New Ethan Hawke Film To Get Lone Star State Premier At Austin, Sept 19, 2007

New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Hickory Records) - Ethan Hawke's acclaimed new film 'The Hottest State' will get its Texas premiere at Austin's Paramount Theatre, September 19 at 7PM. The screening will be hosted by the picture's distributor ThinkFilm and the Austin Film Society. (Also on September 19th, Waterloo Records will host an an in-store reading and acoustic performance by Harris and Hawke at 5:00pm.)

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jesse Harris will perform songs from 'The Hottest State' soundtrack at a post-screening reception at Speakeasy (412 Congress Ave, https://www.speakeasyaustin.com). Harris wrote all the music for the film, and, along with Hawke, assembled an unparalleled roster of artists to record them: Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Feist, The Black Keys, M. Ward, Brad Mehldau, Tony Scherr and Argentinean newcomer Rocha.

The soundtrack was recently released to rave reviews. Entertainment Weekly called Harris "a Kris Kristofferson for the aughts," while the NY Daily News asserted the album "deserves to become a staple."

Set partially in Texas, and adapted by Ethan Hawke from his novel of the same name, 'The Hottest State' is a bittersweet romance that distills the joy, pain, erotic highs, and emotional lows of first love. Hawke directs and co-stars along with Mark Webber (`Broken Flowers'); Oscar-nominees Catalina Sandino Moreno (`Maria Full Of Grace'), Laura Linney (`Mystic River,' `The Squid and the Whale'), and Michelle Williams (`Brokeback Mountain'); and Sonia Braga (`Kiss Of The Spider Woman').