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Tribeca Festival · 2013

Tribeca Festival 2013

Viewpoints

Now in its third year, Tribeca’s Viewpoints section is a panorama of the freshest voices in independent film and contemporary documentary from around the world, this year presenting 14 narrative features and eight documentaries.

Programme

21 films · 9 reviews

Jump to a film

Bending Steel

The Cyclone, The Freakshow, The Mermaid Parade: all Coney Island icons. But Chris “Wonder” Schoeck has always preferred the Coney Island Strongman. Bending Steel follows the sweet, unassuming Schoeck as he parlays his extraordinary strength into the pursuit of his lifelong dream. Training with an elite group of men whose hands bend, drag, twist and shred metal, he tackles an enormous physical and mental challenge, taking a surprisingly emotional journey as a result.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Dave Carroll)

World premiere. Documentary

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton

A charismatic and visionary poet and filmmaker who emerged in the artistic renaissance of post-WWII San Francisco, James Broughton led a completely unconventional existence in his lifelong quest for creative artistry, sexual and spiritual love and an evolved state of happiness. Big Joy is a celebratory mosaic of Broughton's deeply intertwined creative and personal lives, vividly depicted through his involvement with a wide array of artists, activists and spiritual guides.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Stephen Silha, Eric Slade; Stars: Davey Havok, George Kuchar, Armistead Maupin, Anna Halprin, Joel Singer)

New York premiere. Documentary

A Birder's Guide To Everything

On the eve of his widowed father’s second wedding, 15-year-old David Portnoy leads the stalwart members of his local Young Birders Society on rollicking, interstate search for an extremely rare duck.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Rob Meyer; Writer: Luke Matheny, Rob Meyer; Stars: Ben Kingsley, Kodi Smit-McPhee, James LeGros, Alex Wolff, Briana Marin, Daniela Lavender, Katie Chang, Ethan Cohn, Andy Prosky, Adam Barrie, Stephen Kunken, Ira Hawkins, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Tobias Campbell, Michael Chen)

World premiere. Narrative

Bridegroom

Review preview for Bridegroom

Affecting interview content builds into a sweet picture of two young people who briefly seemed to have the world at their feet.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A documentary about a young man whose life is turned upside down when his partner dies

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason; Stars: Shane Bitney-Crone, Tom Bridegroom)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary

Cutie And The Boxer

Review preview for Cutie And The Boxer

With such a fascinating subject, it's hard for a documentary to go wrong.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Two fiercely creative artists continue to spar after 40 years spent head over heels in love.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Zachary Heinzerling; Stars: Ushio Shinohara, Noriko Shinohara)

Full review

New York premiere. Documentary

Dancing In Jaffa

Review preview for Dancing In Jaffa

The story told is generally more interesting than the telling of it.

Rebecca Naughten · 3.5 out of 5
A documentary about a man trying to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together through ballroom dancing.

(Year: 2013; Director: Hilla Medalia; Stars: Pierre Dulaine, Ajyal School, Al-Ukhuwa School, Hashmonaim School, Open Democratic School, Weizmann School)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary

Deep Powder

Natasha is a reckless boarding school senior tabbed by her exclusive club to make its yearly cocaine run to Ecuador. Coming along for the ride is Danny, a 20-year-old aspiring hockey player from the other side of the tracks, who may just discover that he has fallen for the wrong girl.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Mo Ogrodnik; Writer: Matt Bardin, Mo Ogrodnik; Stars: Shiloh Fernandez, Haley Bennett, Josh Salatin, John Magaro, Logan Miller, Amanda Mason Warren, Dana Eskelson, Crystal Lonneberg, James Joseph O'Neil, Tibor Feldman, Ivan Santiago The Terrible, Colby Minifie, Frank Caccamo, Thomas Schall, Jonas Bardin)

World premiere. Narrative

Farah Goes Bang

Farah hits the road with her buddies to stump for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, hoping the trip will be her opportunity to finally shed her unwanted virginity. She soon finds her efforts on both political and sexual fronts continuously thwarted.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Meera Menon; Writer: Laura Goode, Meera Menon; Stars: Michael Steger, Lyman Ward, Kate French, Nikohl Boosheri, Samrat Chakrabarti, Scott McKinley, Daniel J Johnson, DJ Pierce, Kiran Deol, Kandis Erickson, Raymond Lee, Devorah Lynne, Dishington, Shawn Lockie, Grace Parra, Sean McBride)

World premiere. Narrative

Flex Is Kings

Journey to the edge of Brooklyn and of street performance itself in this sparkling portrait of the freeing power of art. Reem is the savvy promoter, Flizzo the undefeated local legend, Jay Don the innovator with the talent to carry him far away from home. Uniting them is a competitive dance form of dramatic contortions, simulated violence, flowing footsteps and the occasional humorous touch. Welcome to the world of Flex.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Michael Beach Nichols, Deidre Schoo)

World premiere. Documentary

Floating Skyscrapers (Płynące wieżowce)

Kuba attends an art opening with his girlfriend of two years and bumps into Mikal. The connection between these two young men is instantaneous and intoxicating, and despite opposition from all sides, he allows Mikal into his life. The results go beyond anything he could have imagined.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2013; Director: Tomasz Wasilewski; Writer: Tomasz Wasilewski)

World premiere. Narrative

Harmony Lessons (Uroki Garmonii)

A brutally bullied teenager struggles to avoid getting drawn into a cycle of violence.

