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Tribeca Festival · 2012

Tribeca Festival 2012

Viewpoints

The Festival say: This year’s Viewpoints program presents 14 narrative features and eight documentaries and continues the Festival’s tradition of discovery with high-quality, edgy storytelling from around the globe.

Programme

22 films · 3 reviews

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Babygirl

For as long as she can remember, Bronx teenager Lena has watched her mom Lucy squander her life on a series of deadbeat men. When Victor, her mom’s latest boy toy, starts hitting on Lena, she sets up a trap to expose Victor for the creep he is... but the plan backfires.

(Country: Ireland, US; Year: 2011; Director: Macdara Vallely; Writer: Macdara Vallely; Stars: Yainis Ynoa, Rosa Arredondo, Joshua Rivera, Gleendilys Inoa, Sandra Elizabeth Rodriguez, Jake Siriano, Dante E. Clark, James Andrew O'Connor, Stephanie Andujar, Charles Techman, J. Derek Peith, Jorge Cordova, Hailey Siriano, Michael Devine, Jason Sokoloff)

World premiere. Narrative

Benji

In 1984, 17-year-old Ben Wilson was a symbol of everything promising about Chicago: a sweet-natured youngster from the city’s fabled South Side, and America’s top high school basketball prospect. His senseless murder on the day before his senior season devastated the city of Chicago and sent ripples of anguish nationwide. This is a portrait of him.

(Country: Us; Year: 2012; Director: Coodie and Chike)

World premiere. Documentary

Burn

Detroit is burning. Meet the men and women charged with saving the once-roaring American city that many have written off as dead. With vast stretches of forsaken buildings left as kindling, they face one of the worst arson rates in the world.

(Year: 2012; Director: Tom Putnam, Brenna Sanchez) , Official site

World premiere. Documentary

Caroline And Jackie

When Caroline throws a surprise birthday party for her sister Jackie, what starts as an evening with friends devolves into a night that will change everything, as their bond is tested by the emotional mayhem only sisters can wring.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Adam Christian Clark; Writer: Adam Christian Clark; Stars: Marguerite Moreau, Bitsie Tulloch, David Giuntoli, Valerie Azlynn, Jason Gray-Stanford, David Fuit, Jonny Weston, Mary Newman, Charlotte Branham-Kamp, Flannery Branham-Kamp, Kathleen Asselin, Tony Alfieri)

World premiere. Narrative

Certain People (Katinkas kalas)

A small group of friends — upper-class, art world bohemians in their thirties — gather at Katinka’s summer house to celebrate her birthday. Suddenly during dinner, Katinka’s brother arrives with Linda, a blonde game show hostess whose brusque and liberated manners are entertaining and fresh... at first. During the course of the evening Linda stretches the group’s invisible social rules of hospitality. Contempt starts to grow, and hidden prejudices flare up.

(Year: 2011; Director: Levan Akin; Writer: Levan Akin, Lisa Östberg; Stars: Mia Mountain, Ludde Hagberg, Anitha Flink, Aron Flam, Lisa Östberg, Ulrika Ellemark, Fredrik Lundqvist, Yohanna Idha, Anna Håkansson) , Official site

World premiere. Narrative

Consuming Spirits

. Shooting frame by frame in 16mm, Sullivan seamlessly blends together a range of techniques into a distinct, signature visual style. In the process, he constructs a hypnotic, layered narrative, a suspenseful gothic tale that tracks the intertwined lives of three kindred spirits working at a local newspaper in a Midwestern rust belt town.

(Year: 2012; Director: Chris Sullivan; Writer: Chris Sullivan; Stars: Robert Levy)

World premiere. Narrative

Cut

A filmmaker who owes money to the mob ends up as a human punching bag to repay his debt.

