Don Hardy is an award-winning filmmaker known for his powerful documentaries that shed light on diverse societal topics. As a director, producer, and cinematographer, Hardy has worked on impactful films such as Citizen Penn, Linda Perry: Let It Die Here, and most recently, Bar. His cinematography explores themes of resilience, social justice, and the human experience, earning him six regional Emmys and significant film festival awards from Cinequest, Woods Hole Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, and Sonoma International Film Festival. Hardy’s career has been defined by following dreams, taking risks, and making connections. His documentaries reflect a deep desire to understand human experiences and share complex, nuanced stories that might otherwise go untold.
Hardy Grew up in Upstate New York, in a household where the news was always on the television. He had an early interest in journalism, which led him to do radio in high school before getting his foot in the door at a local TV station, typing stories in a teleprompter. Hardy followed jobs in TV, from sports in South Florida to NBC in San Jose, California. The connections he made along the way and his acquired approach to elevating news storytelling through artful, character-driven narratives helped propel his career toward film. He found a like-minded storyteller in former NBC journalist Dana Nachman when they collaborated on their 2002 television documentary, Close to Home. The duo would go on to produce five more independent documentary feature films.
Hardy’s latest film, Bar, will premiere at the California Theater in Downtown San Jose on March 14 and 23 as part of the 2025 Cinequest Film Festival. Bar was filmed on-site during a five-day intensive bartending training program at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City. Graduates of this program have gone on to run top bars and spirits brands and lead the non-alcoholic beverage revolution. The film provides insight into the hospitality industry by focusing on five main characters in the high-pressure environment of learning complex skills.
In this conversation, award-winning filmmaker Don Hardy discusses his journey to following his dreams, his connections throughout his career, and the Cinequest world premiere of his newest film, Bar.
Join Don Hardy at the Cinequest Film Festival for the world premiere of Bar, and stick around after the showing for an in-person Q&A session.
A Sneak Peek at Harsimran Sandhu’s Short Film Pulp
Cinequest Film & Creative Festival is back again. And stronger than ever. From March 6th to 17th, over 200 films, celebrity Q&As, and prestigious after-parties will mark the 33rd year of Silicon Valley’s premiere film fest. On opening night, a steady stream of moviegoers flowed into the grand and gilded California Theatre to kick things off with the world premiere of gothic fantasy thriller The Island Between Tides. Quite a few actors, cinematographers, and directors flew in so they could walk the red carpet—after all, the festival’s films come from numerous States and 45 different countries—but we’ve got Bay Area talent in the lineup too.
If you only attend the festival’s feature-length screenings, you’ll miss a local gem tucked into the short film program. Pulp, a debut short directed by San Jose native Harsimran Sandhu, is a tale about the immigrant experience. Considering that 40.7% of San Jose’s residents were born outside the U.S. as of 2021, Director Sandhu’s film seems a fitting tribute to our diverse region in a multicultural festival.
Sandhu overcame quite a number of hurdles to bring his vision to the screen. In fact, it took a defeated moment while studying for a B.S. in business at San Diego State to first light the spark. “Junior year, I remember sitting in an accounting class learning about credits and debits, and I had this big existential crisis,” Sandhu recalls. Later that night, “I was on the floor, venting to my roommate. I was like, ‘Life is over. What am I doing?'” After some words of encouragement, Sandhu perked back up and was determined to make a film. “I just felt so compelled to make a capital ‘S’ Something,” he emphasizes. But there was a short window of time to realize that dream. Sandhu had until graduation to utilize his college’s film resources and connections.
So this aspiring director started walking into film classes. “I would talk to professors, and I was like, ‘I can’t enroll in this because I’m not in the major, but can I sit in on these classes and learn and observe?'” He admits that, at first, the imposter syndrome was rough. “I felt like such an ‘other,’ if I’m being honest,” he shares. “An outsider looking in.” But he stuck with it and started pouring late nights into scriptwriting.