(Country: Kazakhstan, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Emir Baigazin; Writer: Emir Baigazin; Stars: Timur Aidarbekov)

North American premiere. Narrative

Jin

A teenage rebel finds herself caught between the guerillas and the army in Turkish Kurdistan's civil war.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2013; Director: Reha Erdem; Stars: Deniz Hasgüler, Onur Ünsal, Sabahattin Yakut)

North American premiere. Narrative

Kiss The Water

Review preview for Kiss The Water

This is an impressionistic portrait, as multi-faceted and delicate as the flies which we see being created at points through the film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Portrait of salmon fly-maker Megan Boyd.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2013; Director: Eric Steel)

Full review See: Eric Steel interview about Kiss The Water

World premiere. Documentary

Lenny Cooke

Lenny Cooke was the most hyped high school basketball player in the country, ranked above future greats LeBron James, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. A decade later, Lenny has never played a minute in the NBA. This documentary tracks the unfulfilled destiny of a man for whom superstardom was only just out of reach.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie; Stars: Lenny Cooke)

World premiere. Documentary

The Moment

After a tumultuous affair between international photojournalist Lee and troubled artist John ends in John’s disappearance, Lee lands in a mental hospital to recuperate. She strikes up a friendship with a fellow patient bearing an uncanny resemblance to her missing lover. The pair work to uncover the truth behind the disappearance, but Lee’s precarious sanity comes under threat when the clues lead to the last place she would ever expect.

(Director: Jane Weinstock; Writer: Gloria Norris, Jane Weinstock; Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Martin Henderson, Alia Shawkat, Alessandra Torresani, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Kerrie Keane, Anna Diop, Tommy Savas, Alexander Fazel, Xavier Jimenez-March, Kelly ReidLee Christian)

World premiere. Narrative

Northwest (Nordvest)

Review preview for Northwest

A well-shot and occasionally sweaty run around the same old block.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A teenager gets sucked into a turf war.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2013; Director: Michael Noer; Writer: Rasmus Heisterberg, Michael Noer; Stars: Dulfi Al-Jabouri, Hamza Al.Jaburi, Oliver Altman, Kevin Andersen, Irina V Babenko, Jelena Bundalovic, Lene Maria Christensen, Sandra El-Hussein, Nick Philip Engel, Monika Paula Fasula, Gustav Dyekjær Giese, Oscar Dyekjær Giese, Jacob Wagner Guldager, Carsten Hartmann, Nicholas Westwood Kidd)

Full review

New York premiere. Narrative

Odayaka

Review preview for Odayaka

The film - whose bleached palette drips with melancholy - is, ironically given all those pent up emotions Uchida wants to outwardly express, best in its quieter moments.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Two women in Tokyo face a wave of anxiety after the south-east Asian tsunami.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2012; Director: Nobuteru Uchida; Stars: Kiki Sugino, Yûki Shinohara, Takeshi Yamamoto, Yû Koyanagi, Makiko Watanabe, Maho Yamada, Ami Watanabe, Maki Nishiyama, Susumu Terajima, Makoto Ashikawa, Koji Fukada, Kanji Furutachi, Waki Katakura, Yûko Kibiki, Koeda)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

The Patience Stone (Syngué Sabour)

An Afghan woman tending to her comatose husband gradually finds the means to confound the patriarchal society around her and assert her own voice.

(Country: France, Afghanistan, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Atiq Rahimi; Writer: Atiq Rahimi, Jean-Claude Carrière; Stars: Golshifteh Farahani, Hamidreza Javdan, Massi Mrowat)

World premiere. Narrative

Taboor

Review preview for Taboor

If you persevere - and at the screening I attended many did not - the film finds its voice at about the same moment as we hear someone speak for the first time.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
In a near-future Iran, a man goes about his solitary life.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2012; Director: Vahid Vakilifar; Stars: Mohammad Rabbanipour)

Full review

US premiere. Narrative

Wadjda

Review preview for Wadjda

A cracking film by a born filmmaker and I can’t wait to see what all involved in it do next.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
A young Saudi girl who will stop at nothing to earn enough money to buy the bicycle she craves.

(Country: Saudi Arabia, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour; Writer: Haifaa Al-Mansour; Stars: Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd, Sultan Al Assaf, Dana Abdullilah, Rehab Ahmed, Rafa Al Sanea, Mohammed Albahry, Mariam Alghamdi, Ali Algorbani, Sara Aljaber, Mohammed Alkhozain, Maram Alkohzaim, Mariam Alkohzaim)

Full review

US premiere. Narrative

What Richard Did

Review preview for What Richard Did

Subtle and powerful, Abrahmson shows how easy it is for things to turn sour even in the most privileged and upstanding environments.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a teenager does something shockingly out of character, his future is threatened.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2012; Director: Lenny Abrahamson; Writer: Malcolm Campbell; Stars: Jack Reynor, Róisín Murphy, Sam Keeley, Lars Mikkelsen)

Full review

US premiere. Narrative