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Tribeca Festival · 2007

Tribeca Festival 2007

World Narrative Feature Competition

The organisers said: "From a musician staging a concert in Iraqi Kurdistan to a lawyer infiltrating the Korean underworld of New York, the films in this section take us on a cinematic journey across the globe. Presenting established and emerging directors from around the world, these films feature a wealth of high profile acting talent from Daniel Auteuil as Napoleon to Lukas Haas as a New Jersey vigilante and America Ferrara involved with a Colombian kidnap victim."

Narrative Feature Competition winner was My Father My Lord. Best New Narrative Feature went to Two Embraces. Lofti Edbelli won the Best Actor award for his role in Making Of, while the Best Actress honours went to Marina Hands for Lady Chatterley. Making Of also won the Best Screenplay award, while Lost In Beijing and Half Moon picked up honourable mentions.

Programme

18 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

Born And Bred (Nacido y Criado)

Review preview for Born And Bred

Just as the constantly falling snow leaches the colour from the backdrop, so the emotion bleeds out of the film.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A man's life falls apart after a tragic accident.

(Country: Argentina, Italy, UK; Year: 2006; Director: Pablo Trapero; Writer: Mario Rulloni, Pablo Trapero; Stars: Guillermo Pfening, Federico Esquerro, Martina Gusman, Tomás Lipan, Victoria Vescio)

Full review See: Tribeca Festival Diary 2007: Days nine to the end

US Premiere

Gardener Of Eden

A generation X-er finds his life shaken up after he accidentally captures a serial rapist.

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Kevin Connolly; Writer: Adam 'Tex' Davis; Stars: Lukas Haas, Erika Christensen, Giovanni Ribisi, Jim Parsons, Jon Abrahams, Jerry Ferrara)

See: Tribeca Film Festival Diary Day 2 and 3

World Premiere

Half Moon (Niwemang)

Review preview for Half Moon

Sympathy for the underdog and belief in the power of the human spirit shine through.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
A Kurdish Iranian musician travels to Iraq for a concert after the fall of Saddam, determined to bring a legendary female vocalist with him, despite the fact that women are forbidden to sing in public.

(Country: Austria/France/Iran/Iraq; Year: 2006; Director: Bahman Ghobadi; Writer: Bahman Gobadi, Behnam Behzadi; Stars: Ismail Ghaffari, Allah-Morad Rashtiani, Hedye Tehrani)

Full review

US Premiere

Lady Chatterley

Review preview for Lady Chatterley

For those who like thoughtful, literary cinema, this is a delight from beginning to end.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A poetic adaptation of DH Lawrence's classic book about an aristocrat who has an affair with her gamekeeper.

(Country: Belgium, France, UK; Year: 2006; Director: Pascale Ferran; Writer: Roger Bohbot and Pascale Ferran, based on the novel by DH Lawrence.; Stars: Marina Hands, Jean-Louis Coullo'ch, Hippolyte Girardot, Hélène Alexandridis, Hélène Fillières)

Full review

North American Premiere

The Last Man (Atlal, Le Dernier Homme)

In Beirut, a city where so much blood has been spilled in seemingly interminable political conflicts, the sudden appearance of what appear to be victims of a serial killer isn't especially alarming. A 40-year-old doctor (Michel Chahine, astonishing) develops links to the victims, and begins to exhibit strange and disturbing symptoms of his own.

(Country: France, Lebannon; Year: 2006; Director: Ghassan Salhab; Writer: Ghassan Salhab; Stars: Carlos Chahine)

North American Premiere

Lost In Beijing (Ping Guo)

Review preview for Lost In Beijing

Li cements her status as a Chinese director to watch

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Sex and consequences in modern Beijing.

(Country: China; Year: 2007; Director: Yu Li; Writer: Yu Li, Li Fang; Stars: Fan Bingbing, Tong Dawei, Tony Leung Ka Fei, Elaine Jin, Zeng Mei Hui Zi)

Full review See: Tribeca Day 1: Mission Brando

Making Of (Akher Film)

Bahta, 25, heads up a group of break dancers, but the outbreak Bahta's a young break dancer in Tunisia but after the eruption of hostilities in Iraq in 2003, he falls in with a group of fundamentalists, whose brainwashing is intended to make him a suicide bomber. In the framing story, the actor playing Bahta doesn't know how the film will end, and he and the director have conflicts of their own. Winner, Gold Tanit, Carthage Film Festival.

(Country: Morocco, Tunisia ; Year: 2006; Director: Nouri Bouzid; Writer: Nouri Bouzid; Stars: Lotfi Ebdelli, Lotfi Dziri, Afef Ben Mahmoud, Fatma Ben Saidane, Foued Litayem, Helmi Dridi)

International Premiere

My Father My Lord (Hofshat Kaits)

This powerful and heartbreaking film takes a look at the price that may be exacted by a rigid observation of religious tenets. Its central character, a respected rabbi in an ultra-Orthodox community - who is also a father and husband - is forced to come to terms with the demands of his faith and the welfare of his own family.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2007; Director: David Volach; Writer: David Volach; Stars: Assi Dayan, Ilan Griff, Sharon Hacohen)

International Premiere

N (Napoleon And Me) (N (Lo E Napoleone))

Review preview for N (Napoleon And Me)

The lavish decoration, aesthetically pleasing and beautifully photographed, exposes the artificiality of the storyline.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
When Boney went to Elba...

