VIMooZ

What if you are a struggling screenwriter that needs a real break? What if your favorite A-list star just checked into rehab, and you decide all you need to do to pitch him your movie is get yourself duly check-in there? Sean Nelson and Steven Schardt co-direct Treatment, this sweetly wry and generationally pitch-perfect tale of friendship, creative delusion and celebrity obsession. Starring Josh Leonard, Sean Nelson, Ross Partridge, Jessica Makinson and Brie Larson, from a script conceived by Schardt and written by Nelson, Vimooz.com had the luck to sit down the film’s two directors (and writer/star!) – Steven Schardt and Sean Nelson. You can see the film at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival this week on Friday, April 29th at the AMC Loews Village at 4 pm. {jathumbnail off}

The Tribeca Film Festival’s lineup describes Mateo Gil’s blazing new western, “Blackthorn” as about “…the final years in the life of legendary bandit Butch Cassidy, which are shrouded in mystery, from his rumored death in a Bolivian military standoff, to his escape from South America to die quietly on a Nevada ranch the 1930s. In Mateo Gil’s intimate and adventurous Western, a re-imagined and aged Butch Cassidy (Sam Shepard) is living under the assumed name James Blackthorn, in a secluded village in Bolivia, 20 years after his disappearance in 1908. Surviving humbly off the land, and finding occasional comforts with a local woman, Yana (Magaly Solier, The Milk of Sorrow), he longs to end his personal exile and return to the US to see his family. Reluctantly joining forces with a Spanish mine robber (Eduardo Noriega) who promises him a cut of the loot, Blackthorn sets out on one final adventure… and discovers he’s not the only one harboring a deep secret.”  Stephen Rea also gives a sensational performance as an ex-Pinkerton cop, who never quite got over having never brought Butch and Sundance to custody.

The film has an incredible depth and quiet beauty, and Sam Shepherd  gives the performance of his career. {jathumbnail off}

The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that it has acquired THE BULLY PROJECT, the new documentary from Emmy and Sundance award-winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch (AMANDLA! A REVOLUTION IN FOUR PART HARMONY) that premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 23.

THE BULLY PROJECT is directed by Lee Hirsch, produced by Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen, and written by Lowen and Hirsch. Cindy Waitt is the executive producer. {jathumbnail off}

I met with the amazing, charismatic and riveting documentary director Alma Har’el, to discuss her first film, the documentary “Bombay Beach,” which is shaping up to be the surprise runaway hit of the Tribeca Film Festival. Shot on a $600 consumer camcorder (using 35 mm lenses), Har’el discusses her background in photography, music videos,  video/concert imagery, and PSAs, how she secured three Bob Dylan songs, and her obsessive love for the band Beirut, whose music comprises most of her magical soundtrack. {jathumbnail off}

Being overwhelmed at Tribeca is not unusual; there is a huge amount of cinema to choose from. Vimooz is here to help! Here are some films that we find to be highlights of the fest, either hidden gems we’ve mentioned, films generating a buzz, or films that are simply not to be missed. These are some documentary feature highlights, put into general categories to give an idea of what kinds of films they are. Of course, many of these films crossover into different categories, and could be included in any or all of them, as complex as they are. But when delving through the many choices Tribeca offers, it helps to have an idea of what subject a film fits into.

Making its international premiere at the the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, the documentary film ‘Give Up Tomorrow’ from director Michael Collins, documents the plight of 19 year-old Paco Larrañaga.