"My Tale of Two Cities"-- a funny and heartfelt comeback story

With the recent G-20 Summit spotlighting the story of the city of Pittsburgh as a "model for our future," a funny and hopeful movie, My Tale of Two Cities is picking up much grassroots support at screenings across this country as it tells the tale not only of that city's inspiring comeback, but of a personal journey that audiences everywhere can relate to about coming home again and coming to terms with our pasts in order to redefine who we are.

My Tale of Two Cities is told through the eyes of screenwriter (St. Elmo's Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By The Bell) Carl Kurlander, who was living in Hollywood when he received an offer to go back to his hometown and teach at the University of Pittsburgh. After his wife Natalie pointed out that if they continued to live above the Sunset Strip, their one year old daughter's habit of dancing naked on coffee tables might become an acceptable profession, Carl moved his family back to Pittsburgh-- the real life "Mister Rogers' Neighbohood" in search of a more meaningful and balanced life. This journey led the Kurlanders to being guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show on a program about people who had changed their life, where Oprah herself was struck by the fact that Carl had found happiness "in Pittsburgh, even," But shortly after that, Fred Rogers died, and the city of Pittsburgh went bankrupt.

With both himself and his hometown in mid-life crisis, Kurlander set out on a Don Quixote quest to make a film to help the place where he grew up. Armed with a cranky cameraman, funded by his dermatologist, and often battling his wife who longs to return to the sunny West Coast, Carl asks his neighbors from the famous (Steeler legend Franco Harris, Teresa Heinz Kerry) to the not-so-famous (his old gym teacher and the girl who inspired St. Elmo's Fire) how this once great industrial giant, which built America with its steel, conquered polio and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac, can reinvent itself for a new age.

My Tale of Two Cities is filled with rawly honest, often hilarious scenes such as when Kurlander visits on a playground with the girl who beat him up there as a child (complete with an hysterical recreation of the event); offers to buy cheese for Tereas Heinz Kerry at a produce shop which almost ends up consuming the film's budget; a fishing excursion where Carl and his brother catch and, even more boldly, eat a catfish from Pittsburgh's once polluted rivers (and then visit famed coroner Cyril Wecht afterwards to find out if they will live.)

But the film also thoughtfully explores what it means to come home again and what it takes for both cities and people to reinvent themselves for a new age. We hear from Ms. Heinz Kerry about her late husband John Heinz's belief that sometimes your worst problems can become your best opportunities; see famed Steeler Franco Harris with his son Dok who is surprisingly not an athlete, but a Princeton grad who came back to his hometown to go to business school and law school and make a difference; watch Andy Warhol's nephew Marty who runs a scrapyard ponder what would have happened had his Uncle Andy never left Pittsburgh; and are reminded by David Newell, the actor who played Mr. McFeely and Fred Rogers' widow Joanne, of Mister Rogers' challenge to us all to "make good attractive."

The film becomes highly personal as the Kurlanders must decide whether to stay in their new life in Pittsburgh or go back to the Hollywood dream they once knew. This decision comes to a head in a dramatic confrontation Carl has with his mother who had abandoned him and his brother during their childhood in the very apartment in which he grew up. But ultimately, My Tale of Two Cities is a feel-good film which shows us, that even in dark times, as articulated by Pittsburgh's late Mayor Bob O' Connor, if we work together and believe in ourselves, it can still be a "beautiful day in the neighborhood."

My Tale of Two Cities has received national attention in The Washington Post, USA Today, and on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Having sold out 1300 seats at its Pittsburgh premiere, My Tale of Two Cities has played in film festivals around the country and, for international audiences at the G-20 Media Center, and conventions for MENSA and the International Downtown Association. The film is being distributed by Panorama Entertainment which plans to bring the film to theaters around the country.

For further information, visit www.mytaleoftwocities.com. To book the film in your neighborhood, please contact Stuart Strutin of Panorama Entertainment at (914) 937 1603 or panent@aol.com. Carl Kurlander can be reach at ckla2@yahoo.com.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD:

Please join this FACEBOOK GROUP for "My Tale of Two Cities" to help us spread the word about the movie. And tell your friends and family about it.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW ON "LAKE EFFECT" on MILWAUKEE PUBLIC RADIO ABOUT "My Tale of Two Cities" and rust belt cities reinventing themselves by clicking here.

The Washington Post mentions "My Tale of Two Cities" in its article on "Pittsburgh Shows How Rust Belt Can Be Polished Up" Also, read this Newsweek article: "Pittsburgh shows other countries visiting it for the G20 how postindustrial America can still bounce back."

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

"Whether you're a boomerang, comeback kid, recent transplant, or dyed-in-the-wool Burgher, you won't want to miss "My Tale of Two Cities," the much-buzzed about new film by St. Elmo's Fire screenwriter Carl Kurlander, which proves once and for all, that yes, you can go home again. With 1,300 people packing the film's sold-out debut (and delivering a standing ovation!),... ("My Tale of Two Cities" is)... a sort of collective cinematic homecoming for Pittsburghers everywhere... the film stars beloved local icons like Franco Harris and Mr. McFeely, and traces the city's storied role in building America's steel, conquering polio, and inventing everything from aluminum to the Big Mac. A classic comeback tale for a town in transition, the film follows the witty and charming Kurlander as he tosses a football with Franco Harris, shops with Teresa Heinz Kerry, has breakfast with Paul O' Neill, and ponders the time honored question: Can you go home again? Dubbed a "funny valentine to Pittsburgh,"... you know you'll cry black and gold tears as Pittsburghers from Times Square to Beverly Hills to Point State Park sing in unison to the city's anthem, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Pop City Media.

-- Jennifer Baron, Pop City Media

Read the full article here: Love Letter to the Burgh and check out the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and USA Today articles on "My Tale Of Two Cities" in our NEWS SECTION.

Talk about a "comeback story." Despite the economic headlines, there are over 20,000 jobs listed in the Pittsburgh region at www.imaginemynewjob.com

PIECES ON NPR, CNN, THE AP, AND THE NEW YORK TIMES ABOUT THE PITTSBURGH COMEBACK STORY AS A MODEL FOR THE NATION:

Wall Street Journal

Pittsburgh Scores the G20 Summit

NPR: "Factory and auto towns shift gears"

AP: "Despite recession, Pittsburgh on a building boom"

Randi Kaye of Anderson 360 on CNN: "Can Pittsburgh Save Detroit?

New York Times: The Greening of Pittsburgh

Visit the Pittsburgh Comeback Story Blog.

THE SOUNDTRACK:

The "My Tale of Two Cities" SOUNDTRACK FEATURING SOME OF PITTSBURGH'S FINEST MUSICIANS, INCLUDING DONORA'S GREAT COVER OF FRED ROGERS' "IT'S SUCH A GOOD FEELING" IS AVAILABLE NOW AT CD BABY. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO SOME SAMPLES.

THANKS:

We hope you enjoy this film that proves "it's never too late to come back" and that the whole world really is "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."