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Tribeca Festival · 2010

Tribeca Festival 2010

Discovery

Innovative visions from emerging voices populate this selection of 17 films that range from light fun to provocative and timely.

Programme

17 films · 3 reviews

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Arias With A Twist

A celebration of the creative process and the inventive, outrageous downtown art scene of New York of the past 30 years, Arias with a Twist focuses its lens on the inspired collaboration between cabaret and drag artist Joey Arias and master puppeteer Basil Twist, whose groundbreaking 2008 show brought them some of the biggest success of their careers.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Bobby Sheehan; Writer: Bobby Sheehan; Stars: Joseph Arias, Basil Twist, David Bowie, Divine, Michael Halsband, Keith Haring, Courtney Harmel, Kim Hastreiter, Cheryl Henson, Jim Henson, Ann Magnuson, John Malkovich, Michael Musto, Klaus Nomi, Cassandra Peterson)

North American Premiere. Documentary

Beware The Gonzo

Eddie “Gonzo” Gilman is starting a revolution. When the wild-eyed rebel journalist is ousted from his prep school’s newspaper by its über-popular editor, Eddie fronts an underground movement to give a voice to all the misfits, outcasts, and nerds. Soon the power of the press is in Eddie’s hands… but will he use it wisely?

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Bryan Goluboff; Writer: Bryan Goluboff; Stars: Zoë Kravitz, Jesse McCartney, Campbell Scott, Amy Sedaris, Marc John Jefferies, Judah Friedlander, Ezra Miller, James Urbaniak, Noah Fleiss, Lucian Maisel, Steven Kaplan, Chris McKinney, Whitney Vance, Conor Leslie, Jerry Grayson)

World Premiere. Narrative

brilliantlove (The Orgasm Diaries)

Review preview for brilliantlove

Brilliantlove falls hard on its bare backside between the two stools of pornography and erotica.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A hot summer of young love.

(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Ashley Horner; Writer: Sean Conway; Stars: Nancy Trotter Landry, Liam Browne, Jack Dawson, Jessica Appleby, Stephen Beardsley, Mike Elliott, Michael Hodgson, Arabella Arnott, Stephen Bent, John McMahon, Wendy Newman, Tony Danks, Cliff Burnett, Brian Hutchinson, Brian Rush)

Full review See: Tribeca diary and capsule reviews: Legacy, My Brothers, Zonad, Brilliantlove

World Premiere. Narrative

Elvis & Madona (Elvis e Madona)

The lives of a beautiful biker babe and a tall blonde trannie intertwine in this vibrant Rio-set romantic comedy.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2008; Director: Marcelo Laffitte; Writer: Marcelo Laffitte; Stars: Catarina Abdala, Wendell Bendelack, Sérgio Bezerra, Arthur Brandão, Fabianna Brazil, Igor Cotrim, Alexandre da Costa, Jayme del Cueto, Romeu Evaristo, Buza Ferraz, Karan Machado, Pia Manfroni, Rodrigo Micheli, Mayana Moura, Duse Nacarati) , Official site

North American and TFF Virtual Premiere. Narrative

Gerrymandering

This wake-up-call doc exposes the hidden history of our country’s redistricting wars, mapping battles that take place out of public scrutiny but shape the electoral landscape of American politics for decades at time, posing a threat not just to Democrats and Republicans, but democracy as a whole.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Jeff Reichert; Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gray Davis, Howard Dean, Pete Wilson, Ben Barnes, Ed Rollins, Alan S. Lowenthal, Bob Graham) , Official site

World Premiere. Documentary

The Infidel

Mahmud Nasir (Omid Djalili) may not be the most observant Muslim, but deep down he is a true believer. His life is turned upside down when he learns he was adopted — but most scandalous is that his birth mother was Jewish.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Josh Appignanesi; Writer: David Baddiel; Stars: Matt Lucas, Archie Panjabi, Yigal Naor, Omid Djalili, Richard Schiff, Paul Kaye, Chris Wilson, Miranda Hart, James Floyd, David Schneider, Mina Anwar, Bhasker Patel, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Adrian Schiller, Soraya Radford) , Official site

International Premiere. Narrative

Into The Cold: A Journey of the Soul

With the vast arctic ice vanishing rapidly, photographer, extreme adventurer, and environmental advocate Sebastian Copeland sets out to reach the North Pole on the centennial of Admiral Peary’s reach in 1909. This documentary follows their tumultuous two-month trek.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Sebastian Copeland; Writer: Sebastian Copeland; Stars: Sebastian Copeland, Keith Heger)

World and TFF Virtual Premiere. Documentary

Just Like Us

First-time director Ahmed Ahmed takes us on a hilarious tour from Dubai to Beirut, Riyadh to New York with a gaggle of other stand-up talent, including Maz Jobrani, Tom Papa, Ted Alexandro, Tommy Davidson, and Omid Djalili (The Infidel). Along the way, taboos of culture and geopolitics are exploded, and a younger generation of both comedy talents and audiences is born.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Ahmed Ahmed; Stars: Ahmed Ahmed, Ted Alexandro, Sherif Azab, Whitney Cummings, Tommy Davidson, Omid Djalili, Erik Griffin, Maz Jobrani, Sebastian Maniscalco, Eman Morgan, Tom Papa, Maria Shehata, Angelo Tsarouchas, Noel Elgrably) , Official site

