Hal Hartley (b. November 3 1959, Lindenhurst, New York) is an American film director, writer, and pioneer of the independent film movement, who was educated at the State University of New York at Purchase.

Early on, Hartley was interested in painting and attended the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. While studying there, taking courses in filmmaking made him realize that this was what he wanted to do. He moved back to New York in 1980 and was accepted to the filmmaking program at SUNY Purchase where he met a core group of technicians and actors who would go on to work with him on his feature films years later.