(Year: 2011; Director: Amir Naderi; Writer: Amir Naderi, Shinji Aoyama, Yuichi Tazawa; Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Takako Tokiwa, Takashi Sasano, Shun Sugata, Denden, Takuji Suzuki, Ikuji Nakamura, Satoshi Nikaido, Jun'ichi Hayakawa, Hatsuo Itou) , Official site

US premiere. Narrative

Death Of A Superhero

A terminally ill teenager escapes from reality by drawing a comic book in which he is transformed into a superhero fighting the forces of evil.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Ian Fitzgibbon; Writer: Anthony McCarten; Stars: Andy Serkis, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Aisling Loftus)

US premiere. Narrative

El Gusto

A rhythmic cocktail of European and Arabic traditions, chaabi music was the heart and soul of cosmopolitan Algiers in the 1940s, but the war of independence with France tore apart the peaceful Muslim and Jewish communities that came together to play this unique music. A group of over-the-hill but still fiery musicians reunites after five decades apart in this documentary.

(Year: 2011; Director: Safinez Bousbia; Writer: Safinez Bousbia) , Official site

North American premiere. Documentary

Fairhaven

Jon is well past his glory days on the football field and searching for meaning in the small town of Fairhaven. When his friend Dave comes home for his father’s funeral, the limits of friendship are tested as the past is uncovered.

(Year: 2012; Director: Tom O'Brien; Writer: Chris Messina, Tom O'Brien; Stars: Sarah Paulson, Chris Messina, Rich Sommer, Alexie Gilmore, Natalie Gold, Maryann Plunkett, Georgia Lyman, Tom O'Brien, Phyllis Kay, Ted Reinstein, Paul O'Brien, Tim Haber, Danielle Muehlen, Grace Collins, Dana Collyer) , Official site

World premiere. Narrative

The Fourth Dimension

Review preview for The Fourth Dimension

Fawns completes the troika with a ringing emotional pop.

Paul Griffiths · 3 out of 5
Triplet of short films, conforming to a fixed 'creative brief'.

(Country: US, Poland; Year: 2012; Director: Harmony Korine, Alexsey Fedorchenko, Jan Kwiecinski; Writer: Harmony Korine, Alexsey Fedorchenko, Jan Kwiecinski, Oleg Loevsky, Yaroslava Pulinovich; Stars: Val Kilmer, Igor Sergeev, Justyana Wasilewska, Pawel Tomaszewski, Pawel Smagala)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

Francophrenia (Or Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is)

James Franco stunned the film world when he committed to a regular gig on General Hospital, but the Oscar®-nominated actor had a clever trick up his sleeve. While shooting a key GH episode, Franco brought along a film crew. TFF award winner Ian Olds (Fixer, 2009) then repurposed Franco’s behind-the-scenes footage into an experimental psychological thriller set amid the spectacle of a celebrity’s escalating paranoia, creating a mind-bending exploration of identity.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: James Franco, Ian Olds; Writer: Ian Olds, Paul Felten; Stars: James Franco, Vince Jolivette)

World premiere. Narrative

Journey To Planet X

By day Eric Swain and Troy Bernier are a couple of mild-mannered, middle-aged desk jockeys from Florida, but their wildest dreams come to life after hours when they get together to make fantastical sci-fi movies with the help of a green screen, amateur actors, and retro-futuristic computer graphics.

(Director: Josh Koury , Myles Kane)

World premiere. Documentary

On The Mat

Achieving greatness in high school wrestling requires a level of devotion unmatched perhaps by any other sport. That greatness has become a yearly expectation at Lake Stevens High, winner of seven Washington state championships in the past 10 years. This documentary follows the team over the course of a season.

(Country: US; Director: Fredric Golding)

World premiere. Documentary

Resolution

Review preview for Resolution

Resolution is an excellent amalgamation of horror traits that also stands on its own two feet.

