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COME SEE WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT!
My Tale of Two Cities, a funny and inspiring comeback story, plays Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg  June 18-24 
DIRECTOR WILL ATTEND OPENING NIGHT
cast images"Carl Kurlander's movie is the wry, funny tale of the fulfillment he found moving back home.   A cross between Woody Allen and Fred Rogers, he reminds us that our cities are the real "Real America" in which we can best renew ourselves, our country, and our hope for all humanity."
        -- Howard Fineman -- Newsweek

At a time when people and cities everywhere are thinking about what it means to redefine themselves, My Tale of Two Cities, a funny and heartfelt story about coming home again and one of America's great cities reinventing itself, has some timely and hopeful lessons for people in the Harrisburg area. 

On Friday June 18th, at the Midtown Cinema, the film's director Carl Kurlander (St. Elmo's Fire screenwriter and Saved By The Bell writer/producer) will join Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC President David Black and other community advocates in talking about the film's themes of people and cities reinventing themselves for a new age.  The discussion will take place at 6:45 p.m. between the 5:15 and 7:30 showings on Friday 6/18.   Mr. Kurlander will also be doing Q&A at the 5:15 and 7:30 shows on Saturday June 19th.  

My Tale of Two Cities was inspired by Kurlander's return to his hometown of Pittsburgh to teach at the University of Pittsburgh in search of a more meaningful life.  This journey soon landed Carl as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but just as Carl told Oprah how happy he was living in the real life Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Fred Rogers passed away and the city of Pittsburgh went bankrupt.   With a humorous and personal approach, the film documents the city's remarkable comeback story while exploring whether you can go home again.

Black said, "Harrisburg and Pittsburgh have many parallels. What Carl Kurlander has done is to expose the big heart and vision of the people in Pittsburgh region that have that helped to turn the Steel City into a City of Innovation once again.  I believe Harrisburg and our region has similar attributes, including talent that can redefine our region over the next decade.  The short discussion following the Harrisburg premiere is an opportunity to talk about that future."

The film has been resonating with audiences around the country and on March 23, 2010, it became the first movie ever to  be invited to play  Capitol Hill in the new $621 million U.S. Visitor's Center where a packed house shared Congressman Mike Doyle's sentiment that this is "a comeback story that can inspire cities around the country." 

Franco Harris stars in
"My Tale of Two Cities"
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To see a scene with Hall of Fame Steeler Franco Harris and his son Franco "Dok" Harris talking about what it takes for cities to have their own comeback stories,
click here.  

Help spread the word by joining the My Tale of Two Cities facebook group by clicking here: Find us on Facebook

First 15 people at Friday and Saturday evening shows will receive a FREE Mister Rogers' You Are Special book.  

See www.mytaleoftwocities.com for details and clips from the movie or call the Midtown Cinema for showtimes at 717-909-6566.

My Tale of Two Cities also plays the Bowtie Criterion Cinemas in New Haven, CT. June 25th- August 1st,  the Cleveland Museum of Art July 16 & 18th, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from July 29-August 1st & August 5th.  

"A delightful, quirky, heartwarming film that is as funny as it is revealing..."
                                               -- Don Roy King, director, "Saturday Night Live"
pointshoot About My Tale of Two Cities: 

Screenwriter (St. Elmo's Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By The Bell) Carl Kurlander was living in Hollywood when he received an offer to go back to his hometown and teach at the University of Pittsburgh. In search for a more meaningful and balanced life for himself and his family, Carl decided to move back to Pittsburgh, the real life "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" where Fred Rogers had taped his TV show-- a journey which landed him on The Oprah Winfrey Show on a program about people who changed their lives.   But just after Carl told Oprah how happy he was,  Fred Rogers died and the City of Pittsburgh declared itself "financially distressed."

With both himself and his hometown in a mid-life crisis, Kurlander set out on a Don Quixote quest to make a film to help the place where he grew up. Armed with a cranky cameraman, funded by his dermatologist, and often battling his wife, who longed to return to the sunny West Coast, Carl asks his neighbors from the famous (Steeler Franco Harris, Teresa Heinz Kerry) to the not-so-famous (his old gym teacher, the girl who inspired St. Elmo's Fire) how this once great industrial giant, which built America with its steel, conquered polio, and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac, reinvented itself for a new age. 

Kurlander goes cheese shopping with philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry where they discuss her late husband John Heinz's belief that sometimes your worst problems can become your best opportunities; tosses a football with Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steeler Franco Harris; and goes fishing in Pittsburgh's once polluted rivers with his brother, actor Tom Kurlander, and, after eating a catfish, visits famed coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht to find out if they will live.  But ultimately, this hopeful film is best summed up by the city's late Mayor Bob O' Connor, who reminds us "if we work together and believe in ourselves, we can do anything." 

The film captures one of the most inspiring urban transformations in recent history.   When filming began in 2005, Pittsburgh was still reeling from declaring itself "financially distressed."  By 2009, Pittsburgh was called "a model for the future" as it hosted the world's G-20 Economic Summit and in 2010, Forbes Magazine named Pittsburgh once again "America's Most Livable City."   (The Harrisburg Region ranked # 5 on the same list.) 

"The biggest hurdle isn't really the job losses -- it's the mentality. You have to start believing in yourself again," Kurlander told the Windsor Star when My Tale of Two Cities played the historic Capitol Theater in Windsor, Ontario.   In that light, Milwaukee Public Radio producer Mitch Teich said of My Tale of Two Cities:  "You can't get an entire city into therapy - but this film is the next best thing - a funny self-help guide for cities looking at their future." 

As comedian Louie Anderson jokes in the film, My Tale of Two Cities is not a "Roger & Me", but a "Mister Rogers'  & Me"--  a feel-good movie which explores whether you can go home again and how all of us can make a difference in the communities where we live.    
 
Click here to see the Mr. $^%#(! Rogers & Me clip with Louie Anderson.
My Tale of Two Cities is being distributed by Panorama Entertainment.   For more information on the movie or media screeners, please contact Marketing Director Katie Blemler at mytaleoftwocities@gmail.com or call 717-395-1930.