We liked Trucker even before its director, James Mottern, heaped praise on the Tribeca Film Festival in The Huffington Post, but it's always nice to hear a filmmaker unabashedly declare his aww-shucks enthusiasm at seeing his first feature film premiere at, ahem, "one of the finest film festivals in the world" (hey, if the shoe fits. . .).

"I admit," Mottern wrote in the Post, "I walked by the theater where it's premiering, the East Village Cinema on 2nd Avenue. It was sort of like having read about your dream car in Road and Track when you're 14 and then growing up and actually going to the dealership to kick the tires with checkbook in hand."

Mottern goes on to remind the cynics what a major accomplishment it is to make a movie. "Who hasn't had a friend or drunken party guest make the declaration 'I'm gonna make a movie!'" he writes. "It happens a lot and so pronouncements like that rightfully provoke contempt and cynicism. But when you really do decide to actually make a movie, I've discovered you weirdly begin to speak effusively on your hopes and dreams." One might be more likely to believe Mottern if he had ever assumed the role of that drunken party guest: The 38-year-old Rhode Island native won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' coveted Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting in 2003 with the screenplay for Trucker.

Mottern's not the only one excited about his film's premiere: Four of the five screenings have already sold out (rush tickets will be available at the theater on the day of the show). Tickets are still available online or at the box office for the 9:45 p.m. screening on Thursday, May 1 at AMC 19th St. East.
 

Read The Huffington Post article here.