If you’re a lover of hoppy 7% ABV Michigan beers and art, buckle up. A Two Hearted Tale is now available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime. You can also stream it for free with ads on Plex.
The award-winning short documentary profiles Michigan artist Ladislav Hanka. He’s the creator of the emblematic river trout found on labels for Bell’s Two Hearted IPA — which has earned Mount Rushmore status among our state’s beers.
In addition to Two Hearted, Hanka has contributed his iconography to numerous Bell’s Brewery labels since 1984. He continues to work out of his studio in Kalamazoo, where the famous brewery was originally incorporated.
“I don’t know that it necessarily sells beer well, but I can make things that are quite beautiful and that a lot of people seem to like, and I’m perfectly happy doing that,” Hanka says during an interview in the film.
Details on A Two Hearted Tale
With a 47-minute runtime, A Two Hearted Tale was co-directed by former Michigander Bret Miller and Rory K. McHarg, who is also executive director of the Detroit-based video production company Woodward Original.
“Beer and fishing go hand in hand, but I wasn’t aware of another instance where the animal itself had been used as a marketing tool,” McHarg says of the inspiration behind the film in a press release. “It has long got me thinking about what truly makes a great beer label.”
Completed in 2023, the film has made its rounds through the festival circuit over the past few years. In Michigan, that included Detroit’s Freep Film Festival and the Fresh Coast Film Festival in Marquette, where it won an award for Best Feature. It also showed at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York and overseas at New Zealand’s Doc Edge.
It was produced in collaboration with Woodward Original, RampOrRye, and Reprise Post, with a crew that included dozens of Michiganders.
“The further we got in the process, it became clear that we had a really special story,” says Miller in a release. “I think that really comes across on screen.”
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