Tribeca Film Festival

  • Tribeca Film Festival 2012 Spotlight on Tribeca Film Festival’s “Caroline and Jackie”and the filmmaker Adam Christian Clark

    Filmmaker Adam Christian Clark with Caroline and Jackie actresses Bitsie Tulloch (left) and Marguerite Moreau (right)

    by Francesca McCaffery

    One of the best narrative films I’ve seen screening at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival so far is the extraordinary debut feature written and directed by Adam Christian Clark- Carloline and Jackie.

    The film centers around two sisters with an unexplained but hinted to have been very tough shared childhood. As Caroline (the wonderful Marguerite Moreau) flies in to see her younger sister Jackie (an amazing Bitsie Tulloch), we see her glancing at an “Anorexics Anonymous” brochure.Jackie has cooked a huge, thoughtful meal, (“Nana’s pot roast!”)and she and her new boyfriend Ryan (David Giuntoli- nicely understated) show Caroline their beautifully appointed, new craftsman home. Jackie is a designer, and it’s clear she has worked quite hard to achieve this still modest, but still, quite lovely lifestyle.

    Caroline flippantly tells her sister that she has arranged to celebrate Jackie’s birthday with a few friends at a nearby restaurant, even though it is in fact Caroline’s birthday, and Jackie’s own birthday is literally months away. A bit upset (“I spent thirty-two hours cooking!” she sadly laments to her boyfriend), but putting on a sweet, big-girl face, they literally skip off to the pre-arranged fete.

    At the restaurant, they are greeted by three of Jackie’s friends, and Jackie is curious as to why any of Caroline’s own friends aren’t present. It soon becomes quite obvious, especially as Caroline assembles everyone in Jackie’s living room, that another plan entirely is being put into play. James (Jason Gray-Stanford) is a musician who has abruptly cut his tour short to be there for Jackie’s birthday, and seemingly bestie Michelle (Valerie Azlynn) has brought new 22-year old, youngin boyfriend Charlie (David Fuitt) along for the ride.The tone changes almost minute by minute, as hints of realization dance across Jackie’s face, and the audience is quite uncertain as to who is telling the real truth, until there is no denying it

    This film, especially for a director’s debut, is an absolute knockout. The camera work (by director-turned-first-time cinematographer Christian Swegal) is warm, non-intrusive and sumptuous, and the audience feels somehow placed in the room or setting in each and every frame.And the performances by Moreau and especially Tulloch are beyond standout, they are some of the realest, most down-to-earth and intelligent performances you will see all year. A film about family, the oh-so-complex ties that both bind and nurture, and laying witness to how mental illness can erupt and change the course of an evening and an entire lifetime, the movie explores the concept of love between two sisters that is simultaneously life-sustaining and in reality, both destructive and crucial. This great little film better get distribution, and fast!

    Francesca McCaffery sat down with Caroline and Jackie’s  filmmaker Adam Christian Clark, and spoke with him about his roots, why he loves the work of Harmony Korine, and how being employed in reality television gave him the discipline and chops to work with his actors on-set today.

    Vimooz: The two performances of the two lead women were really extraordinary.

    ACC: Thank you! I had some really great casting directors- Angela Demo and Barbara McCarthy. They did a really great job, because they completely stood up for what they believed the characters were. What I imagined didn’t really exist! In pushing these certain actors, they became real to me as characters even more. We actually cast Bitsie first. And the additional challenge was that- the actresses really had to really look like sisters.

    Vimooz: It’s kind of incredible how much the actresses actually do look alike!

    ACC: They really do. We got very lucky. I actually know both Bitsie’s and Marguerite’s actual sisters, and the two actresses certainly look way more alike! It is a little more than that, too- because when they very first met and started working together, they got so into character, that they began to mirror each other’s mannerisms. I think it was that, more than anything. They kind of, like, were synced up to each other.

    Vimooz: How did you start out?

    ACC: I was really fortunate when I was in college (Clark went to USC), and started working in reality TV, which always shot in the summers. This was in 1999, and I started working as a PA. I came into it during the time of Survivor, and I ended up directing episodes of Big Brother. About three or four years ago, I decided that I really wanted to focus on making art-house films, so I cut myself from reality TV, and started directing music videos and commercials. Directing is a weird thing, because I wonder how people like Harmony Korine are able to do it! I’ve been fortunate to find other things- like editing reality TV, as opposed to directing it, which can be pretty draining. Editing is not that emotional draining, there’s no taking it home with you. I’ve also sold quite a few scripts. But they aren’t going to get made! I feel like a lot of good producers have my scripts as like, decorations, in their office! They’ll never be movies. But I’ve been doing this for years.

    The thing about Harmony Korine is, all I ever wanted to do from the time I was eighteen was to make like a John Cassavetes movie, or a Jim Jarmusch movie, or a Harmony Korine movie, right? Harmony Korine has been somebody that I really, just, admire. You make a movie, and you don’t know if you’ll ever be in that realm. That’s why it’s so great to be in the Tribeca Film Festival’s Viewpoint section this year, because The Fourth Dimension is also in there. He has always been a hero of mine. When Gummo came out, that imagery and style he created is everywhere now. It pre-dated everything. He is such an artist.

    Vimooz: What did you shoot Caroline and Jackie on?

    ACC: It was shot on the Red MX camera. We also had great color conversion and correction.My best friend was actually the DP. Adam Hendricks, the producer, and Christian Swegal, the DP, we all went to film school together. Christian is actually not a DP (by trade.) He is a director, too. Going into this film, myself having only directed one short film before, I knew that I really had to go in with a lot of support. I just knew he would do a great job. He has a gift for that I don’t possess. But he had no experience doing this before. I had been on his sets so many times, I just knew he could do it well.

    Vimooz: He definitely did! Tell us about directing your wonderful actors.

    ACC: I take it really to an extreme. When we shoot scenes, I block everything with stand-ins, do all the blocking with them, and then pull everyone off set, and do just separate blocking with me, the camera operators, and the actors. Then the actors go into complete isolation, separately, I don’t want them together when we’re not filming. Then we roll camera and sound, the crew is pulled out again (except for the camera and departments) so the actors just enter the scene like they’re already really in it. If there’s any direction to give, everybody (the skeleton crew)leaves, then everybody comes back in. I had failed pretty big with the actors in my first film, a short called Goodbye, Shanghai, which was visually very strong, shot on 35mm, very formal. So I remembered back in the very first days of reality TV, it used to be shot by documentary filmmakers. The way they work is that they don’t intercut with the subjects, you’re a fly on the wall. I knew as a camera assistant not to even shake their hands. And I really remembered that, and thought, “I’m gonna try this with acting. I’m gonna try this with acting, and see if it gives them a greater tool, and be easier for them to be in that world. “ And they also don’t hang out with each other offset. The actors actually loved it. In theory, I mean, they loved it! There was a little bit of like, ‘Oh!’ in the beginning, when they realized how intense and serious I was about it. It may have happened slightly less (the isolation) than I thought, but I think it worked! We shot it in fifteen days, there was no off-camera time. But I did rehearse the actors for almost a month, and we would then rehearse every day on the set, during set-ups, about three hours a day.

    Vimooz: I really loved Caroline and Jackie, Adam. Thank you so much for talking with me, and good luck with the film!

    ACC: Thank you, Francesca!

    Go see Caroline and Jackie– which screens this week of April 23rd, 2012 at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

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  • Eleven Great Films to See at the Tribeca Film Festival-2012

    by Francesca McCaffery

    The Tribeca Film Festival has some wonderful, new films this year- check out all listings and times here. Vimooz has a few great picks for you to check out. The Tribeca Film Festival runs through April 29th, 2012.

    Keep the Lights On: It seems like the only ones having authentic, intelligent romantic relationships onscreen are gay men (witness last year’s tiny, phenomenal British-born Weekend), and Ira Sach’ssemi-autobiographical Keep the Lights On is following in a newly emerging genre that is compelling, moving and almost unbearably honest. The film follows the director’s alter-ego Erikand his formerly in the closet lover Paul over the course ofa nearly ten-year relationship. At times moving slowly, as love and life and memory often do, the film is carried on the shoulders of the truly brilliant and open Danish actor Thure Lindhardt (as Erik.) . With Zachary Booth and Julianne Nicholson.

    Planet of Snail: Speaking of love, this entirely lovely Korean documentary by Seung-Jun Yi takes us into the life of Young-Chan, an unusually charismatic deaf and blind man, and his pretty wife Soon-Ho, who has a pronounced spinal deformity. Their day-to-day moments become monuments to their own perceptive and loving spirits, as Young-Chan dreams of becoming a writer needing to chart the immense world bursting within him. Poetic, dazzling in its simplicity, this film will make a believer out of the hardest romantic cynic.

    Baby Girl: I have to admit, I was ready to write this film off, imagining yet another faux-gritty portrayal of inner-city family turmoil, etc. But this little movie written and directed by Irishman Macdara Vallely shines with a sweet truth. From the extraordinary debut performance of teenager Yainis Ynoaa, (who plays Lena)to her insecure but loving mother played by a terrific Rosa Arredondo,to the sleazy yet somehow sympathetic Flaco Navajaa (looking like Bencio del Toro’s blonde baby brother) playing the mother’s new younger boyfriend Victor, (who really has eyes for the budding Lena.) Wonderful performances and a simple story line, and we get to see New York in a way it hasn’t been portrayed in a while- as if the characters actually lived and breathed in the neighborhood being portrayed.

    Sexy Baby:This documentary, especially if you are female, will blow your mind. The filmmaking and producing team of Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus chart the lives of three women: Twelve-year old Winnifred- cool, upper-middle class Manhattanite; Nichole,former porn star and pole dancer ‘Nakita Kash.’; and a sweet, kindergarten school teacher named Laura from North Carolina, who is so insecure about her very fit andnormal body, that she is seeking out a surgeon (and eventually ends up getting, and (spoiler/warning: partially on camera!) a “vaginaplasty.” Most fascinating is the way the audience can witness the infintesimal changes which lead to the enormous leaps in the brilliant Winnifred’s development (from ages 12 to 14). Fromher and her classmates’ obsession with Lady Gaga, fishnet tightsand grabbing the boys’ attention via Facebook, it’s painful; to watch her youthful bravado and singularity ebb away. (Fear not, the child still remains amazing atfourteen, thank goodness.) Watching as three women navigate a culture navigate the difficulties of being bombarded with sexual images in the media may seem like old news. But this take is profoundly different. The filmmakers focuson how our very easy access to online porn and ‘soft-porn’ advertising (American Apparel)is altering men’s already rigidly high expectations of sex, performance and beauty- and how these expectations are making even 14 year olds need to appear as if they are “down to fuck.” A MUST see for both sexes, as well as a scary warning for parents and young women alike to monitor those FB pages. As the adorable Winnifred cheerfully laments: “We have no one to guide us through this. We are the pioneers.”

    The World Before Her: A brilliant doc (and excellent counter-point to Sexy Baby) about the choices young girls growing up in India are faced with from two extreme stand-points: Going with with flow of “westernization” through the limited options of participating in the “beauty industry” (we come to know two remarkable poised, articulate and bright contenders for ‘Miss India,’) and a nineteen year old woman who works at a Hinduist Extremist girl’s camp run by her abusive father, carrying on the tradition of female control for her faith. It is sad to think that these girls’ choices are either the gun or the often demoralizing subjugation of pageant life if they choose not to marry; but an absolutely riveting work, and one of the very best documentaries you will see this year.

    El Gusto:A beautiful, rousing documentary about elderly musicians from French Algiers- French, Jewish and Muslim- whose lives are scattered after the Algerian War for Independence. Reunited by the incredibly resourceful filmmaker Safinez Bousbiato bring back the tradition of“chaabi” music, jarring them from their lives stuck in the past, and giving them a chance to relive their dreams. A glorious, inspiring film- truly not to be missed.

    My Sister’s Sister: Director Lynn Shelton (Humpday) is back with Mark Duplass in this movie also starring Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt.Duplass plays Jack, a tousled thirty-something still stumbling around after a year after his brother Tom’s untimely death. When Blunt’s character Iris, the former girlfriend of his late brother, suggests a sabbatical at her father’s idyllic house near a lake in upper Washington state, he is startled to see that her lesbian sister Hannah (DeWitt) has already holed up there, herself reeling from a recent and devastating break-up. Because Shelton is a special filmmaker of truly uncommon depth, this film ends up a tiny, burnished gem in her trusty hands, and has the same sweet heart that has permeated her earlier works.

    High Tech, Low Life: Tribeca is teeming with great documentaries this year. High Tech, Low Life follows two of the very first “citizen journalists” from China. They arebrave bloggers who defy the risk of arrest, imprisonment and far worse by the Chinese government, and will make you feel guilty for all those hours spent Twittering about the flavor of smoothie you made this morning. “Tiger Temple” is the 57-year old who travels around China on his bicycle and reports on everything from communities made homeless by government land developers to farmers reeling from a recent flood; 27-year old “Zola” has to navigate the dangers of reporting on the likes of a rape and murder of a 14-year old by an official’s relative, all while dodging his traditional parents’ nagging about his future. Stephen Maing is the brilliant director, DP, (the tiny doc looks like a million bucks, a great bonus) editor and co-producer of this lush, timely and highly significant film.

    The Fourth Dimension:A movie split into three parts, directed by Harmony Korine, Russsian-born Alexsei Fedorchenko and Polish Jan Kwiecinski, that cheeky guy at VICE Eddy Moretti (in conjunction with and Groslch Film Works) gave a “creative brief” which  asked each filmmaker to toy with the concept of the fourth dimension, and we see the results in this triptych of stories. Pretty much all you need to know is that Harmony Korine directs Val Kilmer playing a motivational guru (of sorts) named Val Kilmer, and hosts his seminars at the nearby roller rink. I don’t think anything more needs to be said: Go see this fun little jolt of a film. Fedorchenko’s thirty-minute contribution is also a definite, beautiful little stand-out.

    Head Shot:A deft, atmospheric thriller from Thai director Pen-ek, Head Shot tells the story ofTul, an incorruptible cop who gets set-up, goes to jail, and is lured by to the dark side to work as an assassin to only hit the bad guys. It stars sexy Asian bad-ass Nopaachial “Peter” Jayaanama, and even the sets themselves look terrific, lived-in and real. A good, moody crime movie- a true, rare breed in any language.

    Cut: Shot like it could have made right after Pulp Fiction, Cut is Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi’s tribute to great cinema, and the soul of a true believer is all that is evident in this noir love letter to both film and film buffs the world over. Hidetoshi Nishijima plays Shuji, a down-on-his-luck filmmaker, who is so desperate for people to see great film, he blares his opinions in the streets with a bullhorn to all who were listen, screens old movies on the roof of his ramshackle apartment, and borrows money from his Yakuza hit man brother to make his own failed pictures. When his massive debt comes due, Shuji proceeds to try to avenge his brother’s honor by become a literal “punching bag” for mob underlings. It gets a little rough around the edges, but the splendid performance of Nishijima gives this film a sheer heart of gold.

    by Francesca McCaffery

    Check out all listings and times for the Tribeca Film Festival here.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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  • Dakota Fanning, Kim Cattrall and Michael Moore Among 39 to Serve on Jury For 2012 Tribeca Film Festival

    The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF),  today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 39 individuals, including award-winning filmmakers, writers and producers, acclaimed actors, respected critics and global business leaders. Irwin Winkler has been named President of the Jury. The Jury will be divided among the six competitive Festival categories and will announce the winning films, filmmakers and actors in those categories at the TFF Awards Night ceremony, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg on April 26, which will stream live on TribecaFilm.com. The 2012 Festival runs from April 18 –29.

    In addition, the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) announced the nine individuals who will serve as jurors for the Tribeca All Access (TAA) Creative Promise Awards, presented by Time Warner. The winning projects will be announced during the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26. The non-profit also announced the three jurors for the Latin America Media Arts Fund, including the Heineken VOCES awards. Jurors for the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund were announced earlier this week.

    Following is a list of all 2012 Festival, Tribeca All Access and Tribeca Film Institute jurors and their respective categories.

