Matt Cascella’s feature film debut, HANGDOG, follows the disheveled Walt (Desmin Borges, Only Murders in the Building, FX’s You’re the Worst), a fish out of water in his own skin. He’s now also a fish out of water in Portland, Maine, having recently moved with his girlfriend, Wendy (Kelly O’Sullivan, Ghostlight, Saint Frances), to be closer to her parents. Without a job or a plan, and with a new dog competing for Wendy’s affections, Walt has reached peak anxiety.When Wendy leaves town for the most important business trip of her career, she entrusts Walt with one task: taking care of her fur baby, Tony.  After a careless mistake gets Tony stolen, Walt embarks on a wild goose chase to retrieve the dog before Wendy returns, or risk losing them both. Along the way, he connects with locals Marianne (Barbara Rosenblat, Orange is the New Black), a wisecracking nonconformist, and Brent (Steve Coulter, Oppenheimer), a recent widower, who force him to confront his anxieties and embrace human (and canine!) connection.

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About the filmmaker – Matt Cascella was a hyperactive child, with fits of singing and laughter amplified by an untethered attention span. Teachers didn’t like him, and coaches even less. Thankfully when he was 12 years old, a mini DV camcorder fell into his hands and he was immediately lovestruck. A way to channel his hyperactivity, filmmaking became an anchor. After many scrappy short films and a BA in Directing from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, Matt stumbled into the wonderful world of documentary at Maysles Films in Harlem, where he had the pleasure of getting yelled at by Albert Maysles for bad boom operating. Since then, as Editor and Story Producer, Matt’s work has been nominated for two Emmys (Netflix’s LONG SHOT and ESPN’s RUN MAMA RUN) and a Critic’s Choice Award (The Atlantic Selects’ THE UNCONDITIONAL), and has premiered at Sundance (I AM YUP’IK / 2016), Tribeca (RUN MAMA RUN / 2017 & ESPN’s ENHANCED / 2018), and Telluride (LONG SHOT / 2017). His commercial directing credits include MoMA, Amazon, Ancestry.com, and the Maine CDC. His most recent short, TALKING DOG, premiered at the Camden International Film Festival and was a Vimeo Staff Pick. 

About the filmmaker – Jen Cordery grew up in six countries, speaks four languages, holds two passports, and is one-half Uruguayan. She has a B.S. in Communication from Boston University, an apt acronym for the value of the degree. Jen has written comedy for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Ancestry.com, and Audible; crafted scripts for Leguizamo Does America, L’Oreal, NFWF, and Amazon; and produced TV for Oprah, Rev Run, and MSNBC. In their “Best Humor Writing of the Year,” Vulture once said Jen’s writing “would make Paul Feig proud.” She lives in Portland, Maine with Matt and their dog, Ollie, who elicits grotesque displays of affection from her. HANGDOG is her first feature screenplay. 

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Reviews:

“….one of the best feature filmmaking debuts of the year. This thoroughly charming film features an extraordinary ensemble cast, all the people Walt meets during his multi-day adventure…making indelible impressions.” – Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

“Walt is the hero you didn’t know you needed. He is so ordinary and so fallible and his personal triumph so hard-fought that he is an easy character to root for and it is an easy film to love.” – Pamela Fortier, Media Women Worldwide

“Frustration can be a great launching point for laughs, and the comedy “Hangdog” revels in it.” – Roger Moore, Movie Nation

“Director Matt Cascella and writer Jen Cordery have made a film that’s charming, original, and sweet in its own deliberately shaggy way.” – Maine International Film Festival

“A heartwarming, nerve-snapping, dognapping comedy.” – JP Devine, Morning Sentinel

“Hangdog is less about the out loud laughs and more about finding the quiet humor of everyday life.” – Richard Propes, TheIndependentCritic.com