With no prior screenwriting experience, Sandhu penned and discarded countless drafts for six months until one of his roommates confiscated his laptop and read his work. The script sheds light on children of immigrants and their experience—a story inspired by Sandhu’s own relationship with his parents, who moved to the States from Punjab, Northern India. “My roommate started crying,” Sandhu recalls. “She was like, ‘This is beautiful, you need to make this!'”
Pulp discusses how many immigrant parents might not know how to express love adequately through words but often show it through their actions. “I fell in love with the imagery of giving someone the bigger half of an orange,” Sandhu says as he discusses the film’s title and key symbol. “It’s a mother eating less so her daughter can eat more… It’s ‘I want to peel it for you. I want to do the work for you so you can reap the rewards.'”
The film also portrays the pull between finding a “responsible” job and following the siren’s song of a creative career—a divergence many children of immigrants must navigate. “You’re supposed to pay your parents back. You’re supposed to take care of them and make their sacrifices worth it—and there’s such a clash with the pursuit of your own dreams,” Sandhu reflects. “That’s something that I’ve personally struggled with: that balance.” Plenty of his peers face the same dilemma. “I’ve had so many late-night talks with my friends about ‘What can we do?’ And no one knows the answer,” Sandhu says. “We’re all figuring it out. There’s no blueprint.”
As Sandhu shared his dream for Pulp with his classmates, quite a few rallied around the project, ready to bring his story to life despite the cost. “I was shocked at the generosity of it all,” the filmmaker says. “A lot of them cited that they were doing it because of the story.” Sandhu then managed to score the Pursue Your Dreams grant by Ascent Funding. “It was amazing, but it was also very scary, because I just got a direct deposit of $10, 000!”
Everything was going swimmingly until it came to rent video equipment from the school. Because Sandhu wasn’t a film major, he wasn’t given access to it. Nothing a little creative problem solving and willpower couldn’t solve. “I’d talk to people in my class, and I’d be like, ‘Hey, just attach your name to the project, and say you’re making a movie so we can check out equipment under your name,'” Sandhu recollects.
After the film was complete, he hit another roadblock. The SDSU Film Festival rejected Sandhu’s entry on the grounds that he was a business major. “I was like, ‘Please, guys, please!'” So they made an exception. “And I ended up winning Best Director,” Sandhu says with an amazed shake of his head.
Sandhu’s success catapulted him into the film festival circuit and earned him an internship with the Emmy’s as well as acceptance into a South Asian writer’s room. He’s currently working on a feature about a mom searching for her son in the wake of the 1984 Sikh genocide. “If I can make someone feel less alone—if I can make a movie that feels like a hug—I would love to do that,” he says.
Showcasing his film at Cinequest is a special moment for Sandhu. He first attended this festival as a teen, seeking extra credit for one of his classes at Gunderson High School. “I was the only one from my class who went,” he recalls. Watching spirited shorts, then hearing directors and writers speak about their films left a long-lasting impression. “I felt so enamored,” he says. “It’s a full circle moment—because I’m on that stage now!”
Ready to make your own memories at Cinequest?
A few films to look forward to this year include The Trouble with Jessica (a comedy starring Rufus Sewell and Alan Tudyk), Ezra (a dramedy starring Robert De Niro, Whoopi Goldberg and Rainn Wilson), Puddysticks (a dark comedy starring Jurassic World’s Mamoudou Athie) and Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox (a sci-fi staring Machete’s Danny Trejo).
Special events this year include an AI Town Hall about all things AI and creativity as well as Silent Cinema (1920s old Hollywood classics accompanied by a live organist).
Support Sandhu by watching the shorts program at 9:30AM on March 16th at the Hammer Theatre.