    The jurors for the 2012 World Narrative Competition are:
    Patricia Clarkson: Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award-nominated actress. Films include: Cairo Time, Easy A, Friends with Benefits, Shutter Island, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Whatever Works, Elegy, Lars and the Real Girl, Goodnight and Good Luck, Station Agent, Pieces of April and the upcoming The East.
    Dakota Fanning: SAG Award-nominated actress. Films include: I am Sam, War of the Worlds, The Secret Life of Bees, The Twilight Saga, The Runaways and the upcoming films, Now Is Good and Effie.
    Mike Newell: BAFTA Award-winning director. Films include Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mona Lisa Smile, Donnie Brasco, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Enchanted April, Dance with a Stranger and the upcoming BBC project Great Expectations.
    Lisa Schwarzbaum: film critic from Entertainment Weekly, her work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue and More, among other publications. She is a member of the National Society of Film Critics and former chair of the New York Film Critics Circle.
    Jim Sheridan: 6-time Oscar-nominated Irish director. Films include Brothers, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, In America, In the Name of the Father, The Field and My Left Foot.
    Irwin Winker: Oscar & BAFTA award-winning producer/director. Films include Rocky, GoodFellas, The Right Stuff, Raging Bull, De-Lovely, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Guilty by Suspicion and the upcoming The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, to be directed by Martin Scorsese.

    The jurors for the 2012 World Documentary Competition are:
    Julia Bacha: Noted documentary filmmaker and media strategist at the nonprofit Just Vision. Films include: Budrus (TFF 2009 Special Mention), Encounter Point (TFF 2006 Selection), Control Room (Writer/Editor) and the TFF 2012 short documentary selection My Neighbourhood.
    Kim Cattrall: Golden Globe Award-winning actress and author. TV roles include: Sex and the City and the miniseries Any Human Heart. Films include: Sex and the City, Meet Monica Velour (TFF 2010 selection) and The Ghost Writer.
    K’naan: Award-winning Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and musician.
    Michael Moore: Palme d’Or, Cesar & Oscar-winning director, producer, author and activist. Films include Capitalism: A Love Story, Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine and Roger & Me.
    Lucy Walker: Two-time Oscar-nominated director. Films include: Countdown to Zero, Waste Land, Blindsight, Devil’s Playground and the short The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.

    Emerging Competition Categories:

    The jurors for the 2012 Best New Narrative Director are:
    Camilla Belle: Noted young actress. Films include: 10,000 BC, Push, Father of Invention, The Chumscrubber, The Ballad of Jack & Rose and the upcoming Open Road.
    Whoopi Goldberg: Oscar, Tony, Grammy, Emmy award winner and humanitarian.
    Susannah Grant: Oscar and BAFTA nominee and WGA-winning screenwriter, director, and producer. Projects include: The Soloist, In Her Shoes, Erin Brockovich, 28 Days and the current TV Series A Gifted Man.
    Zach Helm: WGA-nominated screenwriter, producer, and director. Films include: Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Stranger Than Fiction and the upcoming Freezing People is Easy.
    Courtney Hunt: Noted screenwriter and director. Her debut film Frozen River gained her an Academy Award nomination and two Independent Spirit nominations, and won the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Filmmaking at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
    Kellan Lutz: Up-and-coming actor. Films include: The Twilight Saga, Nightmare on Elm Street, Immortals and the upcoming Java Heat.
    Leelee Sobieski: Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actress. Films include: Public Enemies, Eyes Wide Shut, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, 88 Minutes, Never Been Kissed, The Glass House and My First Mister. TV Roles include: Joan of Arc, Uprising and the new CBS drama NYC 22.

    The jurors for the 2012 Best New Documentary Director are:
    Stuart Blumberg: Oscar-nominated screenwriter, producer, and director. Films include: The Kids Are All Right, Leaves of Grass, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, The Girl Next Door, Keeping the Faith and the upcoming Thanks For Sharing
    Jared Cohen: Director of Google Ideas, Senior Fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations and author of One Hundred Days of Silence: America and the Rwanda Genocide and Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East.
    Rachel Grady: Oscar-nominated director and producer. Films include: Detropia, Freakonomics, 12th & Delaware, Jesus Camp and The Boys of Barak.
    Bethann Hardison: Noted former model and Manager, Documentarian and Editor at Large for Vogue Italia.
    Sal Masekela: Television host and producer. Projects include: The ESPN X Games, Red Bull Signature Series and E!’s Daily 10. Has also produced the documentaries Bra Boys, Disposable Hero: The Brian Deegan Story and the feature Street Dreams. He is a subject of TFF 2012 short film selection Alekesam.
    Ricki Stern: Independent Spirit and Emmy-nominated director and producer. Films include: Burma Soldier, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (TFF 2010), The Devil Came on Horseback, The Trials of Darryl Hunt and the TFF 2012 selection Knuckleball!
    Olivia Wilde: Noted actress, activist, and up-and-coming producer. Films include TRON: Legacy, Cowboys & Aliens, the upcoming Rush from Ron Howard, Warner Bros.’ The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and TFF 2012 selections Deadfall and the short documentary, Baseball in the Time of Cholera, which she executive produced.

    Short Film Competition Categories:

    The jurors for the 2012 Narrative Short Film Competition are:
    Maureen Chiquet: Global CEO of Chanel. Glamour’s 2008 Woman of the Year and listed 4 times on Fortune Magazine’s International Power 50 List. She sits on the Yale University President’s Council on International Activities, the Supervisory Board & Human Resources Committee of Vivendi, the Board of Directors – Peek, Aren’t You Curious? and the Board of Trustees of the New York Academy of Art.
    Hugh Dancy: Emmy-nominated actor. Films include: Martha Marcy May Marlene, Our Idiot Brother, the upcoming Dorothy of Oz and the TFF 2012 selection Hysteria. Currently on Broadway in Venus in Fur.Aline Brosh McKenna: BAFTA and WGA-nominated screenwriter. Films include: We Bought a Zoo, I Don’t Know How She Does It, Morning Glory, 27 Dresses and The Devil Wears Prada.
    Bridget Moynahan: Actress and star of CBS’s Blue Bloods. Films include:  Battle Los Angeles, Ramona and Beezus, Lord of War, I, Robot and Coyote Ugly.
    Drew Nieporent: Famed restaurateur, whose two-Michelin star restaurant Corton was featured in the acclaimed HBO documentary A Matter of Taste.
    Mohammed Saeed Harib: Creator and director of Freej, the Middle East’s pioneering 3D animated series from the UAE. Current projects include the recently directed Freej Folklore, the largest Arabic theatrical production, and the upcoming animated feature The Prophet.
    Shari Springer Berman: Oscar and Emmy nominated Director, screenwriter, and producer. Films include: American Splendor, Cinema Verite, The Nanny Diaries, The Extra Man and the upcoming Imogene.

    The jurors for the 2012 Documentary and Student Short Film Competitions are:
    Scooter Braun: Music entrepreneur who discovered Justin Bieber and orchestrated his rise to global super stardom. He currently manages a growing roster of young stars and heads up two record labels through the Universal Music Group.
    Robert Hammond: Co-founder and Executive Director of Friends of the High Line. In addition to being a self-taught artist, Robert has served as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was awarded the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 2010.
    Brett Ratner: Noted director and producer. He directed the Rush Hour trilogy, Red Dragon, X-Men: Last Stand and Tower Heist. He also produced Horrible Bosses, Catfish, PBS’ American Masters: Woody Allen – A Documentary and Mirror, Mirror.
    Susan Sarandon: Oscar-winning actress, activist, mother and New Yorker. Films include: Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Bernard and Doris, Enchanted, Dead Man Walking, Thelma & Louise, Bull Durham and the upcoming films Cloud Atlas and The Wedding.
    James Spione: Oscar-nominated director, producer, editor and writer. Films include: Incident in New Baghdad, Our Island Home and American Farm.
    Shailene Woodley: Independent Spirit and National Board of Review Award-winning actress for her role in The Descendants. Currently starring in The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
    Susan Zirinsky: Primetime Emmy and Peabody-winning executive producer. Projects include: 48 Hours, Documentaries, 9/11: Ten Years Later, Three Days in September and Flashpoint.

    TAA Creative Promise Awards
    The jurors for the 2012 TAA Creative Promise Award—Narrative are:
    Rosario Dawson: Actress known for roles in Kids, Rent, Seven Pounds, Sin City, Alexander, Grindhouse, Men in Black II, Chelsea Walls, Sidewalks of New York, He Got Game, Eagle Eye and Unstoppable. Upcoming films include Fire With Fire, alongside Bruce Willis and Josh Duhamel, and Danny Boyle’s Trance.
    Cuba Gooding, Jr.: Oscar-winning actor who has appeared in Jerry Maguire, Men of Honor, As Good As It Gets, Radio, American Gangster, and most recently the George Lucas-helmed Red Tails.
    Mekhi Phifer: Actor known for films including Clockers, Flypaper, 8 Mile, Othello, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, The Imposter and the Fox series Lie to Me, as well as the Emmy Award-winning series ER. He recently made his Broadway debut starring in Stickfly.
    Gabourey Sidibe: Oscar-nominated actress for her leading role in Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. Currently appearing in the Showtime series The Big C, and recently appeared in the films Tower Heist and Yelling to the Sky.

    The jurors for the 2012 TAA Creative Promise Award—Documentary are:
    Claire Aguilar: Vice President of Programming at the Independent Television Service (ITVS), which funds, promotes and distributes independently produced programming to public media.
    Julie Goldman: Founder of Motto Pictures and producer and executive producer of feature documentaries. Projects include the Oscar award-winning The Cove, Valentino The Last Emperor and Buck.
    Eugene Hernandez: Director of Digital Strategy at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and a founder of Indiewire.
    Jean Tsien: Acclaimed documentary film editor. Projects including Something Within Me and Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing have been screened throughout the world, in theaters and on television, and have been honored with numerous awards and accolades.
    Debra Zimmerman: Executive Director of Women Make Movies, the NY-based non-profit, which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary of supporting independent women filmmakers.


    TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund

    The jurors for the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund, including the Heineken VOCES awards are:
    Fernando Rovzar: Co-founder of Mexico-based Lemon Films. Producer of the Broadway hit Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark and executive producer of La Casa de Mi Padre, starring Will Ferrell, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal.
    Cynthia Lopez: Vice President for American Documentary/POV, overseeing the development of the organization, programming/content development and delivery and strategic planning. Founding board member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP).
    Ricardo Darin: Internationally-renowned actor with over 40 films to his credit. Projects include Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas), The Son of the Bride (El Hijo de la Novia), The Aura and The Secret in their Eyes (winner of the 2010 Oscar for Best Foreign Film).


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  • Tribeca Unveils Lineup for 2012 Tribeca Online Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_2732" align="alignnone" width="550"]Babygirl[/caption]

    The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) today unveiled the lineup and programming for the third edition of Tribeca Online Film Festival. Audiences across the country will get front row access to the exclusive Festival content and hear filmmakers and industry leaders talking about the future of the industry as TFF’s 11th edition runs concurrently in lower Manhattan from April 18 to 29.

    Four world premiere feature selections from the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, and five short films, three of which are world premieres, will be available during the online Festival.

    Online viewers will be able to vote for the Best Tribeca Online Feature Film, a prize of $10,000, and the Best Tribeca Online Short Film, a prize of $5,000. Winners will be announced at the Tribeca Film Festival Awards on April 26. There will also be a social voting competition, based solely on popularity: the number of “likes” that film accrues on the Tribeca Online Film Festival film detail page. The feature film and the short film that drive the most Facebook likes on the page will each receive a separate $500 prize. Winners will be announced on April 30.

    The complete list of feature films streamed on the Tribeca Online Film Festival is as follows:

    Babygirl, directed and written by Macdara Vallely. (Ireland, USA) – World Premiere, Viewpoints. For as long as she can remember, Bronx teenager Lena has watched her mom Lucy squander her life on a series of deadbeat men. When Victor, her mom’s latest boy toy, starts hitting on Lena, she sets up a trap to expose Victor for the creep he is… but the plan backfires. Macdara Vallely crafts a heartfelt drama about the emotional highs and lows in the moment between childhood and adulthood.

    [caption id="attachment_2733" align="alignnone" width="550"]On The Mat[/caption]

    On The Mat, directed and written by Fredric Golding. (USA) – World Premiere, Viewpoints and Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. Achieving greatness in high school wrestling requires a level of devotion unmatched perhaps by any other sport. That greatness has become a yearly expectation at Lake Stevens High, winner of seven Washington state championships in the past 10 years. Narrated by Lake Stevens wrestling alum Chris Pratt (Moneyball), this riveting documentary follows the team over the course of a season as they fight through injuries and academic issues to maintain their school’s legacy.

    [caption id="attachment_2734" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Russian Winter[/caption]

    The Russian Winter, directed by Petter Ringbom. (Russia) – World Premiere, Spotlight. Brooklyn-born John Forté was a Grammy-nominated musician in The Fugees at 21 and a federal prison inmate at 26. When his prison sentence was remarkably commuted in 2008, Forté was given a second chance to share his talents with the world. Chronicling his concert tour across Russia, this inspirational documentary takes us on Forté’s personal journey—one that’s as much about having his voice heard as having his music heard. In English, Russian with subtitles.

    [caption id="attachment_2735" align="alignnone" width="550"]Town of Runners[/caption]

    Town of Runners, directed by Jerry Rothwell. (UK) – World Premiere, Viewpoints. Over the past two decades the small, rural Ethiopian town of Bekoji has been the unlikely home to numerous Olympic champion long-distance runners, whose athletic success has paved the way for a generation of young Ethiopians searching for a better future. With a keen artistic eye, TFF award winner Jerry Rothwell (Donor Unknown) follows two teenage track hopefuls who face the challenge of growing up and striving for greatness in a developing nation. In Amharic, Oromo with subtitles.


    The short films streaming on Tribeca Online are:

    BFF (World Premiere) Directed and written by Neil LaBute. Jack and Jill have been “best friends forever,” and when Jill suspects that her boyfriend is cheating on her, Jack offers to help her.

    CatCam (New York Premiere) Directed by Seth Keal. German engineer Jürgen Perthold was intrigued about where his newly adopted stray, Mr. Lee, disappeared to for days on end, so he developed the CatCam to help solve the mystery.

    Scenes from a Visit to Japan (World Premiere) Directed and written by Joel Schlemowitz. An experimental film invoking diverse cultural landscapes, suggesting a collective struggle of humanity between apocalyptic visions of the past, present, and future, and the redemptive power of the human spirit.

    Transmission (International Premiere) Directed and written by Zak Hilditch. Following a deadly pandemic that has decimated the world’s population, a father drives his nine-year-old daughter from the west coast of Australia to the safe zone.

    Doggy Bags (World Premiere) Directed and written by Edward Burns. A young man suspects the girl he is dating to be hiding a secret after she routinely orders massive amounts of food to go. Produced by American Express as a result of the 2011 My Movie Pitch contest. This film is ineligible for awards.

    Nine additional short films will be made available through FOCUS FORWARD – Short Films, Big Ideas, a partnership between GE and CINELAN. Five will premiere on tribecafilm.com beginning today, April 9, when the Tribeca Online Film Festival site goes live. The last four, which are world premieres, will debut on tribecafilm.com on April 25, simultaneous with their TFF premieres at Tribeca Cinemas. The four world premiere films are directed by Nelson George, Katy Chevigny, Steven Cantor, and Michèle Ohayon. Each film is three minutes long and tells an amazing story of innovators making our world a better place.

    Select events will be streamed live as part of the Tribeca Online Film Festival, with TFF’s many other events, Q&As and conversations being captured on video for dynamic segments to be posted each day on tribecafilm.com, giving online audiences a comprehensive Festival experience. Among the live events scheduled are:

    April 19 at 3pm EDT – A celebration of Universal Studios 100th Anniversary, featuring Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Judd Apatow sharing their favorite moments and memories from Universal’s extraordinary history.

    April 26 at 7pm EDT – TFF Awards Night, saluting the best of the Festival;

    April 27 at 11am EDT – Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, celebrating innovation across the media, entertainment and technology spectrum.

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  • Tribeca Film Festival to Host Events Exploring Future Of Storytelling In The Digital Age

    Tribeca today announced two new forward-looking events to take place during the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) that will assemble a first-rate collection of thought leaders spanning the worlds of film, media, gaming, technology and society. The Tribeca Film Institute’s Interactive Day will explore the future of storytelling in the digital age, through an all-day conference on April 23, made possible by the Ford Foundation. Tribeca’s long-running Future of Film blog will expand its successful online offerings with a Lunchtime Series with daily talks and presentations related to platforms, technology, and trends that are changing the art and business of film.

