"Ott is one of the most fascinating young American filmmakers." – Smells Like Screen Spirit

Anna and Cory are close friends stuck in small-town California. Cory fronts a punk band and dreams of being cast on a reality TV show to prove he can be a success. Anna is living in the US illegally, studying for her citizenship exam and using prostitution to save up money to visit her dying grandmother in Japan. Despite their friendship both feel lonely and isolated, so when Cory's older brother, ex-Marine Jeff, they jump at the chance to go with him to San Francisco to meet the man Cory believes to be his biological father and to search, ultimately, for themselves.

In the follow-up to the award-winning Littlerock (MIFF 2010) director Mike Ott – whose bold, improvisational filmmaking style has seen him compared to John Cassavetes and Robert Altman – is joined once again by performers Cory Zacharia and Atsuko Okatsuka (who co-wrote the screenplay with Ott) in a not-quite road movie that spearheads a new school of DIY auteurism as it blurs the line between fact and fiction. Haunted by a score from members of Icelandic string quartet Amiina, Pearblossom Hwy offers a dark yet hopeful take on the American dream.

"A distinctive and engaging film that works so well because of the collaborative, unconventional approach behind it and the organic-feeling cinema that results." – Indiewire

D Mike Ott P Athina Rachel Tsangari, Fred Thornton S Atsuko Okatsuka, Mike Ott WS Small Form Films L English, Japanese w/English subtitles TD DCP/2012