Episode #99 – Athenna Crosby, TV Host/Journalist, Actress, and Model
Athenna Crosby devotes her time to inspiring young women and positively impacting the world through modeling, acting, and entertainment journalism. Her San Jose roots keep her grounded in her mission. She recalls, “[San Jose] is just a bunch of hard-working people who go to their nine to five and put food on the table for their families.”Pageantry called to Crosby after she discovered the significance of pageant competitions in her mother’s native Venezuelan culture. Venezuelan women often utilize pageants to guide their families out of poverty. Crosby began participating in pageants at 14 and later won Miss California Teen, Miss Teen San Jose, and Miss Congeniality. Her experience in pageantry enabled her to create long-lasting friendships and connections.
Currently, Crosby is the spokesperson for San Jose’s Cinequest Film Festival. Her initial encounter with Cinequest was through a summer camp in high school hosted by the company, which resulted in one of her proudest successes. As Cinequest spokesperson, she spreads the word about the festival and the importance of film.Get your tickets and passes on cinequest.org and enjoy food, drinks, and entertainment at Cinequest’s summertime film festival.
Halfdan Hussey and Kathleen Powell, 25 Years of Film Festivals Together
The article originally appeared in Reveal Issue 7.0.
Congratulations, 25 years working closely together. Longer than some marriages. How have you navigated this partnership?
Halfdan Hussey: The best thing is that we have similar visions and the desire to help people. We love art and creativity. What has been great is that we have carved out very different areas of ownership. We’re both very strong, driven people. So having space where we each can run our own areas has been key. And yet, we help each other out. Having things that are ours alone allows us to be great partners and remain friends through all of this.
Kathleen Powell: It didn’t come easy, it came over time. We figured it out. There wasn’t a book or teacher. Having the different areas has really benefited us, but just as important is that we have the same fundamental values.
We took the Cinequest staff four years ago through a process where we asked about their values and what was important to each person and then created a list of what we wanted people to think about. Things like: who do I want to work with, what values do I have that I want the person sitting next to me to have? From that, we developed these pillars that are key to our organization. Integrity is one of my top priorities. Caring for people. High energy, don’t want someone low energy or dreary. And then world-class excellence. We’re not talking about perfection but about having excellence and doing work we are proud of.
We all come with different backgrounds, but these fundamentals are key to us.
Do you step on each other’s toes?
Halfdan: We are both strong people, so we had to talk about who is taking the lead on different projects…
Kathleen: Choose your battles. And know what and why something is important to you. If I’m aware that Halfdan is extremely passionate about something or a direction is really important for him, then I am willing and want him to have that.
You have to see what is important and who is better at what. So you learn about it over time. Vision, getting people excited, getting volunteers, and getting staff to move in a direction, and the vision of the company—that’s all Halfdan.
Halfdan: One part I am really good at is making the vision real. I can execute. You give it to me; I’m going to make that real. Kathleen is amazing at getting the resources to make something real. All the financial components Kathleen manages. She works diligently to ensure that what we raise and earn is handled well, she oversees our stewardship of the resources. She has kept us in black every year. That’s extraordinary. If it wasn’t for Kathleen, it might be the other way. It isn’t because of me [laugh]; I am good at not spending, but Kathleen ensures all the fiscal aspects of the organization.
What have you learned from doing Cinequest?
Halfdan: A huge lesson I’ve learned from the film festival is that, at first, it was sort of “Kathleen’s and my Cinequest thing” that we’re giving to San Jose and the world. But after a while, I realized it was the community that made Cinequest. A community of thousands of people, people that had been there from the beginning. They are very connected to it, and it matters to them. Cinequest taught me what community means and the importance of community.
I remember during the challenging years as we were building, I had lunch at Chris Esparza’s club—Fuel—and he told me, “Cinequest means so much. We look forward to this every year.” I thought, really? I didn’t know people cared this much. It really inspired me. And it really helped me carry on, seeing that this could bring people together. And to be part of these people’s lives was rewarding. Cinequest taught me what community is.
Kathleen: When you see it happen, it becomes so special. When people change from just going out to see a movie or going out on a date to being a part of the community, then they feel part of the community, and they plan for it, work for it, and get excited about it. It’s such an incredible feeling when others feel they own it.