    On April 23, the TFI Interactive Day, programmed with XO Labs, will bring together leading thinkers from the fields of media, entertainment, education and technology to share their insights and inspire content creators to rethink paradigms. The day will explore the digital media ecosystem. Conversations will range from an interactive case study of the multi-platform rollout of HBO’s Game of Thrones to the signature insights of The Onion’s Digital Director Baratunde Thurston to a conversation about the funding of transmedia projects. The event will take place from 9:30 am – 4:30pm at the IAC Building and is open to all TFF badge holders and invited guests.

    “In a world where the lines between audience and creator are increasingly blurred, every sector of the communications industry is undergoing somewhat of an identity crisis. As the only formalized funder of independent, non-fiction transmedia in the US, we are excited to welcome the brightest thinkers and doers from across the spectrum to help us differentiate the substance from the hype,” said Beth Janson, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute.

    The Future of Film Lunch Series, hosted by and taking place at 92YTribeca, features notable speakers such as Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum, Tumblr founder David Karp and College Humor and Vimeo founder Ricky Van Veen. The series will take place on April 23-26 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., with two sessions daily, each 30 minutes followed by an audience Q&A; these events will be highlighted via daily video segments on tribecafilm.com and throughout TFF.

    Our Future of Film blog has been an important tool in nurturing a steady, year-round dialogue on the changes in our industry. As we continue to drive this conversation year round and grow the community of contributors our Future of Film speaker series is a great platform to hear from industry pros who are experiencing the changes first hand,” said Matt Spangler , Tribeca Enterprises, EVP Marketing and Content. “The live event and video content created by this terrific lineup of speakers will offer unique perspectives for our audience on where film is headed.”

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  • Justin Bieber Among Honorees For Third Annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards

    The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), in association with noted Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation, announced it will hold the third annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, hosted by NYU Stern School of Business, on April 27. The 11th edition of TFF runs April 18 to 29.

    Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, and John Wood, founder of Room to Read. Wood has opened over 13,500 libraries around the world at a cost of $5,000 per library. The Book of the Year honor will go to Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) will be returning this year with Agency Program Manager Dr. Gill Pratt showcasing the Hummingbird, DARPA’s prototype nano-drone, as well as a new prototype making its debut from DARPA’s M3 program—the Cheetah. The roster of other award winners is a colorful and eclectic group spanning several realms of culture and society, among them pop superstar Justin Bieber and manager Scooter Braun, honored for the historic discovery of Bieber on YouTube and his subsequent social media rise; producer Rick Rubin, for founding Def Jam Records 30 years ago in an NYU dorm room; and oncologist Steven A. Curley for his advances in cancer treatments.

    After publishing his best-selling book The Innovators Dilemma in 1997, Christensen moved to center stage as one of the world’s leading experts on innovation; the book presented his startling theory of disruptive innovation. It since has become one of the business world’s most important theories, and explains why great companies fail: They are frequently decimated by “two guys in a garage” who develop a simpler, cheaper, more accessible product or service that is “good enough to get the job done.” Forbes magazine recently hailed Christensen as “one of the world’s most important business theorists of the past 50 years.” This year Thinkers 50 recognized Christensen as the most influential business thinker in the world.

    “Last year’s awards shined a spotlight on fascinating exceptions to the original theory,” Christensen said. “Theorists and practitioners alike must vigilantly hunt for anomalies, explanations, and narratives that help keep the theory fresh. I am thrilled to join Tribeca in celebrating this year’s honorees, who are propelling us toward Disruptive Innovation 2.0.”

    Honorees receive Disruptor Awards nicknamed Maslow’s Silver Hammer, in honor of psychologist Abe Maslow, who created the famous hierarchy of human needs. One of Maslow’s most famous quotes—“When your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail”—embodies the spirit of the Awards and symbolizes the need for new approaches to old problems.

    The Awards Ceremony, moderated by journalist and public health advocate Perri Peltz and Tribeca co-founder Craig Hatkoff and supported by Accenture, aims to showcase applications of and advancements in disruptive innovation theory that have spread far beyond the original technology and industrial realms. It is now being applied to vexing societal problems such as healthcare, education, philanthropy, politics, religion and spirituality. But its impact is nowhere more pronounced than in the fields of media, arts and entertainment. The original theory is undergoing its own evolution, impacted by the Internet and connection technologies, open-source business models, and platforms that democratize content creation and attract new audiences. Christensen will address the new insights and lenses in his opening remarks on Disruptive Innovation 2.0.

    “Since its inception, Tribeca has been a living laboratory for disruptive innovation, where technology, business, culture and storytelling collide,” said TFF co-founder Craig Hatkoff. “This event, expanded for 2012, intends to shed light on the chaos of rapidly changing technologies and business models. We are beginning to see how identity-based goods, services and experiences create a powerful, yet predictable, array of resistances that change the dynamics of disruptive innovations.”

    “We are delighted to host the third annual Disruptive Innovation Awards at the Paulson Auditorium, at NYU Stern School of Business,” said Peter Henry, Dean of NYU Stern School of Business.  “At NYU Stern, we prize innovation and disruptive thinking for their power to create value.  We are delighted that our students will share in this great learning experience.”

    The 2012 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award honorees are as follows:

     

    Lifetime Achievement Award – Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and Chairman, Twitter & Co-Founder, CEO, Square – Originally from St. Louis, Dorsey had an early fascination with mass-transit and how cities function, which led him to Manhattan and programming real-time messaging systems for couriers, taxis, and emergency vehicles. Through this work, Dorsey witnessed thousands of workers in the field constantly updating where they were and what they were doing; Twitter is a constrained simplification designed for general usage and extended by the millions of people who make it their own every day. As part of Dorsey’s continued devotion to simplifying the complex and making technology accessible to everyone, everywhere, he co-founded Square in 2009. Square enables anyone to accept credit card payments on their mobile device and has empowered more than 1 million individuals and merchants in the U.S. to start and grow a business.

    Lifetime Achievement Award – John Wood, Founder and Board Co-Chair, Room to Read – Wood’s organization focuses on improving literacy and gender equality in education in the developing world. Since 2000, they have established over 13,500 libraries, 1,600 schools and distributed over 10 million books, impacting over 6 million children in the developing world.

    Dr. Patricia Bath, President, American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness – When Dr. Bath became the first person to demonstrate Laserphaco cataract surgery she also became the first African American woman to receive a medical patent. She recently published “ilaser,” an educational science App designed to inspire the next generation of inventors. Her next mission: “to help the blind see.”

    Justin Bieber, Global Superstar, and Scooter Braun, Music Manager and Entrepreneur – In the first major discovery of an artist on YouTube, videos posted by Bieber and seen by Braun on YouTube led to an unprecedented success story that disrupted the traditional gatekeepers of the music industry. Bieber has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide to date and has amassed more than 2.7 billion video views on YouTube, plus more than 41 million Facebook fans and more than 18 million Twitter followers. The Bieber phenomenon shows that emerging talent can now be sourced online, flattening the hierarchical structure and the barriers to entry.

    Ed Burns, Writer, Director, Actor, Newlyweds – When a feature film can be shot on a micro-budget of $9,000 with no fixed sets, in live environments and on a small HD camera, watch out. Burns’ Newlyweds is a case in point. Shot in the neighborhood of Tribeca, it was the Closing Night film at the 2011 TFF and was later acquired and released by distribution label Tribeca Film. Newlyweds shows how disruptive innovation for independent filmmakers has arrived and is challenging the economics of the more traditional business model.

    Kevin Carroll, MS, CP, FAAOP, Vice President of Prosthetics for Hanger Clinic & Dan Strzempka, CPO, Area Practice Manager for Hanger Clinic – Carroll and Strzempka worked with engineers to develop WintersGel™, a unique prosthetic liner that serves as the critical interface between delicate skin and prosthetic devices. First developed for a tail-less dolphin at Clearwater Marine Aquarium (and dramatized in 2011 hit movie Dolphin Tale), WintersGel has since been adapted for human use, providing comfort and gentle adhesion to thousands of amputees nationwide.

    Rachael Chong, Founder & CEO, Catchafire Inc, – Chong created an online matching service for social entrepreneurs and non-profits in need of pro-bono professional services, engaging a network of professionals seeking worthy projects for the public good.

    Steven A. Curley, M.D., Professor of Surgical Oncology, M. D., F.A.C.S. Anderson Cancer Center – Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation – Curley led the development of a promising, non-invasive nano-particle radio-wave cancer treatment that fries hyper-targeted cancer cells.

    Marci Harris, Founder & CEO, POPVOX – Harris introduced an innovative, distributed solution for online, grassroots advocacy. The platform organizes citizens around important issue, disrupting the traditional lobbying industry.

    Hummingbird, developed by DARPA’s Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) program, Dr. Gill Pratt, DARPA Program Manager and AeroVironment, Matt Keennon, Project Manager — The latest in nano-drone technology, the Hummingbird brings strategic surprise to a new level of realism. The life-size prototype uses flapping wings for propulsion and control. Carrying a video camera and downlink, it has a wingspan of 16 cm (9.5 in) and weighs just 19 grams (0.66 oz). It can hover for 8 minutes, remaining stable in gusts up to 5 mph, and reach up to 11 mph in forward flight.

    Cheetah, developed by DARPA’s M3 (Maximum Mobility and Manipulation) program, Dr. Gill Pratt, Program Manager and Boston Dynamics, Dr. Marc Raibert, Project Manager — Robots hold great promise for improving both the safety and productivity of human beings. But, compared to humans present day robots have poor mobility. The goal of the Cheetah prototype, which recently broke the speed record for legged robots, is to develop and test technologies that will enable future robots to assist humans in missions (e.g. scouting, search and rescue) where the robot must travel across rough terrain at high speed with high energentic efficiency.

    Jason Kottke, Designer & Blogger, Kottke.org – A pioneering blogger since 1998, Kottke used crowd funding to keep his blog running and has created one of the most influential voices on the Internet through consistent yet eclectic curation.

    Nigel Jacob & Chris Osgood, Co-Chair, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, Street Bump App – City of Boston’s newest mobile phone app designed to help Boston residents improve their neighborhoods. Taking advantage of the sensors on smart phones, Street Bump will provide the City with a near-real time picture of Boston’s road conditions and the location of its potholes.

    Bre Pettis, Co-Founder & CEO, MakerBot Industries —  – With “The Replicator,” a desktop 3D printer that can make objects about the size of a loaf of bread, Bre Pettis has created an entire ecosystem for desktop 3D printing, a cutting-edge consumer brand, and a flourishing open source design community on Thingiverse.com. MakerBot offers a simpler, more affordable, 3D desktop printer, giving consumers access to 3D printing for under $2,000.

    Pat Metheny and Linda Manzer – Legendary jazz guitarist Metheny and pioneering designer Manzer have had a three-decade collaboration, which began with the creation of the 42-string Pikasso guitar in 1984. It has a special feature known as “The Wedge,” a tapered body shape that makes the side closest to the player thinner than the side that rests on the player’s knee. That design makes the top lean back toward the player for a more aerial view of the strings. 

    L. Rafael Reif, Provost, MITx, (Eric Grimson, Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, accepting on Reif’s behalf) – Reif launched online learning initiative MITx, which makes more than 2,500 MIT courses available online, free to anyone in the world.

    Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO, Acumen Fund – Novogratz created a new philanthropic business model for patient, disciplined investment in disruptive innovations in emerging markets. Acumen Fund’s mission is to create a world beyond poverty by investing in social enterprises, emerging leaders, and breakthrough ideas. It invests patient capital to identify, strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor. And it champions the spread of this approach as a complement to traditional aid, which can create dependence, or pure market approaches, which can bypass the actual needs of the poor.

    Mark Johnson, Co-Director & Producer and Whitney Kroenke, Executive Director, Playing for Change, – Johnson and Kroenke created a multimedia phenomenon  uniting musicians, stars and unknowns from around the world demolishing the notion of time and space in bone-tingling renditions of our most cherished music, captured  on film on a shoestring budget. Upon completion of a second Playing For Change film, Playing For Change: Peace Through Music, the team decided to create the Playing For Change Foundation, which aims to create positive change through music and arts education.

    Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation, U.S. Department of State – Ross serves as Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, where he is tasked with maximizing the potential of technology and innovation in service of America’s diplomatic goals and stewarding Secretary of State Clinton’s 21st Century Statecraft agenda. In this role, Alec helps ensure America’s leadership and advances the State Department’s interests on a range of issues from Internet Freedom to disaster response to responding to regional conflicts.

    Rick Rubin, Def Jam – One of the world’s most influential record producers, Rubin has worked with artists as diverse as the Beastie Boys, Adele, Jay-Z, and Johnny Cash. Rubin co-founded Def Jam Records in his NYU dorm room in 1982, and, by fusing rock with hip hop, he broke the rules and a niche market became mainstream – proving that disruptive, innovative ideas and taste can create empires.

    Donald S. Siegel, Dean and Professor, School of Business, University at Albany, SUNY, for the Small Enterprise Economic Development (SEED) Program – SEED links faculty, staff and graduate students from the UAlbany School of Social Welfare, the UAlbany School of Business and its Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to local entrepreneurs. It has $2.5 million in financial support from SEFCU and $96,700 from the Empire State Development Corporation. It is designed to stimulate the creation and growth of small businesses in New York’s Capital Region.

    Tiffany Shlain, director of acclaimed documentary, Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology – Shlain is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of The Webby Awards. She created disruptive innovation both in the way she made Connected and the way she is using the social media itself to further the conversation about its subject: “connectedness” in the 21st century.

    Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing (accepted on Stanford’s behalf by Katharine Ku, Director, Technology Licensing & Luis Mejia, Senior Licensing Associate) – For more than 40 years, OTL’s goal has been to successfully transfer Stanford cutting edge technology to industry via both start-ups and existing companies. Notable Stanford licenses include the exclusive license to Google and the 440 nonexclusive licenses to the basic gene-splicing patents. To date, OTL has received over 8,900 inventions that resulted in 3000 licenses and $1.4B in royalty revenue.

    James P. Steyer, Founder and CEO, Common Sense Media – Steyer created and runs Common Sense Media, the nation’s leading advocacy organization for kids and media. He is also a founding board member of the Center for the Next Generation, a nonpartisan organization supporting programs and policies that benefit the next generation of young Americans, and author of Talking Back to Facebook Published this year by Scribner, the book is a timely look at how digital media is affecting our children’s social, emotional and cognitive development.

    Thomas Suarez, Founder and Chief Engineer of CarrotCorp, Inc., App Creator, TEDx speaker – Suarez is hardly an average sixth-grader. The 12-year-old app developer has started a movement for app clubs for schools. Thomas’ inspirational TEDx talk has attracted nearly 2 million online views.

    Peter Thum, CEO & Co-Founder, Fonderie 47 – Fonderie 47 transforms AK47s from war zones in Africa into branded jewelry, watches and accessories with prices ranging from the thousands into hundreds of thousands. The sale of each piece of their jewelry funds the destruction of more weapons in Africa.

    Jourdan Urbach, Executive Director, Children Helping Children/Concerts for a Cure
    Executive Director, International Coalition of College Philanthropists Goodwill Ambassador and Artist-in-Residence, UN Arts for Peace – Urbach is a 20-year-old, award-winning, Juilliard-trained violin virtuoso, a composer/film scorer, a Yale University senior and Founder/Executive Director of Concerts for a Cure. He stands alone as the only young, classical music star who has ever devoted himself to touring the country for the express purpose of performing Concerts for a Cure, raising $5 million to date to fight pediatric and neurological disease.

    Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm, Executive Director, WITNESS – Co-founded in 1992 by advocate and musician Peter Gabriel, WITNESS was created in the aftermath of the Rodney King incident, in which a bystander recorded police brutality. Its founding vision sought to amplify grassroots voices through stories and transform them into powerful agents of change. Today—20 years later—WITNESS has partnered with more than 300 human rights groups in over 80 countries, trained over 3,000 human rights defenders and citizen activists, and supported the inclusion of video in over 100 campaigns, increasing their visibility and impact globally. With grassroots partners, it changes laws, reverses policies, holds perpetrators accountable, and improves the lives of the vulnerable and oppressed among us. WITNESS engages millions of ordinary citizens in the struggles for human rights taking place every day all over the world.

