No Picnic

A film by Philip Hartman

Philip Hartman’s priceless artifact of New York’s pre-gentrification East Village follows down-and-out jukebox operator Macabee Cohn, played with deadpan melancholy by David Brisbin, who wanders the cheap tenements, dive bars, and derelict streets of the East Village in search of a mysterious woman in a striped dress. 

No Picnic premiered at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival, where Peter Hutton won the Best Cinematography prize for his gorgeously evocative black-and-white imagery, working with producer Doris Kornish, Emmy Award–winning director Mike Spiller as assistant cameraman, animator Lewis Klahr as boom operator, Christine Vachon as assistant sound editor, with assistance from, among other notables, Jacob Burckhardt and Jeff Preiss. Scored by Ned Sublette, the soundtrack features The Raunch Hands, Fela Kuti, Charles Mingus and Student Teachers.  –Film Forum

Director, Writer: Philip Hartman
Producers: Doris Kornish, Chris Sievernich
Cinematography: Peter B. Hutton
Principle Cast: David Brisbin, Luis Guzmán, Steve Buscemi, Richard Hell, Claire Bauman, Ryan Cutrona, Lizzie Olesker, Greg Masters, Ned Sublette