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Tribeca Festival · 2008

Tribeca Festival 2008

Discovery

The organisers say: "The films in the Discovery section introduce our audience to emerging voices and fresh and engaging fiction and nonfiction stories. The section features inspirational documentaries focusing on such diverse subjects as a senior citizen hip-hop dance team; a former Sudanese child soldier turned internationally renowned activist and rapper; and America’s oldest bank robber.

"The exciting collection of narrative films in this section include stories about a young Turkish girl’s struggle between following her heart or obeying her parents; four Spanish mathematicians who must solve a problem in order to save their lives; and small town Texans who live in fear of a mysterious creature who inhabits their woods. This section’s films are striking and provocative works appealing to a wide range of tastes from avant-garde to more commercial fare."

Here's what they say about the films...

Programme

30 films · 4 reviews

Jump to a film

The 27 Club

After the sudden loss of a bandmate, a distressed rock star hires a geeky grocery store clerk to drive him across the country. The vast American landscape - stunningly photographed provides solace for this unlikely pair as they make their way to New York for the funeral.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Erica Dunton; Writer: Erica Dunton; Stars: Joe Anderson, Dave Emrich, James Forgey, Alexie Gilmore, David Sherrill) , Official site

See: Tribeca 2008 Diary: Day 3 and 4

World Premiere

Ball Don't Lie

An urban coming-of-age story that follows Sticky, a talented streetballer (Grayson Boucher) who overcomes his troubled past through his passion for the game. Based on the popular novel, Ball Don’t Lie features Ludacris, Rosanna Arquette, and Nick Cannon. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Brin Hill; Writer: Brin Hill, Matt de la Peña; Stars: Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Nick Cannon, Rosanna Arquette, Emilie de Ravin, Harold Perrineau, Grayson "The Professor" Boucher)

World Premiere

Bitter & Twisted (Bitter And Twisted)

This quirky, multidimensional drama of longing and loss starts with the death of a young man and flashes forward three years to assess the toll it took on his parents, brother, and ex-girlfriend. A vivid style and nuanced performances add unusual charm to this confident debut.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Christopher Weekes; Writer: Christopher Weekes; Stars: Noni Hazlehurst, Steve Rodgers, Leeanna Walsman, Gary Sweet, Matt Newton, Christopher Weekes) , Official site

World Premiere

Charly

Fourteen-year-old Nicolas leaves the elderly couple he lives with and heads for the sea but crosses paths with Charly, a tough girl who takes him into her mobile home, where an unusual domestic arrangement evolves. As in her brilliant directorial debut 1/2 Price (TFF ’04), Le Besco movingly depicts a world without adults.

(Country: France; Year: 2007; Director: Isild Le Besco; Writer: Isild Le Besco; Stars: Julie-Marie Parmentier, Kolia Litscher) , Official site

North American Premiere

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans

Just outside the French Quarter of New Orleans is a lively, long-established neighbourhood that most tourists never see. Enlightening and informative, Faubourg Tremé documents the enduring legacy of one of the country’s oldest African American communities

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie; Writer: Lolis Eric Elie; Stars: Glen David Andrews, Lenwood Sloan, Eric Foner, Brenda Marie Osbey, Irving Trevigne, John Hope Franklin) , Official site

World Premiere

Fermat's Room (La Habitación De Fermat)

Review preview for Fermat's Room

Once the walls start to move, there's barely a moment to catch your breath as sharp editing, clever camera angles and good use of sound, squeeze the tension of every moment.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Someone wants four mathematicians out of the equation. Plus read our exclusive interview with

(Country: Spain; Year: 2007; Director: Luis Piedrahita, Rodrigo Sopeña; Writer: Luis Piedrahita, Rodrigo Sopeña; Stars: Federico Luppi, Lluís Homar, Alejo Sauras, Santi Millán, Elena Ballesteros) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Interview with Luis Piedrahita about Fermat's Room (La Habitacion De Fermat)

North American Premiere

Fighter

This high-energy martial arts drama chronicles a driven high school student caught between the expectations of her traditional Turkish family and her kung fu dreams. With slickly choreographed fight scenes, Fighter is an empowering story that culminates with an emotional punch. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2007; Director: Natasha Arthy; Writer: Natasha Arthy; Stars: Semra Turan, Nima Nabipour, Behrouz Banissi, Cyron Bjørn Melville) , Official site