    Book of the Year – Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnehman. Princeton University’s Kahneman is a renowned psychologist who won the Nobel Prize for Economics. Our understanding of the world is formed by two modalities of thought: System 1 is the fast, intuitive, emotional, unconscious processing of data and information for decision making; System 2 is rational, deep thought, reflective and studied. Making good decisions consistently—micro or macro—cannot rely on solely on System 1 or System 2. Most people are prone to either System 1 or System 2 with different biases, strengths and weaknesses; understanding this insight will help shape the conversation how to merge these two styles into one brain and get the best of both worlds.

     

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  • Marvel’s The Avengers to Close 2012 Tribeca Film Festival

    Marvel’s The Avengers will close the 11th Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) on Saturday, April 28, 2012.

    Honoring the spirit of the Tribeca Film Festival, the screening will allow the opportunity for Marvel’s The Avengers to celebrate everyday heroes from police agencies, fire departments, first responders and various branches of the U.S. military.  These local heroes will have an opportunity to attend the screening and meet the cast. 

    Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and directed by Joss Whedon, Marvel’s The Avengers is an engaging, character-driven story packed with action, adventure and special effects. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins to assemble the iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. Marvel’s The Avengers is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.

    The film releases May 4, 2012.

    The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival runs April 18-29, 2012.

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  • 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Tribeca Talks Series to Feature Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and Premiere of Six New Films

    [caption id="attachment_2657" align="alignnone"]Freaky Deaky[/caption]

    The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) unveiled six new titles world premiering at the Festival. Narrative films Freaky Deaky and Future Weather and documentaries Portrait of Wally and Once in a Lullaby: The PS22 Chorus Story will screen as part of the “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie” series, the documentary Wagner’s Dream will premiere as part of the new “Beyond the Screens: Globalize Your Thinking” series, and the narrative Knife Fight will have a special screening with an extended Q&A. Finally, TFF celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Avant-Garde Masters grants, created by the National Film Preservation Foundation and The Film Foundation to help preserve American avant-garde cinema, with a special screening and “Tribeca Talks” panel.

    The lineup for the 2012 Tribeca Talks® panel series include the “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series,” “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie,” “Tribeca Talks: Industry,” “Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper, hosted by Barnes & Noble” and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival panel. New to the Festival is the “Beyond the Screens: Globalize Your Thinking” program.

    “Tribeca Talks: Directors Series” will include one-on-one conversations with:

    Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and activist Michael Moore, interviewed by Academy Award®-winning actor Susan Sarandon.
    Academy Award®-nominated director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father), interviewed by his daughter, Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter Naomi Sheridan (In America). 

    “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie” will include:

    Academy Award®-nominated film WarGames from director John Badham, which uses advances in national security and the vulnerabilities of new technology as the backdrop for a coming-of-age thriller; followed by a conversation with director John Badham, actress Ally Sheedy, Bitcoin Technical Lead Gavin Andresen, William D. Casebeer, PhD, Program Manager, Defense Sciences Office at DARPA (USAF, retired), and others about the historical relationship between military strategy and technical innovation, storytelling with gaming and simulation tools, and the challenges of depicting cutting-edge technology on the big screen.  

    The world premiere of Freaky Deaky, a throwback to the decadent Los Angeles of the 1970s, where a disgraced cop gets a shot at a comeback when a young actress needs help taking down a powerful movie producer; followed by a conversation with novelist Elmore Leonard, director/ screenwriter Charles Matthau, and Freaky Deaky stars Christian Slater, Crispin Glover, Michael Jai White, and Andy Dick.

    The documentary The Virgin, the Copts and Me, where filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh sets out to investigate the phenomenon of supposedly miraculous Virgin Mary apparitions in Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. Facing opposition from producers and his family, he reimagines his film as a touching, hilarious portrait of family and heritage; followed by a discussion with director Namir Abdel Messeeh and other notable guests on cultural identity and the prevalence of contemporary international filmmakers who delve into what it truly means to go “home.” Hosted by the Doha Film Institute.

    The world premiere of Portrait of Wally, a documentary that follows Lea Bondi’s ancestors as they take on the Austrian government, billionaire art collectors, MoMA and NPR in their attempt to reclaim Bondi’s Egon Schiele painting “Portrait of Wally,” which was seized by Nazis in 1939; followed by a conversation with director Andrew Shea, critic and journalist David D’Arcy, Jane Kallir of Galerie St. Etienne, historian and attorney Willi Korte, and Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York Sharon Cohen Levin about the issues of provenance and the global sharing of art in museums.

    [caption id="attachment_2658" align="alignnone"]Once in a Lullaby: The PS22 Chorus Story[/caption]

    The world premiere of Once in a Lullaby: The PS22 Chorus Story, a documentary that follows the now world-famous YouTube sensation elementary school chorus as they travel to perform the closing number of the 2011 Academy Awards®; followed by a conversation with director Jonathan Kalafer, PS22 chorus teacher Gregg Breinberg, Executive Director of the Office of the Arts and Special Projects at the New York City Department of Education Paul King, and more on how new media and technology in the classroom can breathe new life into students’ curricula, capture their attention, and spark eagerness to learn. Moderated by Tribeca Film Institute Education Program Developer Caitlin Meisner.

    The world premiere of Future Weather, inspired by a New Yorker article on global warming, which follows a teenage loner who becomes obsessed with ecological disaster, forcing her alcoholic grandmother to rethink their futures; followed by a discussion with writer/director Jenny Deller, producer Kristin Fairweather, Future Weather actress Lili Taylor, and more on how an article about a scientific and environmental issue planted the seed for an intimate fiction film and inspired an environmentally sensitive production.

    A collection of American avant-garde classics by Abigail Child, Larry Gottheim, George Kuchar, Carolee Schneemann, and more—specially curated with TFF to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Avant-Garde Masters grants, which were created in 2003 by the National Film Preservation Foundation and The Film Foundation; followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Carolee Schneemann, Abigail Child, Larry Gottheim, and TFF experimental film programmer Jon Gartenberg. Moderated by Assistant Director of the National Film Preservation Foundation Jeff Lambert

    “Beyond the Screens: Globalize Your Thinking” will feature:

    The world premiere of Wagner’s Dream, a documentary that follows perhaps the most ambitious project in the Metropolitan Opera’s famed history, the new staged production of opera’s most formidable masterpiece: Richard Wagner’s four-part Ring Cycle; followed by a conversation about this incredible artistic journey with filmmakers Susan Froemke and Bob Eisenhardt, the Met’s General Manager Peter Gelb, opera soprano Deborah Voigt and tenor Jay Hunter Morris. Moderated by “the Voice of the Met” Margaret Juntwait.

    Let Fury Have the Hour, a documentary that brings together more than 50 big-name artists, musicians, writers, and thinkers who used their creativity as a response to the reactionary politics that came to define our culture in the 1980s, tracing a momentous social history from the 1980s to the present and imparting a message of hope; followed by a conversation with director Antonino D’Ambrosio, film collaborator and artist Shepard Fairey, the MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, playwright and activist Eve Ensler, and more as they discuss the power of artistic expression.

    The List, a documentary that follows Kirk Johnson, who recently returned from rebuilding teams in war-torn cities in Iraq as he advocates for a growing number of Iraqi citizens now targeted by radical militias because they aided the U.S. in the reconstruction effort; followed by a conversation with director Beth Murphy, film subject Kirk Johnson, Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Paul Rieckhoff, and others about the current state of Iraqis seeking asylum and issues surrounding post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers and refugees. Moderated by The New Yorker’s George Packer. 
    “Tribeca Talks: Industry” will feature:

    Film and Brands, a conversation with filmmakers and strategic communications professionals about how brands and filmmakers are increasingly collaborating on film projects to achieve a range of objectives, from marketing and public relations to corporate storytelling and philanthropy. As the number of projects as well as the platforms for distribution increase, the bar has been raised for how to make these projects effective corporate storytelling pieces as well as quality filmmaking. Panelists include producer and director Brett Ratner, American Express’ Vice President of Global Media, Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing Rich Lehrfeld, GE’s Global Executive Director of Advertising and Branding Judy Hu, the Norman Lear Center’s Managing Director and Director of Research Johanna Blakley, Chief Marketing Officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill Mark Crumpacker and select filmmakers for a conversation about how they are collaborating and where this increasingly complex and sophisticated world is heading. Moderated by Jon Patricof, President and Chief Operating Officer of Tribeca Enterprises.

    Imagine More, sponsored by Canon, after a screening of Ron Howard’s production when you find me—the first Hollywood film inspired by a photo contest—Canon representatives and filmmakers will discuss the versatility of shooting with Canon cameras and creating films through collaborative storytelling. Panelists include Canon USA Technical’s Chuck Westfall, The Russian Winter director Petter Ringbom, CatCam director Seth Keal, and others.

    The Business of Entertainment, sponsored by Bloomberg, focusing on the recent rise of international co-production, exploring the benefits and obstacles of this often complex but rewarding strategy. Bloomberg convenes major producers, financiers, and other key industry decision-makers who play leading roles in financing today’s film and entertainment industries. Panelists include co-producer of The Girl and CEO of Bonita Films Tania Zarak, Chairman and CEO of Endgame Entertainment James D. Stern, and Director of European Film and TV Group, Exclusive Media, Ben Holden. Moderated by Bloomberg News entertainment reporter Michael White.

    The Future is Short: Storytelling in the Digital Age, sponsored by GE / FOCUS FORWARD – Short Films, Big Ideas, a conversation with CINELAN, filmmakers and distributors on the power, art and business of short film storytelling at a time when platforms like Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo!, and the New York Times become commercially viable distribution outlets. Panelists include CINELAN co-founder and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker Annie Sundberg, Jason Spingarn-Koff of the New York Times Op-Docs series, and others. Moderated by the Director of Film and Video at TED, Jason Wishnow.

    Does the Cloud have a Silver (Screen) Lining, sponsored by SAP, a conversation examining the best model for independent films to reach audiences and make money out of new distribution opportunities in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Panelists include Executive Vice President and CMO at Time Warner Cable Jeffrey A. Hirsch and filmmakers for a discussion about navigating today’s digital marketplace. Moderated by Senior Vice President of Media and Entertainment at SAP Richard Whittington.

    New Filmmakers on Film, sponsored by Panavision, a discussion about Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program, which provides grants to artists that gives them the opportunity to shoot on film, instead of turning to digital technology. Panelists include Una Noche director Lucy Mulloy, Kodak’s US Account Manager of Features and Post-Production Bob Mastronardi, cinematographer Guy Godfree, and other film artists as they discuss the program and new opportunities for emerging talent. Moderated by Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program Manager, Mike Dallatorre.

    “Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper hosted by Barnes & Noble” will include:

    Biography on Film, a discussion with writers and filmmakers who create biographical documentaries and must transform life events into film. Panelists include TFF filmmakers Ramona S. Diaz (Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey), Petter Ringbom (The Russian Winter), Andreas Koefoed (Ballroom Dancer), and Daniel A. Miller (Eìvocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie).

    The Pen Versus the Sword, a conversation examining how creative methods can cause social change. Panelists include TFF filmmakers Antonino D’Ambrosio (Let Fury Have the Hour), Raymond De Felitta (Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story), and Stephen Maing (High Tech, Low Life). Moderated by film and culture critic Caryn James.

    Based on the Book, a conversation exploring adapting a book into a film that will examine the elements that best translate from the page to the screen and whether it is possible to create a version of the story that is better than the book. Panelists include TFF filmmakers Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Headshot), Charles Matthau (Freaky Deaky), Donald Rice (Cheerful Weather for the Wedding), and others.

    In addition, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival will include:

    Beyond the Playing Field, sponsored by Time Warner Cable, a conversation exploring the evolution of women’s sports inspired by the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Panelists include director Amy Berg, ESPN Films’ Libby Geist, producer and TFF co-founder Jane Rosenthal, and filmmakers from upcoming ESPN Films. Moderated by ESPN’s Chris Connelly.

    Special Tribeca Talks events:

    100 Years of Universal, available exclusively for American Express Cardmembers, a conversation celebrating 100 years of Universal Pictures. Panelists include Academy Award®-winning actor and TFF co-founder Robert De Niro, Academy Award®-winning actor Meryl Streep, and writer-director-producer Judd Apatow. Moderated by Film Editor for Deadline Hollywood Mike Fleming.

    The world premiere of Knife Fight, a political satire that follows a campaign strategist who struggles to keep his wayward clients in office and out of the press; followed by an extended Q&A about presidential campaigns and how politics are spun with writer/director Bill Guttentag, writer and co-producer Chris Lehane, actor Rob Lowe, and campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Moderated by MSNBC senior political analyst and co-author of Game Change Mark Halperin.

    With Illicit Networks: Portrayals through Film, Tribeca Enterprises and Google Ideas team up for a conversation addressing Hollywood’s portrayals of illicit networks that traffic everything from narcotics and weapons to body parts and human beings. Experts, law enforcement participants, and survivors will use what we learn from film to examine the mysterious and misunderstood world of illicit trafficking. Moderated by Director of Google Ideas Jared Cohen.

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  • Tribeca Film Festival Brings Back its Free Community Events for 2012, Knuckleball to Premiere at FREE Tribeca Drive-In

    [caption id="attachment_2643" align="alignnone" width="550"]Kuckleball[/caption]

    The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) will bring back its signature free community events: the Tribeca Drive-In (April 19-21), Family Festival Street Fair (April 28), Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day (April 28) and the second annual Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day (April 21).

    The ‘classic summer thriller” Jaws, the “swashbuckling adventure-comedy” The Goonies, and the premiere of the baseball documentary Knuckleball! have all been selected to screen at Tribeca Drive-In.

    “Since its inception, the Tribeca Film Festival has strived to give back to the neighborhood and the city with free community events for New Yorkers and visitors of all ages,” said Nancy Schafer, Tribeca Film Festival Executive Director. “We are thrilled to continue the tradition with Festival favorites like the Drive-In, Family Festival Street Fair and Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day, and to challenge our industry colleagues, young athletes and soccer fans with the Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day tournament.”

    The following films will be featured at the Tribeca Drive-In, TFF’s outdoor screening series for film enthusiasts of all ages. The free evening of cinema under the stars is open to the public, and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 6 p.m. The programs will also begin at 6 p.m., with live music at 7 p.m., and screenings starting at dusk (approximately 8:15 p.m.).

    Jaws—Thursday, April 19 Steven Spielberg’s classic returns to the big screen! See the movie that thrilled a generation, launched the summer blockbuster and has become one of the most enduring action-suspense films of all time. Come early to celebrate Universal Studios’ 100th Anniversary with trivia contests, live music from local artists and surprise special guests, courtesy of the upcoming New York Downtown Jazz Festival. Later this year, fans can own Jaws for the first time ever on Blu-rayTM featuring an all-new, fully restored and digitally remastered picture from original 35MM film elements. Fans of John Williams’ iconic score will also love the Blu-ray’sTM Dolby surround 7.1 sound which optimizes the film for the home screening environment.

    With the summer beach season in full swing, a bloodthirsty great white shark begins terrorizing the small island community of Amity. A police chief, a marine biologist, and a grizzled sailor set out to hunt it down… but they’re going to need a bigger boat. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw lead the cast of this groundbreaking Academy Award®-winning thriller. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

    The Goonies—Friday, April 20 Relive the adventure with Mikey, Mouth, Stef, Data, Chunk, and all the unforgettable characters in this beloved classic. Come early to take part in the “truffle shuffle” contest and win prizes in the first-ever Tribeca Treasure Hunt. Live music from afro-jazz pioneers NOMO, courtesy of the upcoming New York Downtown Jazz Festival.

    When their Oregon neighborhood—affectionately dubbed “the Goon Docks”—is threatened by real estate developers, a group of pre-teen friends needs to find enough money to halt the demolition. Lucky for them, they’ve discovered an old treasure map, sparking an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of 17th-century pirate One-Eyed Willie. Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Josh Brolin, and Joe Pantoliano star in the movie that captured a generation’s imagination. Directed by Richard Donner.

    Knuckleball!—Saturday, April 21 Take me out to the ball game! Bring the kids early for live music, giveaways, baseball trivia contests and pitching clinics with pro knuckleballers R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets, Tim Wakefield formerly of the Boston Red Sox, and former New York Yankee Jim Bouton, then see the world premiere of this action-packed TFF documentary about their controversial pitching style.

    This classic sports story recounts the trials and triumphs of two of the best known knuckleball pitchers in the MLB: Tim Wakefield, a Red Sox veteran who recently announced his retirement after 19 years, and R.A. Dickey, an up-and-comer with the Mets looking to make a name for himself. This energetic documentary from Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, the directors of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, deconstructs the controversial and erratic knuckleball style. – World Premiere, Documentary.


