion project that entailed thousands of hours of labor to create. Starting with a concept, a few simple character designs, and perhaps a willfully naive optimism, the journey to completion took well over a decade.”
Hardboiled will screen in Tribeca’s first-ever “Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi G” program, The 78-minute block also includes the Canadian-Tahitian co-pro Tehura by Wei Li (world premiere); More Than I Remember by American filmmaker/artist Amy Bench; Pixar veteran Bret Parker’s child’s-eye view of gender identity, Pete (world premiere); Sam de Ceccatty’s debut adult animated comedy, Lilith & Eve (world premiere); and The Originals, a memoir of South Brooklyn childhood from award-winning director Cristina Costantini and first-timer Alfie Koetter.
hardboiledfilm.com | tribecafilm.com | hellohornet.com