Doing the “Picture the Possibilities” with youth, was it part of the original Cinequest plan?
Halfdan: A great movie can impact and transform a life—even if just for a day—like any work of art can. Art completely changed my life. So, the original idea was to pass on the experience Kathleen and I had with our independent film to other artists, giving them a chance to showcase their work and connect with audiences. It was about healing and giving back.
But dealing with youth wasn’t something I originally thought about. I hated being a teenager. [laughter] You’re not going to find in our original papers and vision…“we love teenagers.” [laughter] But we’re gaining opportunities for mentoring teenagers and college students. We found out a few years ago that when we shared our abilities to create and processes for creating, it would help them.
I was playing around with an idea for The Seven Powers of Creating—I shared it with the teens and people I was mentoring. I was exploring with it since it was a process of taking a picture and making it real. But I thought it was boring to them. Then I got a letter from someone who had been in a talk. He said he had been really miserable, 18 years old, overweight, drug addicted, abused, and ready to check out and commit suicide. But there was something about the Picture the Possibilities thing—he noticed that I hadn’t come from any sort of special place—and he thought maybe he could do this too. He started to work on his health, got out of his abusive situation, and was interested in film and working in Japan. I then realized this thing that I thought was boring people is important. It was valuable to just share ways to create.
Then Kathleen and I and some partners wanted to do something global that would utilize film as one of the ways to create. We started a program to show youth how films could transform their situation. To show them, whatever challenges they might be facing, that they could utilize creativity to not only change their lives, but to create what is inside of them and what they are excited about. So we give them tools and the technology to help them have the confidence to do that. We’ve been doing that for three and a half years now. It is just as impactful as the film festival.
Kathleen: It’s hugely rewarding work that we do. It’s global, year round we can see the change in the youth we are doing the work with. It’s just as important as the work we are doing with the film festival because if we can inspire the youth to not give up, to not settle for whatever environment they might find themselves in now, what an incredible thing.
Halfdan: The thing about teens is—it was my least favorite group of people in the world—but now it’s my favorite group. The minute I started working with teens, I fell in love with it. I didn’t have a good teenage life, and they don’t either, but people are amazing at that age. Now, I have become a person who loves that age.
What do you sense for the film industry—what’s the next change for the storytelling film industry?
Kathleen: I think a couple of things are going to happen. At this year’s Cinequest, we are going to showcase new technology that’s going to change your film-going experience in the movie theater. It’s by a company called Barco Escape.
It’s where there are three screens that the filmmaker has the ability to work with. You may have your film showing on the main screen straight ahead, while on a screen to the right, you might have what’s going on in that person’s mind. And maybe an expansion of that scene on the left. So now, with three pallets to work with, it’s possible to tell a story in a much different way that is more than just making the screen wide, though it could be. This technology then changes the viewing experience, and will change how stories are told.
Halfdan: I sense the traditional industry that’s been holding on for years will radically change. Technology and innovation have been opening up global channels and democratized opportunities and that is growing. But we haven’t finished the job.
We haven’t seen, since the ’70s, a lot of real creativity and innovation in filmmaking. We have seen innovative technologies to make films, to get film seen on different screens from mobile to 3D. But what we haven’t seen is artists becoming more innovative in the way to tell a story, like we had in the ’60s and ’70s, through global and American directors who really looked at innovative forms.
We haven’t seen another era of wow, like Coppola or Kurosawa. But the technology gives opportunities to new filmmakers, who will be in new form or the studio, and who will be global, with different types of movies. Different types of stories and new ways to connect with audiences. We are going to see different types of movies. Animation has been the most innovative area because you can create new worlds. But as virtual reality starts to intersect with the real world, and with technology like Kathleen mentioned with the three screens, then you begin to change the space of a film artist’s mind. Then we will see different ways of making a film or telling a story. And, even, a different story.
I just think you are going to see all of a sudden an incredible era of filmmaking. It’s not today, but it’s coming very soon.
