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Tribeca Festival · 2009

Tribeca Festival 2009

World Documentary Features

A dozen films will compete in the World Documentary Feature Competition at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

Programme

12 films · 3 reviews

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The Burning Season

Powerful portrait of three lives affected by deliberately lit fires raging across Indonesia.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Cathy Henkel; Writer: Cathy Henkel)

International Premiere

Defamation (Hashmatsa)

The filmmaker's personal quest to determine the role that anti-Semitism plays today.

(Country: Israel, Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Yoav Shamir)

North American Premiere

Fixer: The Taking Of Ajmal Naqshbandi

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Ian Olds)

North American Premiere

Garapa

Review preview for Garapa

A powerful and moving documentary, which appears to give a thorough and frank portrait of its subjects and the impact of poverty and malnutrition upon their lives.

Adam Micklethwaite · 3.5 out of 5
Hard-hitting look at families suffering malnutrition in Brazil.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2008; Director: José Padilha)

Full review See: Tribeca Film Festival film/movie reviews and diary: Outrage, Garapa, Newsmakers , Berlin Film Festival Diary Day Seven

North American Premiere

Only When I Dance

Review preview for Only When I Dance

As well-constructed documentary, this contains emotion but avoids cheesiness.

Chris · 3.5 out of 5
Young Brazilians train hard in the hope of becoming ballet stars.

(Country: Brazil, UK; Year: 2009; Director: Beadie Finzi; Stars: Irlan Santos da Silva, Isabela Coracy Alves Nascimento Santos, Mariza Estrella)

Full review

World Premiere

Outrage (The Glass Closet)

Review preview for Outrage

Dick makes it clear that he only feels it necessary to out those who are essentially leading double lives - repressing gays on the one hand, while living as one in secret on the other.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Documentary focuses on the hypocritical voting records of closeted gay politicians.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Kirby Dick; Writer: Kirby Dick) , Official site

Full review See: Kirby Dick interview on Outrage , Tribeca Film Festival film/movie reviews and diary: Outrage, Garapa, Newsmakers

World Premiere

Partly Private

From New York to London, Istanbul to Israel, Elon travels the world in a n effort to understand the controversial ritual of male circumcision.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: Danae Elon)

World Premiere

Racing Dreams

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Marshall Curry)

World Premiere

Shadow Billionaire

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Alexis Manya Spraic)

World Premiere

Team Qatar

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.

(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Liz Mermin)

World Premiere

Transcendent Man

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.

(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)

World Premiere

Yodok Stories

Chronicles a group of North Korean concentration camp escapees and their contributions to a powerful musical based on their experiences.

(Country: Norway, Poland; Year: 2008; Director: Andrzej Fidyk; Writer: Andrzej Fidyk, Torstein Grude; Stars: Jung Sung San)

North American Premiere