Paul Harrill is the Dee and Jimmy Haslam Professor of Cinema Studies and Art. His first feature film, Something, Anything, played theatrically in New York in January 2015 after receiving acclaim in film festivals both here and abroad in 2014. The film was widely and positively reviewed in such venues as the New York Times, The Village Voice, and the Hollywood Reporter. In December 2015 the film received numerous end-of-the-year recognitions and was listed on the year-end Top 10 lists of more than ten film critics.
IndieWire, the daily news site for the Independent film community, ranked Something, Anything in the Top 25 of Best First Features in its 2015 end-of-year critics’ poll, which surveys over 200 critics. Furthermore, although IndieWire doesn’t keep tallies for this category, it was the highest rated regionally produced American feature, shot primarily in and around Knoxville.