Half Nelson (film)

Half Nelson
Theatrical release poster by Tze Chun
Directed by	Ryan Fleck
Written by	Anna Boden Ryan Fleck
Produced by	Jamie Patricof Alex Orlovsky Lynette Howell Anna Boden Rosanne Korenberg
Starring	Ryan Gosling Shareeka Epps Anthony Mackie
Cinematography	Andrij Parekh
Edited by	Anna Boden
Music by	Broken Social Scene
Distributed by	THINKFilm
Release dates	January 23, 2006 (2006-01-23) (Sundance) September 22, 2006 (2006-09-22) (United States)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$700,000
Box office	$4.9 million

Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Fleck and Anna Boden. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. It was scored by Canadian band Broken Social Scene. 26-year-old Gosling was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, becoming the seventh-youngest nominee in the category at the time.

The story concerns an inner city middle-school teacher who forms a friendship with a student, after she discovers that he has a drug habit. The film is based on a 19-minute film made by Boden and Fleck in 2004, titled Gowanus, Brooklyn.^[1] It premiered in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It was released theatrically on August 11, 2006.