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  • Tribeca Film Festival Reveals 2012 Short Film Selections

    [caption id="attachment_2571" align="alignnone" width="550"]Turning a Corner [/caption]

    The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) today revealed its lineup of 60 short films, 26 of which are world premieres.

    For the second year running, the winner of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Best Narrative Short award will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run. The 2011 TFF Narrative Short Pentecost was nominated for Best Live Action Short at this year’s annual Academy Awards®, while last year’s award-winning TFF documentary short Incident in New Baghdad was nominated for Best Documentary Short.

    The year’s lineup includes “Triptych,” a documentary program focusing on art, music and physical beauty, to a decidedly testosterone-heavy edition of our ever-popular New York shorts program (titled “Men-Hattan” this year in honor of its unusually masculine bent), which will include the world premiere of writer-director (and TFF alum) Neil LaBute’s BFF.  Performers and interviewees include Jamie Lee Curtis, Rachel Dratch, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Fassbender, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rachael Harris, Hugh Masekela, Sting, and Lily Tomlin.

    Returning TFF directors joining Neil LaBute include Julia Bacha, Matthew Bonifacio, Shawn Christensen, David Darg, Sasha-Waters Freyer, Martin Laporte, David B. Levy, Charles Lim, Bryn Mooser, Jay Rosenblatt, and Joel Schlemowitz.

    Following is a listing of the selected short films in the nine programs in which they will be presented:

    2012 Tribeca Film Festival Short Film Program

    Men-Hattan – Narrative

    Our New York shorts program takes a decidedly masculine turn in these testosterone-infused tales. In 1964 a young pediatrician begins his residency at Willowbrook, only to discover that the institution’s medical personnel are conducting U.S. Army-funded experiments on the children (based on true events). A poor kid from Brooklyn with college dreams fights the fates for a chance to change his life in Turning a Corner. Each morning Vincent, a down-on-his-luck New Yorker, waits at the B61 bus stop, but when mysterious Sal joins him, an unlikely friendship develops. A conservative Seattle shoe designer travels to New York City for the first time and experiences an unforgettable night in Migraine. Jack and Jill have been “best friends forever,” and when Jill suspects that her boyfriend is cheating on her, Jack offers to help her in BFF. At the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister, asking him to look after his nine-year-old niece Sophia for a few hours in Curfew. A young man suspects the girl he is dating to be hiding a secret after she routinely orders massive amounts of food to go in Doggy Bags.

    Willowbrook · Directed by Ross Cohen, written by Andrew Rothschild · USA · World Premiere

    Turning a Corner · Directed and written by David B. Levy · USA · New York Premiere

    B61 · Directed and written by Michael Buscemi · USA · World Premiere

    Migraine · Directed and written by Matthew Bonifacio · USA · World Premiere

    BFF · Directed and written by Neil LaBute · USA · World Premiere

    Curfew · Directed and written by Shawn Christensen · USA · New York Premiere

    Doggy Bags · Directed and written by Edward Burns · USA · World Premiere



    Character Flaws –Narrative

    These shorts provide a glimpse into self-identity and self-discovery. Yasemin lives in her own world of fantasy with the notes she feels and the sounds she sees, as she spends a day with her mother and grandfather in Time of the Plums. In Donkey, David, a London banker who was the most popular child in class, bumps into Stanley, whom he bullied in high school, resulting in a powerful encounter. The Fourth of July in Los Angeles is always about Fireworks, as two adolescent brothers set out on a quest to impress a group of girls. Once the show begins at this drive-in theater, the concession stand closes for the clerk’s private performance, but tonight his victims seek revenge during Intermission Time. After participating in an execution by lethal injection, a doctor is so overcome by Angst that he decides to find a way out. A 12-year-old boy in a war-torn fishing village in Somalia must decide between falling into the pirate life or rising above to choose the path of an honest fisherman in Asad. Overweight Maori woman Kiri awakens powerful memories when she takes a trip with family and friends to the Whakatiki River, where she spent many summers as a girl. Teacher of the Year is a day in the life of Ethan Collins, a severely depressed, foul-mouthed elementary school teacher whose wife’s recent infidelity and departure have left him questioning everything in his life.

    Time of the Plums (Erik Zamani) · Directed by Sezen Kayhan, written by Sezen Kayhan and Cemil Kavukçu · Turkey · New York Premiere

    Donkey · Directed and written by Keir Burrows · UK · New York Premiere

    Fireworks · Directed by Victor Hugo Duran, written by Kevin James McMullin · USA · World Premiere

    Intermission Time · Directed by Michael Degg · USA · New York Premiere

    Angst (Angustia) · Directed by León Rechy · Mexico · International Premiere

    Asad · Directed and written by Bryan Buckley · USA · World Premiere

    Whakatiki · Directed by Louise Leitch, written by Bernadette Murphy · New Zealand · World Premiere

    Teacher of the Year · Directed by Chris Modoono, written by Chris Modoono and Gil Zabarsky · USA · World Premiere



    Status Update – Narrative

    Life’s surprising twists and turns change the direction of these short films. In Rung, after a cathedral bell ringer passes away, his spot on the bell-ringing choir is up for grabs and two women find themselves in an unlikely competition for the coveted position. A couple’s relationship goes through its first big test in a crowded spot in Café Regular Cairo. GABI is a sassy, sexy, and strong Puerto Rican woman, but an unexpected family death forces her to return to her native homeland, confronting a place she thought she had left behind. When a man brings his eight-year-old son to a soccer game and the ticket price is higher than he expected, he is desperate not to disappoint the boy in Bad Gones. In Screenshot Kate meets an old friend through Facebook and discovers just how unfriendly a place the internet can be. On his way to a statistics conference, John Wilkins is the victim of a freak accident, sucked out of a plane when an emergency door fails mid-flight at 43,000 Feet. Clark and Becca leave a bar after a night out with friends, and when they pass a homeless man on the street Clark gets an idea in Double or Nothing. Liam and Michael are professional safecrackers who meet on a simple job to relieve an office safe of its contents, but there’s a catch—a light-activated alarm system impels the men to embark on a Pitch Black Heist.

    Rung · Directed by Chris Hanratty, written by Mike McPhaden · Canada · International Premiere

    Café Regular Cairo · Directed and written by Ritesh Batra · Egypt, India · North American Premiere

    GABI · Directed and written by Zoeì Salicrup Junco · Puerto Rico · U.S. Premiere

    Bad Gones · Directed and written by Steìphane Demoustier · France · International Premiere

    Screenshot · Directed and written by Cathal Burke · Ireland · New York Premiere

    43,000 Feet · Directed by Campbell Hooper, written by Matthew Harris · New Zealand · World Premiere

    Double or Nothing · Directed by Nathaniel Krause, written by Neil LaBute · USA · World Premiere

    Pitch Black Heist · Directed and written by John Maclean · UK · New York Premiere



    Escape Clause –Narrative

    These shorts ponder personal predicaments and the pursuit of happiness. An Air Force drone pilot operates air strikes in Afghanistan from a base in America, returning each day to his wife and son in suburbia, but when his team makes a lethal mistake, he is forced to face reality beyond the cubicle in Unmanned. Alone in a brightly lit studio, a ballerina recalls her old choreography, leaping and spinning in front of an invisible audience in Prima. Amit and her female life partner Noa have decided to take a crucial step and have a baby, but despite their strong self-confidence, after the baby’s birth neither one of them knows what to do next in Stitches. A French narrator jumps from one dramatic scene to another, confused about the story that he is trying to tell in Voice Over. When Jason and his mother attend a funeral service of someone they have never met, they accidentally wind up leading The Procession. An ordinary suburban mom carefully plans a life-changing trip to Paris, but when her plans go terribly awry, she finds herself alone on the banks of the Seine wondering why the city of dreams cannot magically fill her life with meaning in Picture Paris.

    Unmanned · Directed and written by Casey Cooper Johnson · USA · New York Premiere

    Prima · Directed and written by Miguel Calayan · Philippines · World Premiere

    Stitches (Tfarim) · Directed and written by Adiya Imri Orr · Israel · World Premiere

    Voice Over · Directed by Martin Rosete, written by Luiso Berdejo · Spain · North American Premiere

    The Procession · Directed and written by Robert Festinger · USA · World Premiere

    Picture Paris · Directed and written by Brad Hall · USA · New York Premiere



    Fallout – Narrative

    Decisions and repercussions confront the characters in these short films. Following the tsunami that claimed the lives of his parents, Adirake searches for the white elephant his mother spoke of in this coming-of-age story. After passing the civil service examination Sung-joo returns to her hometown to spend the day with her friend, Shin-hee, who stayed behind, in Chupachups. Taking place in the ex-Yugoslavia of the 1970s, a mother secretly celebrates Easter at home with her children when their father, an army officer and ingrained communist, discovers his family’s clandestine festivities in Easter Eggs. Trotteur is a tale of man versus machine in a duel between a young man and a locomotive. A young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking Foxes is beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world. Following a deadly pandemic that has decimated the world’s population, a father drives his nine-year-old daughter from the west coast of Australia to the safe zone in Transmission. A young Irishman traveling All That Way For Love across the African continent to get to his doctor girlfriend hitches a ride with a nomadic older couple and becomes embroiled in their complicated history.

    Adirake · Directed and written by Tati Barrantes and Andinh Ha · Thailand · International Premiere

    Chupachups · Directed by Ji-suk Kyung · South Korea · North American Premiere

    Easter Eggs · Directed by Slobodan Karajlovic, written by Slobodan Karajlovic and Jelena Svilar · Croatia · New York Premiere

    Trotteur · Directed by Arnaud Brisebois and Francis Leclerc, written by Arnaud Brisebois · Canada · New York Premiere

    Foxes · Directed by Lorcan Finnegan, written by Garret Shanley · Ireland · New York Premiere

    Transmission · Directed and written by Zak Hilditch · Australia · International Premiere

    All That Way For Love · Directed by Henry Mason, written by Thomas Martin · UK · New York Premiere



    Long Story Short – Documentary

    Past, present and future coexist in this program of short docs from here and abroad. A Soviet family searching for a modest paradise is swept into the immense Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, recalled through small episodes as Leonid’s Story. Experience the Egyptian revolution through the eyes of a Bedouin falcon trainer who sees the regime fall from afar and speaks of how falconry and government are similar in A Falcon, A Revolution. Over the course of The New Yorker magazine cartoonists’ weekly lunch, four prominent artists share their styles, inspirations, and creative processes in Every Tuesday: A Portrait of the New Yorker Cartoonists. Ballet shoes are worn by delicate girls, but they’re crafted by burly men whose hands tell another story in The Perfect Fit. For the last 53 years, The Last Ice Merchant Baltazar Ushca has harvested glacial ice from the tallest mountain in Ecuador, prompting this tale of cultural change and indigenous people. A tour of the Oregon State Hospital conducted to uncover the deplorable conditions there uncovers thousands of corroded copper urns containing the cremated remains of unclaimed psychiatric patients in Library of Dust.

    Leonid’s Story (Istoriya Leonida) · Directed and written by Rainer Ludwigs · Germany, Ukraine · New York Premiere

    A Falcon, A Revolution · Directed and written by Md Rezwan Al Islam and Jassim Al Rumaihi · Qatar · North American Premiere

    Every Tuesday: A Portrait of the New Yorker Cartoonists · Directed by Rachel Gordon Loube · USA · World Premiere

    The Perfect Fit · Directed by Tali Yankelevich · Scotland · New York Premiere

    The Last Ice Merchant (El Uìltimo Hielero) · Directed by Sandy Patch · USA · World Premiere

    Library of Dust · Directed by Ondi Timoner and Robert James · USA · New York Premiere



    Help Wanted – Documentary

    Political or personal, these short documentaries address some life-challenging situations. German engineer Jürgen Perthold was intrigued about where his newly adopted stray, Mr. Lee, disappeared to for days on end, so he developed the CatCam to help solve the mystery. Three Mexican immigrants who risk their lives every day rappelling down some of the tallest skyscrapers in Chicago reveal their thoughts about work, mortality, and the people they observe inside the high-rises they clean in Paradise. As the cholera epidemic rages in Haiti and the UN denies responsibility for introducing the disease despite mounting evidence, witness the stories of a young baseball player named Joseph and a Haitian lawyer fighting for victim compensation in Baseball in the Time of Cholera. By vacating the apartment of an elderly building manager we discover the soul of Jean Lewis, a former female Hollywood reporter connected to some of the most renowned stars of her time. Benjaman Kyle was found unconscious outside a Burger King in 2004 without any clothes, identification, or memories, and seven years later no one knows who he is, even the FBI, in Finding Benjaman. Mohammed El Kurd is a Palestinian teenager growing up in the heart of East Jerusalem, but when his family is forced to give up a part of their home to Israeli settlers, local residents begin peaceful protests and in a surprising turn, are quickly joined by scores of Israeli supporters in My Neighbourhood.

    CatCam · Directed by Seth Keal · USA · New York Premiere

    Paradise (Paraíso) · Directed by Nadav Kurtz · USA · New York Premiere

    Baseball in the Time of Cholera · Directed by David Darg and Bryn Mooser · Haiti · World Premiere

    Jean Lewis · Directed by Pascui Rivas · USA · New York Premiere

    Finding Benjaman · Directed and written by John Wikstrom · USA · New York Premiere

    My Neighbourhood · Directed by Julia Bacha, Rebekah Wingert-Jabi, written by Rebekah Wingert-Jabi · USA, Israel, Palestine · World Premiere



    Triptych – Documentary

    This trio of short documentaries delves into art, music, and physical beauty. Dreamscapes looks behind and beyond the canvas of artist Stephen Hannock, following him from his Newcastle opening to the canals of Venice and the streets of New York. Alekesam is the story of Hugh Masekela, an international jazz icon and apartheid activist who was exiled from his homeland South Africa for 30 years, and his son Selema, who attempts to embrace the roots of his identity through music and reconnect with his father. Beauty Culture investigates our obsession with beauty and the influence of photographic representations on female body image and the persistent “beauty contest” of daily life.

    Dreamscapes · Directed by Wolfram Hissen · USA, France · World Premiere

    Alekesam · Directed by Jason Bergh, written by Jason Bergh and Kevin Barth · USA · World Premiere

    Beauty Culture · Directed by Lauren Greenfield · USA · World Premiere


    Journeys Across Cultural Landscapes – Experimental

    Spanning creative journeys across four continents. The assembled filmmakers invoke diverse cultural landscapes, suggesting a collective struggle of humanity between apocalyptic visions of the past, present, and future, and the redemptive power of the human spirit. Cinematic techniques comprising found footage imagery, historic audio recordings, still photography, animation, collage, Super 8mm (celluloid) filmmaking, and digital cinematography comprise the rich visual and audio landscapes of these films, all made by talented artists, ranging from emerging student voices to experienced filmmakers returning to TFF.

    An Incomplete History of the Travelogue, 1925 · Directed and written by Sasha Waters Freyer · USA · New York Premiere

    Scenes From a Visit to Japan · Directed by Joel Schlemowitz · USA, Japan · World Premiere

    The Valley · Directed and written by Leif Huron · USA · World Premiere

    Sinews of Peace · Directed and written by Timo Franc · UK · World Premiere

    Barcelona · Directed by Martin Laporte · Canada · World Premiere

    Democratic Locations · Directed and written by Thomas Kutschker · Germany · World Premiere

    Abyss of Man’s Conscience (ReconoceR) · Directed by Juan Camilo Gonzaìlez · Colombia, USA · New York Premiere

    Inquire Within · Directed by Jay Rosenblatt · USA · North American Premiere

    All the Lines Flow Out · Directed by Charles Lim · Singapore · North American Premiere

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  • 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Film Selected For Spotlight, Cinemania Sections And Special Screenings

    [caption id="attachment_2548" align="alignnone" width="550"]2 Days in New York, directed and written by Julie Delpy.[/caption]

    The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) today announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight and Cinemania sections, as well as Special Screenings and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival lineup. The 11th edition of the Festival will take place from April 18 to April 29 in New York City.

    The Spotlight section screens 34 films, 22 narratives and 12 documentaries, and the Cinemania section features seven “thrilling narrative films.”

    The sixth annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Benji, directed by the duo Coodie and Chike. The documentary looks back at the story of a teenage basketball phenom in 1980s Chicago whose ascension to the upper echelon of the sport tragically ended when he was senselessly murdered.

