Just a few years ago, Hal Hartley was an omnipresent figure in the U.S. independent film landscape. With his early films The Unbelievable Truth and Trust Hartley quickly established a reputation as a truly unique and important filmmaker. He had a voice and style that was uniquely his own. He followed his first two films with a series of features and experiments that ranged from shot on Hi-8 projects to benefit AIDS research to a dance theater piece dramatizing the Branch Davidian clash with U.S. Federal Agents.

While his most recent feature, No Such Thing, received a cold reception from critics and audiences alike, Hartley still has a large audience of fans eager for new Hartley work and even more eager to see the essential Hartley films released on DVD. Except for The Unbelievable Truth and Surviving Desire (a collection of short films), Hartley’s important films are unavailable on DVD and difficult to find even on VHS.

Hopefully that is all about to chage. Hartley recently announced via his Possible Films website, that Amateur and Henry Fool would be released on DVD this year. Both films will be released by Columbia/Tri-Star. Amateur will be available in November and Henry Fool will follow in December.

In addition to the DVDs, Hartley will be releasing Possible Music Volume I, a collection of music composed by Hartley (under the pseudonymn Ned Rifle) for his various film projects. It will also include selections from the play Soon.

As far as new works are concerned, Hartley has written the script for a play called Inanna, based on ancient Sumerian mythology. The play has been commissioned and will be performed by the noted avant garde theater company, ZTHollandia and will be premiered in Amsterdam on October 15th and in Berlin on October 23rd.

No news has been released concerning a new film project.

UPDATE: Thanks to Rod who pointed out that Trust is also scheduled for release on September 16.