A dozen films will compete in the World Documentary Feature Competition at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
Only When I Dance and Garapa
The Burning Season
(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Cathy Henkel; Writer: Cathy Henkel)
Powerful portrait of three lives affected by deliberately lit fires raging across Indonesia.
International Premiere
Defamation (Hashmatsa)
(Country: Israel, Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Yoav Shamir)
The filmmaker's personal quest to determine the role that anti-Semitism plays today.
North American Premiere
Fixer: The Taking Of Ajmal Naqshbandi
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Ian Olds)
In 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 24-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi and an Italian journalist. Naqshbandi was one of Afghanistan’s best "fixers" - someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories. This documentary examines the "fixers" role and the threats they face.
North American Premiere
Garapa
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2008; Director: José Padilha)
Hard-hitting look at families suffering malnutrition in Brazil.
North American Premiere
Only When I Dance
(Country: Brazil, UK; Year: 2009; Director: Beadie Finzi; Stars: Irlan Santos da Silva, Isabela Coracy Alves Nascimento Santos, Mariza Estrella)
Young Brazilians train hard in the hope of becoming ballet stars.
World Premiere
Outrage and The Burning Season
Outrage (The Glass Closet)
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Kirby Dick; Writer: Kirby Dick),
Official Site
Documentary focuses on the hypocritical voting records of closeted gay politicians.
World Premiere
Partly Private
(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: Danae Elon)
From New York to London, Istanbul to Israel, Elon travels the world in a n effort to understand the controversial ritual of male circumcision.
World Premiere
Racing Dreams
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Marshall Curry)
What Little League is to baseball, go-karting is to auto racing. Three adolescents and their families must discover if they have the talent and dedication - and sponsorship dollars - to one day become NASCAR superstars.
World Premiere
Shadow Billionaire
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Alexis Manya Spraic)
When DHL founder Larry Hillblom disappeared following a 1995 plane crash off his Micronesian island home, dozens of would-be heirs from the Philippines came out of the woodwork to lay claim to his mega fortune. Within the framework of the fantastic legal battle, Spraic’s debut doc slowly uncovers the stranger-than-fiction life of this eccentric billionaire.
World Premiere
Team Qatar
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Liz Mermin)
Follows the first Qatari national debate team and their springy English coach as they train in Doha, London, and New York in preparation for the world championship in DC.
World Premiere
Transcendent Man and Team Qatar
Transcendent Man
(Country: USA; Year: 2009; Director: Robert Barry Ptolemy; Stars: William Shatner, Ed Begley Jr., Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Michael Eisner, Herbie Hancock, Colin Powell, Raymond Kurzweil, Alan M. Dershowitz, Tony Robbins)
Futurist and famed inventor Ray Kurzweil is the preeminent theorist on the pending fusion of humans and super-intelligent machines as the next phase of evolution, a "singularity" he predicts will occur within 30 years. This doc explores the personal ideals behind his controversial ideas.
World Premiere
Yodok Stories
(Country: Norway, Poland; Year: 2008; Director: Andrzej Fidyk; Writer: Andrzej Fidyk, Torstein Grude; Stars: Jung Sung San)
Chronicles a group of North Korean concentration camp escapees and their contributions to a powerful musical based on their experiences.
North American Premiere