    The complete list of films selected for Spotlight, Cinemania, and Special Screenings follow, as well as the titles in the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival:

    SPOTLIGHT

    2 Days in New York, directed and written by Julie Delpy. (France) – New York Premiere, Narrative. This deliriously witty follow-up to 2 Days in Paris finds Marion (writer/director Julie Delpy) living a comfortable life in New York with her latest hipster boyfriend, Mingus (Chris Rock, brilliantly playing it straight), and their two young kids from prior relationships. A riotous comedy of cultural errors ensues when Marion’s totally unhinged, gleefully unfiltered family arrives from Paris to meet Mingus for the first time. In English, French with subtitles. A Magnolia Pictures release.

    Any Day Now, directed by Travis Fine, written by Travis Fine and George Arthur Bloom. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. In the late 1970s, when a mentally handicapped teenager is abandoned, a gay couple takes him in and becomes the family he’s never had. But once the unconventional living arrangement is discovered by authorities, the men must fight a biased legal system to adopt the child they have come to love as their own. Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt star in TFF alum Travis Fine’s (The Space Between) touching and occasionally incendiary drama.

    As Luck Would Have It (La Chispa de la Vida), directed by Alex de la Iglesia, written by Randy Feldman. (Spain) – North American Premiere, Narrative. The economy has kept Roberto (José Mota) out of work for a long time. When a freak accident puts him at the center of a media frenzy, the enterprising ad exec hires a snaky agent to help him cash in on his life-or-death situation. It’s up to Roberto’s adoring wife (the vivacious Salma Hayek) to convince him he’s worth more alive than dead. Cult director Alex de la Iglesia takes a fresh new step, combining a darkly comic satire with an emotional drama of a family’s love. In Spanish with subtitles.

    BAM150, directed by Michael Sládek (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Go behind the scenes like never before at BAM, the nation’s oldest performing arts center. Featuring footage of recent BAM performances, interviews with groundbreaking artists like Laurie Anderson and Robert Wilson, and the fascinating history of the creative home to such greats as Pina Bausch, Peter Brook, and Merce Cunningham, TFF alum Michael Sládek’s (Con Artist) doc shows that BAM’s 150 years were not always easy, but are a testament to the power and stamina of the institution that launched Brooklyn as a cultural mecca.

    A Better Life (Une Vie Meilleure), directed by Ceìdric Kahn, written by Ceìdric Kahn and Catherine Pailleì. (France, Canada) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Passionately in love from the moment they meet, idealistic chef Yann and single mother Nadia share big dreams for their future. Life gets complicated when they impulsively buy a secluded restaurant in the woods and take on risky loans, testing the strength of their relationship. Fiercely gritty in its romanticism, this is a story of the lengths one will go for the chance at a better life. In French, English with subtitles.

    Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story, directed by Raymond De Felitta. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. While filming a documentary on racism in Mississippi in 1965, Frank De Felitta forever changed the life of an African-American waiter and his family. More than 40 years later, Frank’s son Raymond (director of City Island) returns to the site of his father’s film to examine the repercussions of their fateful encounter. This intensely personal film about the struggle to understand one’s parents is also a heartbreaking portrait of the legacy of intolerance.

    Broke, directed by Billy Corben. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. More money, more problems. Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders, saddled with medical issues, and naturally prone to showing off, most pro athletes end up broke within a few years of retirement. Drawing surprisingly vulnerable confessions from retired stars like Marvin Miller, Jamal Mashburn, Bernie Kosar, and Andre Rison, this fascinating documentary digs into the psychology of men whose competitive nature carries them to victory on the field and ruin off it.

    Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, directed by Donald Rice, written by Donald Rice and Mary Henely Magill. (UK) – World Premiere, Narrative. On the morning of her wedding, Dolly (Felicity Jones) is hiding out and dreaming of the idyllic summer before, helped along by a jug of rum. Her scatterbrained mother (Elizabeth McGovern) has perfected all the arrangements, but even she can’t prepare everyone for the arrival of Dolly’s unpredictable best friend, Joseph (Luke Treadaway). Lighthearted humor and a steamy romance add the perfect touch to a dysfunctional wedding whose key players seem anything but cheerful.

    Chicken With Plums (Poulet Aux Prunes), directed and written by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. (France, Germany, Belgium) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Nasser Ali Khan (Mathieu Amalric) is the most celebrated violin player in 1950s Tehran, but his heart is broken. His true love is long lost, his marriage is passionless, and now his most precious instrument has met its demise. Convinced life without music is intolerable, he resigns to bed and loses himself in reveries from his youth. The Oscar®-nominated directors of Persepolis make magic again with a stylish fairy tale full of humor, whimsy, and melancholy. In French with subtitles. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

    Deadfall, directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, written by Zach Dean. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. In the wintry countryside near Canada, a smooth-talking heist man and his femme fatale sister are on the run with a bag full of cash. With a deadly blizzard swirling around them, they split up to make a desperate dash for the border, but a twist of fate puts them on a collision course with a troubled ex-con and his family. Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Sissy Spacek, and Kris Kristofferson highlight the ace cast in this icy thriller. A Magnolia Pictures release.

    Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey, directed by Ramona Diaz. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. It sounds like a dream: A charismatic Filipino singer from the slums of Manila posts videos of his cover band to YouTube, and soon he’s fronting an iconic rock band. Sounds crazy, but it’s the real-life rock-and-roll fairy tale that Arnel Pineda is living as the new lead singer of Journey. The pressure’s on Pineda as this rockin’ doc follows Journey’s dizzying world tour—can a man who has already overcome so many obstacles deal with the demands of his newfound fame? In English, Tagalog with subtitles.

    Elles, directed by Malgoska Szumowska, written by Tine Byrckel and Malgoska Szumowska. (France, Poland, Germany) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Juliette Binoche, exquisite and involved as always, stars in this sophisticated, sexually charged drama as Anne, a journalist getting in too deep with the research for her article on college students working as prostitutes. As the surprising stories of her two candid subjects stir up Anne’s image of femininity, she wonders if life with her workaholic husband and two spacey sons is all that different from her subjects’ lives. A Kino Lorber release.

    Eìvocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, directed by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger, written by Daniel A. Miller. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Long before the days of Jersey Shore or Glenn Beck, there was one man who gleefully gave those on the fringes of the society a national mouthpiece. Witness Morton Downey Jr.’s meteoric rise and fall as the original shock television emcee, and check your sense of decorum at the door. Here we learn about the man behind the mouth, and how the pursuit of fame and fortune over the airwaves can ultimately destroy your soul.

    Free Samples, directed by Jay Gammill, written by Jim Beggarly. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Jillian is having a bad day. She’s got a raging hangover, she’s starting to think dropping out of Stanford Law to become an artist wasn’t the best career move, and things are weird with her faraway fiancé. Can spending the day parked in an ice cream truck doling out samples—and a good dose of sass—to oddball Angelenos shake her out of her quarter-life crisis? Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jason Ritter star in this quirky comedy.

    The Giant Mechanical Man, directed and written by Lee Kirk. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Thirtysomethings Janice (Jenna Fischer) and Tim (Chris Messina) haven’t quite learned how to navigate adulthood. Tim is a street performer whose unique talents as a “living statue” don’t exactly pay the bills. Janice is out of work and under pressure by her sister (Malin Akerman) to date an egotistical self-help guru (Topher Grace). In this charming comedic romance, these two strangers help each other to realize that it only takes one person to make you feel important. A Tribeca Film release.

    Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah), directed and written by Pen-ek Ratanaruang. (Thailand, France) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. A return to the crime genre for celebrated Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang (6ixtynin9, Last Life in the Universe), Headshot is a noir-laced thriller centered on Tul, a hit man who is shot in the head and wakes up to find that he sees everything upside down. Working backwards (and often upside down) to tell a brooding and convoluted tale of underworld double dealings, this is an unexpected and artful take on the action thriller from a genre master. In Thai with subtitles. A Kino Lorber release.

    Hysteria, directed by Tanya Wexler, written by Jonah Lisa Dyer and Stephen Dyer. (USA, UK, Luxembourg, France) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Set in 19th-century London at the peak of Victorian prudishness, this racy romantic comedy tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator. A progressive young doctor (Hugh Dancy, Adam) has his hands full relieving the city’s affluent society women of their melancholy, until an accidental discovery electrifies their lives forever—and sends sparks flying between him and a feminist rabble-rouser (Maggie Gyllenhaal). A Sony Pictures Classics release.

    Keep the Lights On, directed by Ira Sachs, written by Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias. (USA) – New York Premiere, Narrative. For Erik and Paul, what begins as a meaningless late-night hookup evolves into a serious, committed relationship. Acclaimed director Ira Sachs offers an honest, unflinching portrait of a relationship that is by equal measure loving and destructive. Uncompromising in its depiction of drug addiction and the sacrifices we make for the ones we love, Sachs’ film is a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful look at the way love changes over time.

    Knuckleball!, directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, written by Christine Schomer, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. This classic sports story recounts the trials and triumphs of two of the best known knuckleball pitchers currently playing in the MLB: Tim Wakefield, a Red Sox veteran struggling to clinch his 200th career win, and R.A. Dickey, an up-and-comer with the Mets looking to make a name for himself. This energetic documentary from the directors of Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work deconstructs the controversial and erratic knuckleball style.

    Let Fury Have the Hour, directed and written by Antonino D’Ambrosio. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. A generation of artists used their creativity as a response to the reactionary politics that came to define our culture in the 1980s. This dynamic and exhilarating documentary brings together more than 50 big-name musicians, writers, artists, and thinkers to trace a momentous social history from the cynical heyday of Reagan and Thatcher to today—and impart a message of hope. Featuring Chuck D, John Sayles, Eve Ensler, Tom Morello, Lewis Black, and many others.

    Lola Versus, directed by Daryl Wein, written by Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Greta Gerwig stars as Lola, a New Yorker who gets dumped by her fiancé mere weeks before their wedding. With the help of her close friends Henry (Hamish Linklater) and Alice (Zoe Lister-Jones), Lola embarks on a series of unexpected encounters in an attempt to find her place in the world as a single woman approaching 30. Daryl Wein (Breaking Upwards) infuses this story of the post-breakup spiral with humor and authenticity. A Fox Searchlight Pictures release.

    Mansome, directed by Morgan Spurlock, written by Jeremy Chilnick and Morgan Spurlock. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. In the age of manscaping, metrosexuals, and grooming products galore—what does it mean to be a man? Oscar® nominee Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and executive producers Ben Silverman, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman present a delightfully entertaining doc featuring candid interviews from Arnett, Bateman, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, and everyday people weighing in on everything from the obsession with facial hair to body dysmorphic disorder.

    One Nation Under Dog, directed by Jenny Carchman, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Amanda Micheli. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. This heartfelt documentary explores people’s conflicted relationships with dogs and inspires us to rethink how we treat them. From a man who spends a fortune to defend his dogs in court, to a woman who can’t turn away a stray, to pet loss support groups to rescuers who take on difficult-to-place dogs and save them from death row, this is a film about love, loss, betrayal, and hope.

    The Playroom, directed by Julia Dyer, written by Gretchen Dyer. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. In 1970s suburbia, Maggie and her younger siblings spend the night telling each other stories in the attic. Downstairs, as their parents entertain guests over the course of a gin-soaked evening, truths are unearthed and betrayals come to light. With standout performances from John Hawkes, Molly Parker, and a cast of talented young actors, Julia Dyer’s second feature is an honest and challenging look at the reality behind the façade of a seemingly perfect American family.

    Polisse, directed by Maïwenn, written by Maïwenn and Emmanuelle Bercot. (France) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Confronting abusive parents, child molesters, traumatized kids, and oversexed teens is all part of the daily grind for the motley band of cops in the Juvenile Protection Unit, but so is chatting about their relationships at lunch and laughing uncontrollably. Grounded in documentary research and naturalistic performances, this unforgettable film from TFF alum Maïwenn (All About Actresses) explores the solidarity that helps hardened vice cops face the worst of society every day. In French, Italian, Romanian, Arabic with subtitles. An IFC Films release.

    The Russian Winter, directed by Petter Ringbom. (Russia) – World Premiere, Documentary. Brooklyn-born John Forté was a Grammy-nominated musician in The Fugees at 21 and a federal prison inmate at 26. When his prison sentence was remarkably commuted in 2008, Forté was given a second chance to share his talents with the world. Chronicling his concert tour across Russia, this inspirational documentary takes us on Forté’s personal journey—one that’s as much about having his voice heard as having his music heard. In English, Russian with subtitles.

    [caption id="attachment_2288" align="alignnone"]Searching for Sugar Man, directed and written by Malik Bendjelloul.[/caption]

    Searching for Sugar Man, directed and written by Malik Bendjelloul. (Sweden, UK) – New York Premiere, Documentary. Rodriguez was the greatest ’70s rock icon who never was. Despite critical praise, his albums bombed in the U.S., and he faded into obscurity among rumors of a gruesome death. But when a bootleg copy of his antiestablishment rock made its way to apartheid South Africa, he was an instant hit. Years later, two intrepid fans investigate whatever happened to the mysterious rocker, setting off a wild chain of events that has to be seen to be believed. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

    Side by Side, directed and written by Chris Kenneally. (USA) – North American Premiere, Documentary. Over the past two decades, digital technology has created a groundbreaking evolution in cinema, challenging film as the standard format for motion pictures. Through interviews with masters like Danny Boyle, James Cameron, David Fincher, George Lucas, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Lars Von Trier, and many more, producer Keanu Reeves takes us on a tour of the past and future of the moviemaking process in this in-depth documentary. A Tribeca Film release.

    Struck By Lightning, directed by Brian Dannelly, written by Chris Colfer. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Even being killed by a bolt of lightning won’t keep Carson Phillips quiet. A hyper-ambitious and outspoken high school senior in a small-minded town, Carson (Glee’s Chris Colfer) narrates his own funeral and the last few weeks of his life through a series of sarcastic flashbacks in this upbeat and energetic comedy from Saved! director Brian Dannelly. With Allison Janney, Dermot Mulroney, and Drive’s Christina Hendricks.

    Take This Waltz, directed and written by Sarah Polley. (Canada) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Margot (Michelle Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen) are happily married. Their life is thrown out of order when Margot falls for another man and is forced to choose between the comfort of the familiar and the excitement of the unknown. Writer-director Sarah Polley’s follow-up to her acclaimed film Away From Here is a quirky, uncommonly heartfelt look at the evolving nature of love and the difficulty of sustaining a relationship over time. A Magnolia Pictures release.

    Trishna, directed and written by Michael Winterbottom. (UK) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Again proving his endless versatility in his fifth film at Tribeca, prolific director Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo, last year’s The Trip) adapts Thomas Hardy’s classic Victorian melodrama Tess of the d’Urbervilles to all the beauty and blight of contemporary India, where the budding love between a peasant woman and the son of a wealthy Englishman is strained by old prejudices and class divides. The radiant Freida Pinto stars. In English, Hindi with subtitles. An IFC Films release.

    Whole Lotta Sole, directed by Terry George, written by Terry George and Thomas Gallagher. (UK) – World Premiere, Narrative. In a rowdy little corner of Belfast, hapless young father Jimbo tries to protect his family from the gangster he’s in debt to by robbing the local fish market… which turns out to be a front for the same gangster! On the run, Jimbo holes up in a local antique shop run by a long-lost man from his past. A colorful cast of character actors and a strong turn from Brendan Fraser light up this madcap Irish crime comedy from Terry George (Hotel Rwanda).

    Xingu, directed by Cao Hamburger, written by Helena Soarez, Cao Hamburger, and Anna Muylaert. (Brazil) – North American Premiere, Narrative. Brazil, 1943. Three brothers on an expedition into the feral center of the country encounter a village of Xingu Indians. Allured by the rich indigenous culture, the brothers take a bold stand against corrupt national forces and make protecting the Xingu their lives’ work. With wild, breathtaking visuals and atmospheric music, TFF alum Cao Hamburger conveys a distinct vision of Brazil while finding a universally resonant message in his protagonists’ revolutionary vision. In Portuguese with subtitles.

