Hunter Lee Hughes
Check it Out
You can now stream the feature directorial debut of Hunter Lee Hughes, Guys Reading Poems, which world premiered at the 21st annual Palm Beach International Film Festival, followed by screenings at Dances With Films and qFLIX Philadlephia. The film won the Audience Award for Best Feature (Drama) at the 25th annual Woods Hole Film Festival, the “Creativity in Drama” award at Breckenridge Film Festival and “Best of Fest” at the South Texas Underground Film Festival. It was released across platforms by Gravitas Ventures on February 20, 2018.
You can learn more about the film by visiting the Guys Reading Poems site.
Backstory
Storytelling found several pathways of expression through multi-disciplinary artist Hunter Lee Hughes, culminating in his debut feature film Guys Reading Poems, a mixture of poetry, traditional narrative and experimental film.
As a nerdy 12-year old, Hunter booked his first role in a low-budget horror film, shot in his hometown of Houston, Texas. After graduating magna cum laude from Trinity University, Hunter moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the film industry.
To pay bills along the way, he served as a story analyst for Paramount Classics/Vantage and later worked as a writer’s assistant to the late Mardik Martin (co-writer, Mean Streets). Buoyed by this on-the-job training and unsatisfied with the roles traditional Hollywood had to offer at the time, Hunter wrote and performed Fate of the Monarchs, a piece that explored the migration patterns of monarch butterflies as a metaphor for a closeted aspiring artist coming to terms with his sexuality.
He fully committed to “the road less travelled” in 2008, when he founded Fatelink to produce his second play, The Sermons of John Bradley. The mission of the company is to develop compelling three-dimensional characters in movies and plays that prioritize the creative process over profit. Since then, Fatelink has produced a number of plays, films, and series, including Guys Reading Poems.
Below you’ll find samples of some of Hunter’s favorite projects over the years.
Thank you for your interest in the work!
Director
Hunter’s feature film directorial debut – Guys Reading Poems – premiered at the 21st annual Palm Beach International Film Festival, subsequently screening at Dances With Films in Los Angeles and as a Centerpiece Selection at qFLIX Philadelphia. The film won the ‘Audience Award for Best Feature (Drama)’ at the 25th annual Woods Hole Film Festival, the ‘Creativity in Drama’ award at the Breckenridge Film Festival and ‘Best of Fest’ at the South Texas Underground Film Festival.
Hunter previously directed the web television project Dumbass Filmmakers! which won “Outstanding Director – Comedy” at L.A. WebFest in 2013 and has directed several plays in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles.
Writer
Hunter’s produced writing credits include three plays, Fate of the Monarchs (“Critic’s Pick”, Backstage West), The Sermons of John Bradley and Nathaniel Quinn, Filmmaker. The latter was a stage adaptation of his yet-to-be-produced feature film screenplay, A Place by the River.
The darkly comic Winner Takes All screened at ten film festivals before being picked up for distribution by the Black Briefs shorts collection. Other produced material includes the narrative comedy webseries Dumbass Filmmakers! and On Common Grounds, a documentary he co-wrote (Hallmark Channel). Hunter contributed two poems to Guys Reading Poems and wrote the screenplay.
Actor
Hunter Lee Hughes began acting when he was cast in a low-budget horror film at age 12 in his hometown of Houston, Texas. After moving to Los Angeles, Hunter learned the craft of acting from luminaries like Ivana Chubbuck, David Farkas, and Jean-Louis Rodrigue.
Hunter received the StageSceneLa.com award for Best Lead Male Actor in a Drama (2008-2009 season) for his performance in The Sermons of John Bradley.
Favorite roles include ‘Bobby’ in the 25th anniversary production of Thomas Babe’s A Prayer for my Daughter (directed by Dorothy Lyman), and ‘Peanut’ in Bryan Goluboff’s In-Betweens.
Influences
“If there’s one creative figure who has fascinated me more than anyone else, it is the poet Rumi. His injection of a romantic or sensual element into mystical revelations blew me away from the moment I started reading that poetry (at the WeHo IHOP of all places). Looking back, I can see my own strivings to meld together those elements, however clumsily, right from the start with Fate of the Monarchs (photo by Ken Gonzales-Day). To this day, I hope to make a feature film that mirrors what I experienced reading his poems. They go down easy, with poetic phrasing along the way, then end by smacking you with a realization you didn’t know you needed.