North American Premiere

Fire Under The Snow

Documentary about Tibetan monk Palden Gyatso, who spent 33 years being tortured and starved in Chinese prisons. He watched his nation ruined and his countrymen jailed or killed. Despite this, Gyatso remains unbroken, keeping the flame of his spirit ablaze.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Makoto Sasa; Stars: Palden Gyatso) , Official site

World Premiere

Going On 13

Ariana, Isha, Rosie, and Esme are young girls who were followed by the documentarians for four years as they navigate the precarious path to womanhood and, in Valadez’ and Guevara-Flanagan’s expert hands, breathe new life into the coming-of-age story.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Dawn Valadez; Writer: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Dawn Valadez; Stars: Ariana, Rosie, Isha, Esme) , Official site

World Premiere

Gotta Dance

Festival vet Berinstein (ShowBusiness, TFF ’05) turns her camera on the amazing and inspirational story of the New Jersey NETSationals, the NBA’s first senior citizen hip-hop dance team. Against all odds, this energetic and dedicated group proves that even in their golden years, they’ve just Gotta Dance! Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Dori Berinstein; Writer: Adam Zucker and Dori Berinstein) , Official site

World Premiere

Head Wind (Baad - e - Daboor)

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran does its best to restrict its citizens’ access to information and media from the rest of the world. This documentary by the award-winning director of Iron Island shows how Iranians demonstrate what we’d call “Yankee resourcefulness” to stymie their censors.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2007; Director: Mohammad Rasoulof; Writer: Mohammad Rasoulof)

North American Premiere

Marina Of The Zabbaleen

In the sandy villages outside Cairo, the Zabbaleen eke out a living recycling the flood of waste pouring out of the most populous area on the African continent. But one girl—six-year-old free spirit Marina—dreams of a better life. This poetic documentary tells her story.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Engi Wassef) , Official site

World Premiere

Milky Way Liberation Front (Eunha-haebang-jeonseon)

Review preview for Milky Way Liberation Front

Its sense of humour and verve are enough to commend it to any viewer.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Black comedy adventure about a screenwriter whose personal and professional world is falling apart.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2007; Director: Yoon Seongho; Writer: Yoon Seongho; Stars: Ji-Gyu Lim, Young-ju Seo, Eun-Seong, Bo-kyeong Kim, Yukie Mori, Hyung-keun Yu)

Full review

North American Premiere

Paraiso Travel

In this recent hit at the Colombian box office, a lovesick young man (Aldemar Correa) follows his seductive girlfriend as they illegally travel from Medellín to New York. When they are separated in Queens, he begins a desperate search to find her.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Simon Brand; Writer: Simon Brand; Stars: Aldemar Correa, Angelica Blandon, John Leguizamo, Ana de la Reguera, Margarita Rosa de Fransico, Pedro Capo)

International Premiere

Playing For Change: Peace Through Music

True devotees of music’s uniting power, Johnson and Walls hauled recording equipment across four continents, capturing the unsung talents of street performers from Nepal to Argentina. The result is an inspired tribute to both music and the adventurous spirit

(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Jonathan Walls and Mark Johnson) , Official site

World Premiere

A Powerful Noise

Bookended by call-to-action quotes from Margaret Mead and Mahatma Gandhi, this inspiring documentary follows three extraordinary women - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mali, and Vietnam - as they lead day-to-day battles against ignorance, poverty, oppression, and ethnic strife.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Tom Cappello) , Official site

World Premiere

Run For Your Life

Without one eccentric first-generation Jewish immigrant from Transylvania, the New York City Marathon simply wouldn’t exist. Ehrlich’s fun, loving, and inspirational tribute to the late Fred Lebow shows how one man’s imagination, determination, and love for running created one of the world’s most popular sporting events. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Judd Ehrlich; Stars: Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, Grete Waitz, Ed Koch, Percy Sutton, Ted Corbitt) , Official site

World Premiere

Seven Days Sunday (Sieben Tage Sonntag)

Teenage dropouts Adam and Tommek pass their days hanging out and drinking in their grim housing complex, but as grinding boredom combines with Adam’s need to prove himself and Tommek’s penchant for petty crime, the two make a bet that plunges them into shocking and sudden violence. Based on actual events.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2007; Director: Niels Laupert; Writer: Niels Laupert; Stars: Ludwig Trepte, Martin Kiefer, Jil Funke, Jennifer Ulrich, Antonio Wannek, Karin Baal) , Official site

North American Premiere

Simple Things (Prostye veshchi)