World Premiere. Documentary

Keep Surfing

This kinetic and fast-paced documentary will put you right on the Eisbach in the heart of Munich, where river-surfing was invented 35 years ago.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Bjoern Richie Lob; Writer: Bjoern Richie Lob, Benjamin Quabeck; Stars: Dieter Deventer, Steffen Dittrich, Mark Steffan Gassner, Markus Knörringer, Florian Kummer, Elijah Mack, Matthias Ramoser, Quirin Rohleder, Gerhard Schlegel, Walter Strasser)

International Premiere. Documentary

Legacy: Black Ops

Review preview for Legacy: Black Ops

The real star here is creator Eromose.

Paul Griffiths · 3.5 out of 5
A former special agent holed up in a hotel room in the aftermath of a failed Eastern European mission grows suspicious of his brother's political success.

(Country: Nigeria, UK; Year: 2010; Director: Eromose; Writer: Eromose; Stars: Idris Elba, Eamonn Walker, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Richard Brake) , Official site

Full review See: Legacy interview with Idris Elba, Thomas Ikimi, Eammonn Walker , Tribeca diary and capsule reviews: Legacy, My Brothers, Zonad, Brilliantlove

International Premiere. Narrative

Meskada

A Catskills police detective (Nick Stahl) charged with investigating a juvenile homicide in an affluent suburb finds he must return to his struggling hometown of Caswell to find the killers. As his investigation picks up intensity, the grieving mother begins a battle of will and vengeance with members of Caswell, igniting a class war between two vastly different towns in rural America.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Josh Sternfeld; Writer: Josh Sternfeld; Stars: Nick Stahl, Rachel Nichols, Kellan Lutz, Jonathan Tucker, Grace Gummer, Laura Benanti, James McCaffrey, Michael Cerveris, Norman Reedus, David Aaron Baker, Michael Sirow, Kerry Bishé, Rebecca Henderson, Kathy Searle, Charlie Tahan)

World Premiere. Narrative

No Woman, No Cry

More than half a million women each year die from preventable complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Christy Turlington Burns shares the powerful stories of pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in East Africa, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Christy Turlington Burns)

World Premiere. Documentary

The Other City

There's a part of Washington, DC never seen by the tourists and ignored by the mass media. At least three percent of DC is HIV positive, a staggering rate higher than parts of Africa, but the city is also full of encouraging stories of grassroots movements to extend education, combat stigmas, and spread hope.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Susan Koch)

World Premiere. Documentary

The Sentimental Engine Slayer

Review preview for The Sentimental Engine Slayer

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez gives us a sensational taste of his talents in front of and behind the camera.

Scott Macdonald · 3 out of 5
A lonely young man muses on murder.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez; Writer: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez; Stars: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Tatiana Velazquez, Nomar Rizo, Kim Stodel, Rikardo Rodriguez Lopez, Angel Marcelo Rodriguez Chevrez, Marcel Rodriguez Lopez, Becky Vigil, Astrid Magallon, Daniel De La Mar, Chris Salcedo, Valentin Merz, Sonny Kay, Bud William Allen, Ramon Villa)

Full review

North American and TFF Virtual Premiere.

Snowmen

The adventures of Billy, a 10-year-old boy convinced he has only weeks to live, and his misfit friends.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Robert Kirbyson; Writer: Robert Kirbyson; Stars: Bobby Coleman, Josh Flitter, Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd, Beverley Mitchell, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Doug E. Doug, Aaron Sanders, Jillian Henry, Hunter Clary, Bryce Hurless, Jennifer Klekas, Talon G. Ackerman, Christian Martyn, Mason Bromberg) , Official site

World Premiere. Narrative

The Travelogues

Experimental filmmakers Dustin Thompson and Kathryn Ramey (Yanqui Walker and the Optical Revolution, screening with The Travelogues) explore, in richly textured and multilayered fashion, journeys of adventure and conquest. The Travelogues views the natural and manmade landscape through the lens of the filmmaker’s imagination, and Yanqui Walker portrays real-life American William Walker’s ascent to the presidency of Nicaragua in 1856, raising compelling questions about perception and the construction of history.

(Country: France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, US, UK; Year: 2008; Director: Dustin Thompson; Writer: Dustin Thompson; Stars: Dustin Thompson)

World Premiere. Narrative

The Trotsky

Like most high schoolers, Leon Bronstein (Jay Baruchel) is having an identity crisis. What differentiates Leon, however, is that he believes he is the reincarnation of Soviet thinker Leon Trotksy and predestined to follow the same path as his namesake.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: Jacob Tierney; Writer: Jacob Tierney; Stars: Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Liane Balaban, Taylor Baruchel, Dan Beirne, Domini Blythe, Justin Bradley, Geneviève Bujold, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Jesse Camacho, Darren Curtis, Colm Feore, Angela Galuppo, Kyle Gatehouse, Dan Haber)

US Premiere. Narrative