Associate Professor and Film Chair Hilary Brougher wrote a personal essay titled “Try This at Home” for Talkhouse, about the making of her film South Mountain and its straight to digital release following the COVID-19 crisis. The film, which she wrote and directed, had previously been acquired for a traditional release with Breaking Glass Pictures. Brougher writes: "This movie we made at home will release May 5 on VOD, foregoing the impartial space of a theater, broaching the intimacy of your own home."
Shot on a microbudget at Brougher’s mother’s house at South Mountain, the film has screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, BAMcinemafest, the Nantucket Film Festival, the Maryland International Film Festival, and the Maine International Film Festival, where Brougher won the festival's Mid-Life Achievement Award. It made its world premiere at last year’s SXSW Film Festival.
South Mountain, hailed by The New York Times as “Ingmar Bergman-esque,” tells the story of a troubled matriarch facing a crisis as her children leave for school and her husband leaves for good.
Hilary Brougher’s first feature, The Sticky Fingers of Time (1997) was an official selection at the Venice, Rotterdam, and Toronto International Film Festivals. Hilary’s second feature, Stephanie Daley, starred Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Melissa Leo, Tim Hutton and Denis O’Hare. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival where Hilary won the Waldo Salt Award for Screenwriting. The film was also awarded Best Director at the Milan International Film Festival. Her newest original feature South Mountain premiered at SXSW 2019 to a 100% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating.
