A literal harvest! Directed by Judy Dennis from a New Yorker story by Janet Kauffman, Patriotic features an unlikely trio of characters drawn from a quiet population of farming Americans who set out into hayfields for a summer�s last harvest. Its narrator, the wry, appreciative woman who owns these fields, is joined by Mrs. Bagnoli, a robust driver with a world view, and Floyd, a neighboring farm boy whose physical ease lends an erotic charge to the day, Here is a landscape where everything human relates to the natural world. Sunlight, tractor, barns, blue skies � the day unfurls perfectly until fire threatens catastrophe; but the three sail through with remarkable collaborative force. �Luminous,� wrote Stephen Holden in The New York Times.
With beautiful cinematography by Emmy winner Dyanna Taylor, and original score by jazz luminary Jane Ira Bloom, the film celebrates small acts of rejuvenation. PATRIOTIC debuted at New Directors/New Films at New York�s Museum of Modern Art, and played festivals worldwide. Janet Kauffman�s original story is featured in The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American Stories Since 1970 and in her superb collection Places in the World a Woman Could Walk. Running time: 22 minutes. A study guide for PATRIOTIC will soon be available under "Additional Materials" below.