In her terrific tome Mysticism, Evelyn Underhill asserts that knowledge of mystic experiences peaked in the 1600s or so, but perhaps we’ve really been devolving since Rumi died in 1273.
We are lost, but that’s okay.
Still, it’s important to also honor the more recent influences that have shaped our perspective and our work. Film directors who inspire me include Bob Fosse, Yasujirō Ozu, Josef von Sternberg, Akira Kurosawa and more recently, Terrence Malick, David Lynch, James Ivory, and Jonathan Glazer. Favorite playwrights include Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and, from antiquity, Euripides and Sophocles.
Most of all, I’ve been influenced by the talents of friends creating with and around me – the paintings of Deni Ponty, the cinematography of Michael Marius Pessah, the production design of Nathaly Lopez, the words of Angie Weiland-Crosby and the dropped-in performances of so many of the terrific actors with whom I’ve been privileged to share time on set.”
– Hunter Lee Hughes
What's going on...
Hunter performs “I Want a Lover!”
Just in time for National Poetry Month, the team at "Guys Reading Poems" is releasing Hunter's performance of his original poem, "I Want a Lover!" Check it out!
Hunter accepts “Creativity in Drama” award at Breckenridge Film Festival
On behalf of his feature film directorial debut "Guys Reading Poems," Hunter accepted the "Creativity in Drama" award at the 36th annual Breckenridge Film Festival this past Saturday. Quick-thinking actor and friend Rex Lee managed to shoot Hunter's acceptance moment...
Narcissist starring Hunter & Brionne Davis is released online!
You can now see Hunter opposite Brionne Davis ("Embrace of the Serpent") in the short film Narcissist, released this week online. The film is now officially available to view on-demand on narcissistthemovie.com through dotstudiopro or by clicking the "Watch Video" tab...
Hunter accepts Audience Award for Guys Reading Poems in Woods Hole
This past weekend, Hunter accepted the Audience Award for Best Feature Film (Drama) at the 25th annual Woods Hole Film Festival on behalf of Guys Reading Poems. On hand in Cape Cod for the festival he had this to say, "After working our asses off for three years...
Colorado, here we come!
Continuing his tour around the country with Guys Reading Poems, Hunter will next travel to the Breckenridge Film Festival, for a screening on Friday, September 16th at 3 p.m. The movie's appearance at Breckenridge Film Festival, established in 1981, marks the fifth in...
Hunter washes ashore at Woods Hole Film Festival!
Guys Reading Poems will screen in competition at the 25th annual Woods Hole Film Festival on Thursday, August 4th at 7:00 p.m. at Falmouth Academy. Hunter plans to travel East for the festival to participate in the talkback with the audience after the screening. The...
Centerpiece Selection? Check.
Guys Reading Poems has been chosen as a Centerpiece Selection at qFLIX Philadelphia and will screen Thursday, July 7th at 7:15 p.m. at the Prince Theater. Hunter will attend the screening in person, along with actors Gopal Divan, Daniel Berilla and John Physioc and...
Guys Reading Poems to West Coast Premiere at Dances With Films
Hunter's feature directorial debut Guys Reading Poems will have its West Coast premiere at the 19th annual Dances With Films festival at the iconic TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood. In Guys Reading Poems, a resourceful boy (Luke Judy, pictured) creatively uses poetry...
Hunter nominated for Best Actor at Milledgeville Film Festival
The Milledgeville Film Festival nominated Hunter for Best Actor for his performance as Evan in the film "Narcissist" opposite Brionne Davis. "It was completely unexpected to be nominated for an acting award by the Milledgeville Film Festival and I gotta tell you - it...
Guys Reading Poems to world premiere at Palm Beach International Film Festival
Hunter's feature film directorial debut Guys Reading Poems will world premiere at the 21st annual Palm Beach International Film Festival on April 10, 2016, with an encore screening scheduled for April 14. After a two crowdfunding campaigns and a three-year journey to...