    Your Sister’s Sister, directed and written by Lynn Shelton. (USA) – New York Premiere, Narrative. Jack (Mark Duplass) hasn’t recovered from his brother’s death. His best friend—and late brother’s ex—Iris (Emily Blunt) sends him to her family’s isolated cabin for some quiet reflection, but complications, rivalries, and surprising revelations arise when both Iris and her heartbroken sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) end up at the cabin as well. Lynn Shelton’s long-awaited follow-up to Humpday heralds a graceful maturation of the reliably against-the-grain filmmaker. An IFC Films release.


    CINEMANIA

    Eddie – The Sleepwalking Cannibal, directed and written by Boris Rodriguez. (Canada, Denmark) – North American Premiere, Narrative. Onetime art star Lars Olafssen is all washed up. Unable to paint without inspiration, he accepts a teaching stint at a small-time art school in podunk Koda Lake, Canada, and along with it the guardianship of the offbeat town’s neighborhood weirdo, Eddie. As their unlikely friendship evolves, Lars uncovers a dark and violent secret about Eddie’s nocturnal impulses, and finds himself torn between his duty to his friend and his duty to his art.

    Graceland, directed and written by Ron Morales. (Philippines, USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Family man Marlon Villar is the longtime chauffeur of prominent politician Manuel Chango. While he and his daughter accompany his boss’ preteen daughter home, Marlon is ambushed and the wrong girl is kidnapped. Suddenly the unassuming driver is propelled into a horrifying downward spiral and, as events in his life unravel, Marlon, Chango, and their families become entangled in a game of deceit and betrayal that will leave no one innocent. In Tagalog with subtitles.

    Jackpot (Arme Riddere), directed by Magnus Martens, written by Jo Nesbø. (Norway) – International Premiere, Narrative. Terrified, bloodied, and gripping a shotgun, Oscar Svendsen wakes up in what used to be a respectable strip joint, surrounded by eight corpses and with a gun pointed at him by a detective with the National Criminal Investigation Service. Naturally, Oscar is taken into custody, and during his interrogation a bloody and darkly comic story of betrayal, murder, and lottery winnings emerges—but is this the whole story? In Norwegian with subtitles.

    Rat King, directed and written by Petri Kotwica. (Finland) – International Premiere, Narrative. Eighteen-year-old Juri spends his days absorbed in his computer gaming world, to the exclusion of school, friends, and ultimately his exasperated girlfriend. When his internet ally Niki turns up at his door fearing for his life because of a mysterious new online game, Juri eagerly follows him down the rabbit hole. In this taut, violent thriller, the lines between reality and the game blur as Juri and Niki are drawn into its increasingly morbid world. In Finnish with subtitles.

    Replicas, directed by Jeremy Regimbal, written by Josh Close. (Canada) – World Premiere, Narrative. Following the tragic death of their young daughter, the Hughes family decide to escape to their upscale vacation home in the woods. But their attempt to get some quality time together is violently interrupted when a neighboring family with a hidden agenda drops by for dinner. First-time director Jeremy Regimbal builds tension to a calculated and ultimately brutal crescendo in this home-invasion thriller. Starring Selma Blair, Joshua Close, James D’Arcy, and Rachel Miner.

    Revenge for Jolly!, directed by Chadd Harbold, written by Brian Petsos. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Harry (Brian Petsos) will stop at nothing to avenge the death of his beloved dog, Jolly. He and his demented cousin Cecil (Oscar Isaac) follow a series of clues in a frenzied attempt to track down the dog’s murderer, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Elijah Wood, Kristen Wiig, Adam Brody, Ryan Phillippe, Gillian Jacobs, Bobby Moynihan, Kevin Corrigan, David Rasche, Amy Siemetz, and Garret Dillahunt all stand between Harry and revenge for Jolly.

    Sleepless Night (Nuit Blanche), directed by Frederic Jardin, written by Frederic Jardin and Nicolas Saada. (France, Belgium, Luxembourg) – New York Premiere, Narrative. Vincent is a dedicated police officer, or so it seems. After he steals a massive bag of cocaine, his young son winds up being held for ransom by the mob boss it belongs to. When Vincent travels to the outskirts of Paris to trade the drugs for his son, he gets caught in an intense cat-and-mouse game that quickly spirals out of control. This night might not only be the longest of his life—it could be the last. A Tribeca Film release.

     

    SPECIAL SCREENINGS

    Joe Papp in Five Acts, directed by Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen. (USA) – World Premiere. In Joe Papp’s eyes, art is for everyone, not just a privileged few. This is the story of this indomitable, street-wise champion of the arts who brought more theater to more people than any other producer in history. Co-produced with American Masters and featuring Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones, and more, this documentary lets Papp’s great accomplishments and tumultuous personal history be revealed by the artists he helped create—and sometimes tried to destroy.

    Queen: Days Of Our Lives, directed by Matt O’Casey. (UK) – Documentary. Relive the triumphant legacy of Queen in this comprehensive documentary of the band’s career from the late 1960s to today. Packed full of rare archival footage of the band hashing out their signature overdub sound in the recording studio, mind-blowing live performances, and Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon’s candid reflections on their career and the last days of Freddie Mercury, Queen: Days Of Our Lives is any fan’s dream.

    The Zen of Bennett, conceived, created, and produced by Danny Bennett, produced by Jennifer Lebeau, directed by Unjoo Moon. (USA) – World Premiere. At 85, not only does Tony Bennett still have the smoothest pipes in the music business, he’s got the kind of philosophy that has made him one of the most beloved and respected performers of the last six decades. Made with as much class and refinement as Tony himself, this is an insider’s look at the icon as he records his latest duets collection with stars like Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, and—bittersweetly—Amy Winehouse.

    2012 Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival

    Benji, directed by Coodie and Chike. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. In 1984, 17-year-old Ben Wilson was a symbol of everything promising about Chicago: a sweet-natured youngster from the city’s fabled South Side, and America’s top high school basketball prospect. His senseless murder on the day before his senior season devastated the city of Chicago and sent ripples of anguish nationwide. A stirring portrait of a phenom admired both on the court and off, Benji tells the story of a legend who might’ve been.

    The following Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival titles have been announced in their respective sections as part of the 2012 TFF film program:

    Broke, directed by Billy Corben. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.

    Knuckleball!, directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, written by Christine Schomer, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.

    On The Mat, directed and written by Fredric Golding. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.

    Town of Runners, directed by Jerry Rothwell. (UK) – World Premiere, Documentary.



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  • 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Announces World Narrative And Documentary Competition Selections Plus Out-Of-Competition Viewpoints Titles

    [caption id="attachment_1874" align="alignnone"]Planet of Snail, directed by Seung-Jun Yi[/caption]

    The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) today announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with selections for the out-of-competition Viewpoints section—the program established last year that highlights personal stories in international and independent cinema. Forty-six of the 90 feature-length films were announced. The 11th edition of the Festival will take place from April 18 to April 29 at locations around New York City.

    WORLD NARRATIVE AND DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION, AND VIEWPOINTS
    World Narrative and Documentary Competition
    This year, 12 narrative and 12 documentary features making their North American, International, or World Premieres will compete for combined cash prizes amounting to $180,000 and donated artwork from the Artists Awards program sponsored by Chanel, featuring renowned artists including Cindy Sherman, JR, Kara Walker and Stanley Whitney.
    The complete list of films selected for the World Narrative Feature and World Documentary Competition is as follows:

    World Narrative Feature Competition
    Of the 12 films in Tribeca’s 2012 World Narrative Competition, half are international productions and half American. Though the balance is less a product of design than serendipity, it amply reflects the Tribeca Film Festival’s commitment to fostering dialogue between the global filmmaking community and U.S. audiences and auteurs. Borders figure prominently in this year’s slate—zealously patrolled by some characters and surreptitiously crossed by others—from the Unites States’ desert border with Mexico (The Girl) and ocean gulf from Cuba (Una Noche), to the ancestral lines separating a Turkish family’s feudal farmland from nearby nomadic peoples (Beyond the Hill). Films centering on specific geographic divisions are complemented by the ultimate universal theme of romantic connection, from the dizzying rush of first love (Jack and Diane) through a second chance at reuniting with an old flame (All In) to a woman whose life is rejuvenated by an unexpected relationship with a younger man (While We Were Here). The program is rounded out by a pair of claustrophobic character studies seamlessly incorporating elements of genre (Nancy, Please; First Winter) and a sunny portrait of the visitors coming to and from an Indonesian zoo (Postcards From the Zoo). Films in this section compete for the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, Best New Narrative Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

    All In (La Suerte En Tus Manos), directed by Daniel Burman, written by Daniel Burman and Sergio Dubcovsky. (Argentina) – International Premiere. Professional poker player Uriel has been on a real hot streak—with the ladies—since his marriage fizzled out. But in between growing his online gambling business and helping to raise his kids, Uriel has rediscovered his old pre-marriage flame, Gloria…. Starring the great Valeria Bertuccelli (XXY) and Oscar®-winning songwriter Jorge Drexler, this romantic comedy from Daniel Burman (Lost Embrace) unfolds in the acclaimed director’s signature style: poignant, natural, and bitingly funny. In Spanish with subtitles.

    Beyond the Hill (Tepenin Ardi), directed and written by Emin Alper. (Turkey, Greece) – North American Premiere. Faik, a proud old forester, is having trouble with nomads grazing their livestock on his land. For revenge, he and his hulking farm hand Mehmet snatch a goat to butcher for a family holiday, unwittingly sparking a dire blood feud. Debuting Turkish director Emin Alper creates an atmosphere of skin-crawling terror in this psychological drama by withholding, not showing, the escalating acts of violence that hurtle these feuding farmers toward a shocking confrontation. In Turkish with subtitles.

    First Winter, directed and written by Benjamin Dickinson. (USA) – World Premiere. In this extraordinary debut feature, a blackout of apocalyptic proportions strands a group of Brooklyn hipsters in a remote country farmhouse with no heat and no electricity during the coldest winter on record. At first, it’s all sex and drugs and acoustic guitars. But as the days go on and the food supply dwindles, struggles of power, jealousy, and desire threaten the group’s ability to work together in order to survive.

    The Girl, directed and written by David Riker. (USA, Mexico) – World Premiere. From the director of La Ciudad comes this moving drama about a single mother (Abbie Cornish) caught in emotional quicksand after losing her job and custody of her son. Desperate to earn cash for her custody battle, she makes the daring choice to help smuggle illegal immigrants over the border. A deep connection to a young Mexican girl will take her on a life-changing journey and force her to confront her past. In English, Spanish with subtitles.

    Jack and Diane, directed and written by Bradley Rust Gray. (USA) – World Premiere. Tomboy Jack and bubbly Diane fall head over heels in love one hot summer in New York City. When Diane reveals she must leave the city for school in Europe, their budding love is tested. Weaving horror elements into a distinctive and fresh yet timeless and universal first-love story, TFF alum Bradley Rust Gray (The Exploding Girl) brings his unique vision to this idiosyncratic story of the joys and terrors of first love. A Magnolia Pictures release.

    Nancy, Please, directed by Andrew Semans, written by Will Heinrich and Andrew Semans. (USA) – World Premiere. Paul’s life is good. He has a gig teaching literature at Yale, and he just moved in with his longtime girlfriend, finally shedding his casually sinister roommate, Nancy. There’s just one thing. Paul left an item of great importance at his old apartment, and Nancy doesn’t want to give it back.… Paul’s life is about to unravel. Debuting director Andrew Semans skillfully orchestrates a minor annoyance into an all-consuming obsession in this smart, stunning psychodrama.

    Postcards From the Zoo (Kebun Binatang), directed by Edwin, written by Edwin, Daud Sumolang, and Titien Wattimena. (Indonesia) – North American Premiere. Acclaimed Chinese-Indonesian director Edwin (Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly) returns with a gorgeous, dreamlike fairy tale set inside Jakarta’s wondrous Ragunan Zoo. Abandoned in the zoo as a little girl and raised among the wild menagerie, Lana finally embarks outside the peculiar confines she has always known—and into the seedier side of Jakarta—when she falls in love with a charming magician. In Indonesian with subtitles.

    Una Noche, directed and written by Lucy Mulloy. (UK, Cuba, USA) – North American Premiere. Fed up with catering to the privileged tourist class, Cuban teens Raul and Elio are tantalized by the promise of a new life in Miami. Accused of assaulting a foreigner, Raul has no choice but to flee, but Elio must decide whether his own escape is worth abandoning his beloved sister. Brimming with the nervous energy of Havana’s restless youth and evocative cinematography of the sun-bleached capital, Una Noche follows one sweltering day, full of hope and fraught with tensions, that burns to a shocking climax. In Spanish with subtitles.

    Unit 7 (Grupo 7), directed by Alberto Rodriguez, written by Rafael Cobos and Alberto Rodriguez. (Spain) – International Premiere. Unit 7 is a semi-official police detail with a seemingly impossible mission: kick Seville’s most vicious drug trafficking ring out of town ahead of a major international expo. By any means necessary. As they slip outside the bounds of the law in the name of duty, two officers fueled by violence, lies, and ambition end up on opposing paths. Spanish superstar Mario Casas (Neon Flesh) stars in this adrenaline-pumping action thriller. In Spanish with subtitles.

    War Witch (Rebelle), directed and written by Kim Nguyen. (Canada) – North American Premiere, Narrative. At 14, Komona has lived through horrors that eclipse any adult’s worst nightmares. In this mesmerizing, otherworldly drama, shot entirely in the Congo, she confides to the baby growing inside of her the harrowing story of her life since rebel warlords stormed her village. Fortified by eerily mystical powers and the warming friendship of an albino boy, the sensitive girl battles through this dire, war-ravaged world enchained as a child soldier. In French, Lingala with subtitles.

    While We Were Here, directed and written by Kat Coiro. (USA) – World Premiere. Jane (Kate Bosworth) and her English husband travel to Naples hoping to reinvigorate their silently disintegrating marriage and escape a personal tragedy that hangs heavily between them. When Jane, facing writer’s block, takes a day trip to a beautiful island off the coast, she meets a young American man living a hermetic life on the island. As the two embark on an unlikely emotional affair, Jane faces some drastic changes in her life.

    Yossi (Ha-Sippur Shel Yossi), directed by Eytan Fox, written by Itay Segal. (Israel) – World Premiere. Returning to the role that won him TFF’s Best Actor award in Eytan Fox’s Yossi & Jagger in 2003, Ohad Knoller is extraordinary as Yossi, a closeted gay man living a solitary existence in Tel Aviv. A chance encounter with a group of soldiers ignites Yossi’s desire to live an open, fulfilling life. Written and directed with uncommon honesty and compassion by Fox, this is a deeply moving film about the power of second chances. In Hebrew with subtitles.

    World Documentary Feature Competition
    The 12 films of this year’s World Documentary Competition cover a wide range of aesthetics in American and international subjects. Beth Murphy’s The List challenges us with the moral obligation of the U.S. government as we pull out of our wars in the Middle East, while Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her weaves the complexity of possibilities for women in India in contrasting conservative and progressive veins. In the more personal documentaries, Denmark’s Christian Bonke and Andreas Koefoed bring us a beautiful, tragic romance in the complicated partnership of Ballroom Dancer, while from South Korea hails Seung-Jun Yi’s Planet of Snail, a tender portrait of an aspiring writer, who is deaf and blind, and his partner. Filmmakers push the documentary form in adventurous ways, from Israel’s Arnon Goldfinger with his mysterious, riveting Holocaust documentary The Flat, to Namir Abdel Messeeh’s The Virgin, the Copts and Me, a heartwarming, offbeat comedy shot in Egypt. Films in this section compete for Best Documentary Feature, Best New Documentary Director, and Best Editing.

    Ballroom Dancer, directed and written by Christian Bonke and Andreas Koefoed. (Denmark) – North American Premiere. In 2000, Slavik Kryklyvyy became the World Latin American Dance Champion. Enduring success seemed assured, but instead Slavik’s career sputtered… until redemption seemed possible with his new partner and lover, Anna. But will Slavik’s unwavering ambition prove toxic to their romance? Subtly depicting the pair’s shifting relationship through gestures, glances, and the dance itself, Ballroom Dancer begins as a comeback story and evolves into a movingly intimate tragic romance. In Russian, English with subtitles.

    Downeast, directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin. (USA) – World Premiere. Gouldsboro, Maine. Hit hard by the closure of the sardine canning factory, its laid-off residents—mostly 70-year-olds—just want to get back to work. So why is Italian immigrant Antonio Bussone having so much trouble getting federal funds to open a new lobster processing plant? Charged with the spirit of a generation that still gives it 110 percent, this poignant and poetic documentary sheds new light on the trying task of putting America back to work.