(Country: Italy, Spain, France, US; Year: 2006; Director: Paolo Virzì; Writer: Francesco Bruni, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, Paolo Virzì, based on the novel by Ernesto Ferrero; Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Elio Germano, Monica Bellucci, Sabrina Impacciatore, Valerio Mastandrea, Francesca Inaudi, Massimo Ceccherini, Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, José Ángel Egido, Achille Brugnini)

Full review

North American Premiere

Playing The Victim (Izobrazhaya Zhertvu)

One of Moscow's top theatre directors has adapted his own successful play into a cinematic marvel in which a young slacker is employed by the police to literally "play the victim" in videos reconstructing crimes. His dangerously escalating disgust with the world is portrayed in a visual style so inventive that it's only when he receives nocturnal visits from his father's ghost that the echoes of Hamlet are evoked. Winner, Grand Prize, Rome Film Festival.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2006; Director: Kirill Serebrennikov; Writer: Oleg Presnyakov, Vladimir Presnyakov; Stars: Yuri Chursin, Vitali Khayev, Marina Golub, Lia Akhedzhakova, Marat Basharov, Aleksandr Ilyin, Olga Demidova, Anna Mikhalkova, Fyodor Dobronravov, Andrei Fomin, Yelena Morozova, Natalya Mokritskaya) , Official site

North American Premiere

Still Life (Sanxia Haoren)

Review preview for Still Life

More of a mood piece than a strong narrative tale.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Parallel stories of the search for lost love set against the backdrop of the Three Gorges Dam Project.

(Country: China, Hong Kong; Year: 2006; Director: Jia Zhang-Ke; Writer: Jia Zhang-Ke, Guan Na, Sun Jiamin; Stars: Zhao Tao, Han Sanming, Li Zhubin, Wang Hong Wei)

Full review See: Tribeca Film Festival Diary Day 2 and 3

US Premiere

Towards Darkness (Hacia La Oscuridad)

Colombia's rampant kidnappings are the brutal reality at the heart of this nail-biting thriller. A young photographer is abducted, held for ransom, and forced to contemplate imminent death while his family makes desperate covert deals to secure his release. Featuring America Ferrara.

(Country: US, Colombia, Panama; Year: 2007; Director: José Antonio Negret; Writer: José Antonio Negret; Stars: Roberto Urbina, America Ferrera, David Sutcliffe, Tony Plana, William Atherton, Cameron Daddo, Alejandra Borrero, Fernando Solórzano, Roberto Cano, Juan Carlos Arango, Carlos Humberto Camacho, ) , Official site

Two Embraces (Dos Abrazos)

Four people forced to fend for themselves in life - a burdened 12-year-old boy, the cashier he has a crush on, an angry taxi driver and the estranged daughter of one of his passengers - come together in two embraces. An auspicious film debut and poignant tale of lonely people who find a glimmer of hope in each other in today's Mexico City.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2007; Director: Enrique Begne; Writer: Enrique Begne; Stars: Giovanni Florido, Alan Andree, Carmen Beato, Alan Sanchez, Emilio Caballero, Maya Zapata:)

See: Tribeca Festival Diary 2007: Days nine to the end

International Premiere

Two In One (Dva V Odnom)

On Christmas Eve, Francesca sets out from her small town for the big city, Rotterdam, to find her little sister, who has run off to follow her musician boyfriend. On the way, she picks up Gerlinde, a heartbroken older woman at the end of her rope. This exquisitely photographed tale employs a fragmented timeline to illustrate the story of three lost souls on the run.

(Country: Ukraine, Russia; Year: 2007; Director: Kira Muratova; Writer: Yevgeni Golubenko, Renata Litvinova; Stars: Bogdan Stupka, Renata Litvinova, Alexandr Bashirov, Natalya Buz'ko, Sergej Bekhterev)

International Premiere

Vivere

On Christmas Eve, Francesca sets out from her small town for the big city, Rotterdam, to find her little sister, who has run off to follow her musician boyfriend. On the way, she picks up Gerlinde, a heartbroken older woman at the end of her rope. This exquisitely photographed tale employs a fragmented timeline to illustrate the story of three lost souls on the run.

(Country: Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2007; Director: Angelina Maccarone; Writer: Angelina Maccarone; Stars: Hannelore Elsner, Esther Zimmering, Kim Schnitzer, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Aykut Kayacik, Inger Hansen, Evert Aalten, Maarten Hemmen, Angelo Colagrossi, Tygo Gernandt, Nina Vorbrodt) , Official site

World Premiere

West 32nd

After hustling his way onto a homicide case, an ambitious young lawyer (John Cho) infiltrates the gritty Korean underworld of New York, searching for clues. When he meets his match in the syndicate, they'll both do anything to get to the top. It's a raw and thrilling race.

(Country: US, South Korea; Year: 2007; Director: Michael Kang; Writer: Michael Kang, Edmund Lee; Stars: John Cho, Jun Sung Kim, Jun-ho Jeong, Grace Park, Jane Kim) , Official site

World Premiere

The Year My Parents Went On Vacation (O Ano Em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias)

It's the summer of 1970, and twelve-year-old Mauro's biggest concern is whether Brazil wins the World Cup-until his politicized parents are forced to flee the country, and he is thrust into the alien world of Sao Paolo's Jewish community. This sensitive drama shows an innocent caught up in a ferociously repressive dictatorship he knows nothing about.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2006; Director: Cao Hamburger; Writer: Adriana Falcão, Claudio Galperin, Cao Hamburger, Bráulio Mantovani, Anna Muylaert; Stars: Michel Joelsas, Germano Haiut, Daniela Piepszyk, Caio Blat, Simone Spoladore, Paulo Autran) , Official site

North American Premiere