Michael Pattison · 4 out of 5
An attempted intervention at the remote woodland home of a troubled addict reveals unexpected dangers.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead; Writer: Justin Benson; Stars: Peter Cilella, Vinny Curran, Zahn McClarnon, Bill Oberst Jr., Kurt David Anderson, Emily Montague, Skyler Meacham, Carmel Benson, Justin Benson, Catherine Burns, Michael Felker, Josh Higgins, David Clarke Lawson Jr., Bob Low, Melissa E. Low)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

Room 514 (Heder 514)

When a young, idealistic military investigator confronts an elite soldier with accusations of unnecessary violence against a Palestinian man in the Occupied Territories, her quest for justice ends up having far-reaching consequences.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2012; Director: Sharon Bar-Ziv; Writer: Sharon Bar-Ziv; Stars: Oren Farage, Ohad Hall, Hilly Israel, Rafi Kalmar, Guy Kapul, Asia Naifeld, Udi Persi) , Official site

North American premire. Narrative

Rubberneck

Months after a one-night-stand-gone-nowhere with a sexy coworker, sad-sack Boston scientist Paul still finds himself increasingly consumed with obsessive thoughts toward his uninterested colleague. As his impulses become increasingly irresistible, and the repercussions of his actions snowball, the tension mounts.

(Country: US; Director: Alex Karpovsky; Writer: Alex Karpovsky, Garth Donovan)

World premiere. Narrative

Sexy Baby

In the age of runaway social media and “sexting,” raunchy rap songs on pop radio and hardcore pornography at the click of a mouse — what’s it like to be a woman? A girl? A teenage boy? A parent? Following a middle-aged former porn star, a young woman undergoing a controversial surgery, and a 12-year-old girl who’s growing up faster than her parents can handle, Sexy Baby is a startling look at America’s increasingly sex-saturated culture.

(Director: Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus)

World premiere. Documentary

Stones In The Sun

In the 1980s, in the midst of increasing political violence, a young couple, two sisters, and a father and son are driven from Haiti to New York, where they must confront the truths of their interlocked pasts.

(Country: US, Haiti; Year: 2012; Director: Patricia Benoit; Writer: Patricia Benoit; Stars: Edwidge Danticat, Michele Marcelin, Diana Masi, Thierry Saintine, Carlo Mitton, Patricia Rhinvil, James Noel, Iznara Benoit-Kornhauser, Deshja Driggs, Carl Low)

World premiere. Narrative

Supporting Characters

best friends Darryl (Tarik Lowe) and Nick (Alex Karpovsky) are a film editing duo hired to rework a movie in crisis, only to find themselves increasingly consumed with reworking their own personal lives. While Nick begins to question his stable relationship after receiving attentions from the film’s flirtatious starlet, Darryl finds himself falling hard for tempestuous dancer Liana (Melonie Diaz).

(Year: 2012; Director: Daniel Schechter; Writer: Tarik Lowe, Daniel Schechter; Stars: Alex Karpovsky, Tarik Lowe, Arielle Kebbel, Melonie Diaz, Kevin Corrigan, Sophia Takal, Mike Landry, Lena Dunham, Michael Rivera, Sebastian Sozzi, Josh Alexander, Ryan O'Nan, Carlos Velazquez, Stephanie Cieplinski, Preston Lawrence)

World premiere. Narrative

Town Of Runners

Review preview for Town Of Runners

The product of around four years’ filming, Town Of Runners is impressive on several levels.

Emma Slawinski · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary following three young runners from a small Ethiopian town that keeps producing champions.

(Country: Ethiopia, UK; Year: 2012; Director: Jerry Rothwell) , Official site

Full review See: Making the running - Jerry Rothwell talks about shooting Ethiopian documentary Town Of Runners

World premiere. Documentary

Turn Off The Lights

After years behind bars, three young men begin to rediscover lives of aggression and excess in their raucous Roma community. Among them is Alex, a captivating figure with a disturbingly blasé attitude toward violence, women, and guilt. This documentary offers a rare peek into contemporary Roma culture, Alex and his fellow ex-cons reconcile the outside world with the gray-shaded areas of morality with which they all struggle.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2012; Director: Ivana Mladenovic; Writer: Ivana Mladenovic, Bianca Oana)

World premiere. Documentary