    Fame High, directed and written by Scott Hamilton Kennedy. (USA) – World Premiere. Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s follow-up to his Oscar®-nominated The Garden captures all the drama, competition, heartbreak, and triumph among a group of struggling students at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. From the nail-biting freshman auditions to the spectacular senior graduation performance, this endearing coming-of-age documentary is a tribute to discovering your passion and deciding whether you have the talent to take it to the next level.

    The Flat (Ha-dira), directed and written by Arnon Goldfinger. (Israel, Germany) – North American Premiere. At age 98, director Arnon Goldfinger’s grandmother passed away, leaving him the task of clearing out the Tel Aviv flat that she and her husband shared since immigrating to Palestine from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. In this emotionally riveting documentary, Goldfinger follows the hints they left behind in a lifetime’s collection of documents to investigate long-buried family secrets and uncover the mystery of his grandparents’ painful past. In Hebrew, German, English with subtitles.

    High Tech, Low Life, directed by Stephen Maing. (USA, China) – World Premiere. With the Chinese government employing 40,000 “internet police,” more than half a million websites are blocked in the country. Local TV stations only publicize “the good news.” The rising tide of censorship has aroused a wave of citizen reporters committed to investigating local news stories and crime scenes. This timely and probing documentary tracks rogue bloggers Zola and Tiger Temple as they risk political persecution to become China’s uncensored eyes and ears. In Mandarin with subtitles.

    The List, directed by Beth Murphy. (USA) – World Premiere. After leading rebuilding teams in war-torn cities in Iraq, Kirk Johnson returned to America to establish and advocate for a growing number of Iraqi citizens now targeted by radical militias because they aided the U.S. in the reconstruction effort. TFF alum Beth Murphy (Beyond Belief) creates an affecting portrait of an unlikely but passionate humanitarian who has championed the cause of Iraqi refugees largely ignored by the U.S. government. In English, Arabic with subtitles.

    Off Label, directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher. (USA) – World Premiere. The term “off-label” refers to the use of pharmaceuticals in any way counter to their prescribed dosage and function. Weaving together the powerful, personal stories of misdiagnosed patients, professional guinea pigs, recreational drug users, and soldiers struggling with PTSD, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher (October Country) expose the breadth of off-label drug use and take us on an emotional road trip through an overmedicated, misdiagnosed, and drug-addled America.

    Planet of Snail, directed by Seung-Jun Yi. (South Korea) – North American Premiere. Deaf and blind, Young-Chan lives in a quiet, isolated world in his small apartment. But when Soon-Ho, an empathetic woman compromised by a spinal disability, comes into his life, a unique love story begins. Poetic and gently paced, Planet of Snail brings to life the sensual world shared by this special couple, and illustrates that the greatest beauty can be found in the smallest and most unlikely love stories. In Korean with subtitles.

    The Revisionaries, directed by Scott Thurman, written by Jawad Metni and Scott Thurman. (USA) – World Premiere. Once in a decade, the 15 members of the Texas State Board of Education meet in Austin to revise the textbook standards for five million schoolchildren. Led by Don McLeroy, a Young-Earth Creationist and Evangelical Christian, the panel implements standards that will ultimately go into effect in science and history textbooks for schoolchildren across the nation. The Revisionaries is a galvanizing peek behind the curtain at the politicization of education.

    The Virgin, the Copts and Me (La Vierges, les Coptes et Moi), directed by Namir Abdel Messeeh, written by Namir Abdel Messeeh, Nathalie Najem, and Anne Paschetta. (France, Qatar) – North American Premiere. In his feature debut, French-Egyptian filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh sets out to investigate the phenomenon of supposedly miraculous Virgin Mary apparitions in Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. But when the secular director faces opposition from skittish producers and his Coptic family, Namir turns the camera on his wonderfully smart-alecky mother and reimagines his film as a touching, uniquely hilarious portrait of family and heritage. In Arabic, French with subtitles.

    Wavumba, directed by Jeroen van Velzen, written by Jeroen van Velzen and Sara Kee. (Netherlands) – North American Premiere. Mysticism and color reign in this stunning documentary steeped in the fishermen lore of Kenya. Revisiting a childhood fairy tale of a spirit-filled island with the magic to either bless or curse a fisherman’s journey, Dutch filmmaker Jeroen van Velzen explores his memories via Masoud, a real-life legend of shark fishing. His glory days long gone, Masoud relives his youth through grandiose stories told with swaggering pride and heartbreaking nostalgia. In English, Swahili with subtitles.

    The World Before Her, directed by Nisha Pahuja. (Canada) – World Premiere. Weaving together the seemingly opposing stories of the Miss India beauty pageant and a fundamentalist Hindu camp for girls, director Nisha Pahuja illuminates the situation of women across contemporary India, drawing surprising parallels in the way women are perceived and the opportunities that are afforded them in both modernizing and traditional cultures. The World Before Her is a riveting, thoughtful profile of the fundamental contradictions of a country in transition. In English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati with subtitles.

     

    Viewpoints
    This year’s Viewpoints program presents 14 narrative features and eight documentaries and continues the Festival’s tradition of discovery with high-quality, edgy storytelling from around the globe. Daring American titles include Chris Sullivan’s fascinating, artistic animated work Consuming Spirits, Ian Olds and James Franco’s questioning the very identity of artist/celebrity in Francophrenia (or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is), and Aaron Scott Moorhead and Justin Benson’s creepy yet poignant thriller Resolution. Iranian Amir Naderi’s Cut is a violent homage to cinema set in Japan, and Journey to Planet X is Josh Koury and Myles Kane’s affectionate, comedic documentary on two American DIY sci-fi directors. More daring international cinema is found in Romanian Ivana Mladenovic’s voyeuristic documentary Turn Off the Lights and Haitian P. Benoit’s Stones in the Sun, a powerfully moving study of Haitian-Americans in 1980s New York and their various challenging relationships to their home country.

     

    Babygirl, directed and written by Macdara Vallely. (Ireland, USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. For as long as she can remember, Bronx teenager Lena has watched her mom Lucy squander her life on a series of deadbeat men. When Victor, her mom’s latest boy toy, starts hitting on Lena, she sets up a trap to expose Victor for the creep he is… but the plan backfires. Macdara Vallely crafts a heartfelt drama about the emotional highs and lows in the moment between childhood and adulthood.

    Benji, directed by Coodie and Chike. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. In 1984, 17-year-old Ben Wilson was a symbol of everything promising about Chicago: a sweet-natured youngster from the city’s fabled South Side, and America’s top high school basketball prospect. His senseless murder on the day before his senior season devastated the city of Chicago and sent ripples of anguish nationwide. A stirring portrait of a phenom admired both on the court and off, Benji tells the story of a legend who might’ve been.

    Burn, directed by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Detroit is burning. Meet the men and women charged with saving the once-roaring American city that many have written off as dead. With vast stretches of forsaken buildings left as kindling, they face one of the worst arson rates in the world. From executive producer Denis Leary, Burn drives us straight into the heart-pounding fire and introduces us to the characters and controversies that make up the most overworked and underequipped firehouse in the country.

    Caroline and Jackie, directed and written by Adam Christian Clark. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. When Caroline throws a surprise birthday party for her sister Jackie, what starts as an evening with friends devolves into a night that will change everything, as their bond is tested by the emotional mayhem only sisters can wring. Injecting his dinner-party-gone-wrong story with genuine tension, first-time filmmaker Adam Christian Clark strips away the layers of Caroline and Jackie’s fraught relationship right up until the film’s raw and moving conclusion.

    Certain People (Katinkas Kalas), directed by Levan Akin, written by Lisa Östberg. (Sweden) – World Premiere, Narrative. A small group of friends—upper-class, art world bohemians in their thirties—gather at Katinka’s summer house to celebrate her birthday. Suddenly during dinner, Katinka’s brother arrives with Linda, a blonde game show hostess whose brusque and liberated manners are entertaining and fresh… at first. During the course of the evening Linda stretches the group’s invisible social rules of hospitality. Contempt starts to grow, and hidden prejudices flare up. In Swedish with subtitles.

    Consuming Spirits, directed and written by Chris Sullivan. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Nearly 15 years in the making, Chris Sullivan’s Consuming Spirits is a meticulously constructed tour de force of experimental animation. Shooting frame by frame in 16mm, Sullivan seamlessly blends together a range of techniques into a distinct, signature visual style. In the process, he constructs a hypnotic, layered narrative, a suspenseful gothic tale that tracks the intertwined lives of three kindred spirits working at a local newspaper in a Midwestern rust belt town.

    Cut, directed by Amir Naderi, written by Amir Naderi and Abou Farman. (Japan) – U.S. premiere, Narrative. Award-winning Iranian filmmaker and TFF alum (Vegas: Based on a True Story) Amir Naderi travels to Tokyo to tell this striking, fiercely unconventional tale of a struggling young filmmaker, Shuji. Desperate to create great cinema, Shuji obtains financing for a few utterly forgettable pictures from his brother—who got the money from the mob. Now Shuji must repay his debts and test his love of the movies by working as a human punching bag for yakuza thugs. In Japanese with subtitles.

    Death of a Superhero, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon, written by Anthony McCarten. (Ireland, Germany) – U.S. premiere, Narrative. Donald is a teenager with extraordinary talents, wild daydreams, and a bright future as an artist of fantastical graphic novels. But when Donald discovers that a very real enemy is trying to kill him, an unorthodox psychologist tries to help him find the light in an otherwise dark world. Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Andy Serkis star in this exceptionally honest drama about discovering life, love, and death. A Tribeca Film release.

    El Gusto, directed and written by Safinez Bousbia. (Algeria, Ireland, UAE) – North American Premiere, Documentary. A rhythmic cocktail of European and Arabic traditions, chaabi music was the heart and soul of cosmopolitan Algiers in the 1940s, but the war of independence with France tore apart the peaceful Muslim and Jewish communities that came together to play this unique music. A group of over-the-hill but still fiery musicians reunites after five decades apart in this spirited, gorgeously shot documentary about music’s power to transcend cultural boundaries. In French, Arabic with subtitles.

    Fairhaven, directed and written by Tom O’Brien. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Jon is well past his glory days on the football field and searching for meaning in the small town of Fairhaven. When his friend Dave comes home for his father’s funeral, the limits of friendship are tested as the past is uncovered. This thoughtful meditation on love, loss, and minor triumphs reminds us that sometimes the most important things in life are the little moments we cherish forever.

    The Fourth Dimension, directed by Harmony Korine, Alexey Fedorchenko, and Jan Kwiecinski, written by Harmony Korine, Alexey Fedorchenko, Jan Kwiecinski, Oleg Loevsky, and Yaroslava Pulinovich. (USA, Poland, Russia) – World Premiere, Narrative. A motivational speaker named Val Kilmer (played by Val Kilmer) delivers a sermon at a roller rink. A Russian scientist builds a time machine in his apartment. Four friends stumble upon an abandoned village in the Polish countryside. All are in search of the fourth dimension—whether they know it or not. Weird, ominous, cool, compelling: These three short films could only be inspired by the creative vision of Harmony Korine and Vice Media’s Eddy Moretti. In English, Polish, Russian with subtitles.

    Francophrenia (or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is), directed by Ian Olds and James Franco, written by Ian Olds and Paul Felten. (USA) – North American Premiere, Narrative. James Franco stunned the film world when he committed to a regular gig on General Hospital, but the Oscar®-nominated actor had a clever trick up his sleeve. While shooting a key GH episode, Franco brought along a film crew. TFF award winner Ian Olds (Fixer, 2009) then repurposed Franco’s behind-the-scenes footage into an experimental psychological thriller set amid the spectacle of a celebrity’s escalating paranoia, creating a mind-bending exploration of identity.

    Journey to Planet X, directed by Josh Koury and Myles Kane. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. By day Eric Swain and Troy Bernier are a couple of mild-mannered, middle-aged desk jockeys from Florida, but their wildest dreams come to life after hours when they get together to make fantastical sci-fi movies with the help of a green screen, amateur actors, and retro-futuristic computer graphics. As they embark on their most ambitious production yet, this hip and heartwarming documentary shows how boundless imagination can hilariously stretch the limits of DIY moviemaking.

    On The Mat, directed and written by Fredric Golding. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Achieving greatness in high school wrestling requires a level of devotion unmatched perhaps by any other sport. That greatness has become a yearly expectation at Lake Stevens High, winner of seven Washington state championships in the past 10 years. Narrated by Lake Stevens wrestling alum Chris Pratt (Moneyball), this riveting documentary follows the team over the course of a season as they fight through injuries and academic issues to maintain their school’s legacy.

    Resolution, directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead, written by Justin Benson. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Michael is committed to getting his best friend Chris to sober up and put his life back on track. But what begins as an attempt to save his friend’s life quickly takes an unexpected turn as the two friends confront personal demons, the consequences of past actions, and forces beyond their control. Expertly balancing dark humor, heart, and thrills, Resolution is an utterly unique cinematic experience that defies genre classification.

    Room 514, directed and written by Sharon Bar-Ziv. (Israel) – North American Premiere, Narrative. When a young, idealistic military investigator confronts an elite soldier with accusations of unnecessary violence against a Palestinian man in the Occupied Territories, her quest for justice ends up having far-reaching consequences. Director Sharon Bar-Ziv’s feature debut is a gritty minimalist drama that provides a raw, direct look at the psyche of contemporary Israeli culture as shaped by the effects of the ongoing conflict. In Hebrew, Russian with subtitles.

    Rubberneck, directed by Alex Karpovsky, written by Alex Karpovsky and Garth Donovan. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Months after a one-night-stand-gone-nowhere with a sexy coworker, sad-sack Boston scientist Paul still finds himself increasingly consumed with obsessive thoughts toward his uninterested colleague. As his impulses become increasingly irresistible, and the repercussions of his actions snowball, the tension mounts. Indie stalwart Alex Karpovsky directs this slow-burn psychosexual character study.

    Sexy Baby, directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. In the age of runaway social media and “sexting,” raunchy rap songs on pop radio and hardcore pornography at the click of a mouse—what’s it like to be a woman? A girl? A teenage boy? A parent? Following a middle-aged former porn star, a young woman undergoing a controversial surgery, and a 12-year-old girl who’s growing up faster than her parents can handle, Sexy Baby is a startling look at America’s increasingly sex-saturated culture.

    Stones in the Sun (Woch nan Soley), directed and written by P. Benoit. (USA, Haiti) – World Premiere, Narrative. In the 1980s, in the midst of increasing political violence, a young couple, two sisters, and a father and son are driven from Haiti to New York, where they must confront the truths of their interlocked pasts. In her impassioned, penetrating feature film debut, Haitian director P. Benoit steers clear of clichés about immigrants and refugees, authentically tapping into the reality of the unique Haitian-American experience. In English, Haitian Creole with subtitles.

    Supporting Characters, directed by Daniel Schechter, written by Tarik Lowe and Daniel Schechter. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. In this funny and authentic take on modern relationships, best friends Darryl (Tarik Lowe) and Nick (Alex Karpovsky) are a film editing duo hired to rework a movie in crisis, only to find themselves increasingly consumed with reworking their own personal lives. While Nick begins to question his stable relationship after receiving attentions from the film’s flirtatious starlet, Darryl finds himself falling hard for tempestuous dancer Liana (Melonie Diaz).

    Town of Runners, directed by Jerry Rothwell. (UK) – World Premiere, Documentary. Over the past two decades the small, rural Ethiopian town of Bekoji has been the unlikely home to numerous Olympic champion long-distance runners, whose athletic success has paved the way for a generation of young Ethiopians searching for a better future. With a keen artistic eye, TFF award winner Jerry Rothwell (Donor Unknown) follows two teenage track hopefuls who face the challenge of growing up and striving for greatness in a developing nation. In Amharic, Oromo with subtitles.

    Turn Off the Lights, directed by Ivana Mladenovic, written by Ivana Mladenovic and Bianca Oana. (Romania) – World Premiere, Documentary. After years behind bars, three young men begin to rediscover lives of aggression and excess in their raucous Roma community. Among them is Alex, a captivating figure with a disturbingly blasé attitude toward violence, women, and guilt. In this absorbing documentary, offering a rare peek into contemporary Roma culture, Alex and his fellow ex-cons reconcile the outside world with the gray-shaded areas of morality with which they all struggle. In Romanian with subtitles.

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