This artfully nuanced, occasionally playful story of an anaesthetist, whose daughter runs away just as he hits a rough patch with his mistress and his wife announces that she’s unexpectedly pregnant, has been widely regarded as one of the best Russian films of the past year.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2007; Director: Aleksei Popogrebsky; Writer: Aleksei Popogrebsky; Stars: Sergei Puskepalis, Leonid Bronevoy, Svetlana Kamynina, Mikhail Yevlanov, Ivan Shvedoff, Dinara Kutuyeva) , Official site

North American Premiere

Sita Sings The Blues

Using a variety of colorful animation techniques, writer-director Nina Paley wittily interweaves the story of Sita, the leading lady of the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, with the story of a modern American woman struggling to keep her marriage afloat.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Nina Paley; Writer: Nina Paley; Stars: Annette Hanshaw, Reena Shah, Sanjiv Jhaveri, Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally, Manish Acharya) , Official site

North American Premiere

A Story Of The Red Hills (Lal Pahare'r Katha)

The story of a disheartened dancer and a disabled boy - both of whose lives are transformed by the magic and power of Chhou, a traditional Bengali dance of great spectacle and color - is recounted movingly, if improbably, by a renowned Bollywood choreographer.

(Country: India; Year: 2007; Director: Remo; Writer: Remo, Dhrubo Banerjee, Subhendu Dasmunshi ; Stars: Mithun Chakraborty, Shankar Chakraborty, Bidipta Chakraborty, Moumita Gupta, Kayyum Ali, Rishi Mitra)

North American Premiere

Tennessee

In this intimate road movie two brothers travel to the hometown they fled as teenagers to find their estranged father. When they are joined by a spirited woman (Mariah Carey) running from her abusive husband, they begin to grow closer, and the truth of their journey comes to light.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Aaron Woodley; Writer: Russell Schaumburg; Stars: Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck, Mariah Carey, Lance Reddick, Bill Sage)

World Premiere

This Is Not A Robbery

One morning, JL “Red” Rountree woke, ate breakfast, went for a drive, and robbed a bank. He was 87. This is the unusual story of how this devoted family man and law-abiding senior citizen became one of the country’s most notorious serial bank robbers.

(Country: US; Director: Lucas Jansen and Adam Kurland) , Official site

World Premiere

Under Our Skin

Arguably the most overlooked and misdiagnosed ailment currently verging on epidemic throughout the United States, Lyme disease and the shocking controversies surrounding its identification and treatment are the focus of this provocative and often terrifying documentary.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Andy Abrahams Wilson) , Official site

World Premiere

Waiting For Hockney

At 38-years-old, aspiring artist Billy Pappas is the ultimate dreamer. Checkoway chronicles the 10 years Pappas spent meticulously drawing his masterpiece in his parents' attic - and the success or failure he believes hinges on his ability to show his work to his idol, artist David Hockney.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Julie Checkoway; Stars: Billy Pappas)

World Premiere

The Wild Man Of The Navidad

Based on real-life journals, this intelligent retelling of an old urban legend, shot in a Sevenities-style B movie aesthetic, focuses on a Texas community terrified by a mysterious creature inhabiting the nearby woods.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Justin Meeks and Duane Graves ; Writer: Duane Graves, Justin Meeks; Stars: Justin Meeks, Tony Wolford, Charlie Hurtin, Alex Garcia, Stacy Meeks, Edmond Geyer) , Official site

World Premiere

Worlds Apart (To Verdener)

Review preview for Worlds Apart

Worlds Apart is an assured, confident little film which takes a nuanced approach to a complex subject.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The world of a dutiful daughter and Jehovah's Witness unravels when she falls for a non-believer.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Niels Arden Oplev; Writer: Niels Arden Oplev; Stars: Rosalinde Mynster, Pilou Asbæk, Jens Jørn Spottag, Sarah Boberg, Sarah Juel Werner, Anders W. Berthelsen) , Official site

Full review See: Diary article about the Glasgow Film Festival 2009 , Tribeca 2008: Day Seven

North American Premiere

Yonkers Joe

A small-time con man’s search for the perfect scam is disrupted by unexpected family challenges. This heartwarming drama features memorable performances by Chazz Palminteri and Christine Lahti.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Robert Celestino; Writer: Robert Celestino; Stars: Chazz Palminteri, Christine Lahti, Tom Guiry, Michael Lerner, Linus Roache, Michael Rispoli)

World Premiere

Zoned In

Filmed over the course of nine years, this documentary traces the remarkable journey of 16-year-old Daniel from a Bronx high school to an Ivy League university while simultaneously exploring the role of race and class in the American education system.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Daniela Zanzotto) , Official site

World Premiere