The Hamilton Film Group and Cinema Guild are proud to present the US Theatrical release of PUTTY HILL, the new film by Matt Porterfield, starring the 18-year-old sultry electro-pop newcomer, Sky Ferreira. An official Selection of the Berlin International Film Festival and SXSW, among many others, PUTTY HILL, will open in New York at Cinema Village on February 18. A national release will follow.

A beautifully realized portrait of a close-knit community on the outskirts of Baltimore, PUTTY HILL is the second feature from celebrated young filmmaker Matt Porterfield (HAMILTON). At a neighborhood karaoke bar, friends and family gather to remember a young man who passed away. Knowing little about his final days, they attempt to reconstruct his life. In the process, they offer a window onto their own lives, an evocative picture of working-class America, dislocated from the progress and mobility around them, but united in pursuit of a shared dream. Exquisitely shot and employing surprising documentary techniques, PUTTY HILL, is one of the most exciting American indie films in years.

The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking announced today the five nominees for the first annual Cinema Eye Heterodox Award, sponsored by Filmmaker Magazine.

The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award marks a new award category created to honor a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. These films illuminate the formal possibilities of nonfiction filmmaking while raising provocative questions about on-going documentary orthodoxy and the perceived boundaries between narrative and nonfiction filmmaking.

The five films nominated for the first Heterodox Award are: Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio’s ALAMAR, Matt Porterfield’s PUTTY HILL, Michelangelo Frammartino’s LE QUATTRO VOLTE, Lena Dunham’s TINY FURNITURE, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES.

The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund established the Baker Artist Awards in 2008-2009 to recognize Baltimore’s artists and engage regional, national and international audiences in supporting these artists’ work. The 2011 Baker Artist Awards encourage all Baltimore area artists working in any creative discipline to register, exhibit their work, promote the site to friends, enjoy the broad public attention given to the site and compete for the Mary Sawyers Baker Prizes. The latest web technology is available to artists and the viewing public to better appreciate video, audio, image and text nominations. All site visitors are invited to logon as participants and to create a “favorites” exhibition, to comment on artist work and contribute to the site blog. Check out Matt Porterfield’s 2010 Baker Awards nomination HERE.