Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Tribeca >> 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.
View other Tribeca Festival Films by strand: Midnight, Shorts, Special Screenings, Spotlight, Storyscapes, World Documentary Feature Competition, World Narrative Competition
Kiss The Water and Dancing In Jaffa
Bending Steel
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Dave Carroll)
World premiere. Documentary
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.
Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton
(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 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.
A Birder's Guide To Everything
(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
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.
Bridegroom
(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason; Stars: Shane Bitney-Crone, Tom Bridegroom)
A documentary about a young man whose life is turned upside down when his partner dies
World premiere. Documentary
Cutie And The Boxer
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Zachary Heinzerling; Stars: Ushio Shinohara, Noriko Shinohara)
Two fiercely creative artists continue to spar after 40 years spent head over heels in love.
New York premiere. Documentary
Bridegroom and Wadjda
Dancing In Jaffa
(Year: 2013; Director: Hilla Medalia; Stars: Pierre Dulaine, Ajyal School, Al-Ukhuwa School, Hashmonaim School, Open Democratic School, Weizmann School)
A documentary about a man trying to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together through ballroom dancing.
World premiere. Documentary
Deep Powder
(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
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.
Farah Goes Bang
(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
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.
Flex Is Kings
(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Michael Beach Nichols, Deidre Schoo)
World premiere. Documentary
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.
Floating Skyscrapers (Płynące wieżowce)
(Country: Poland; Year: 2013; Director: Tomasz Wasilewski; Writer: Tomasz Wasilewski)
World premiere. Narrative
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.
What Richard Did and Cutie And The Boxer
Harmony Lessons (Uroki Garmonii)
(Country: Kazakhstan, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Emir Baigazin; Writer: Emir Baigazin; Stars: Timur Aidarbekov)
North American premiere. Narrative
A brutally bullied teenager struggles to avoid getting drawn into a cycle of violence.
Jin
(Country: Turkey; Year: 2013; Director: Reha Erdem; Stars: Deniz Hasgüler, Onur Ünsal, Sabahattin Yakut)
North American premiere. Narrative
A teenage rebel finds herself caught between the guerillas and the army in Turkish Kurdistan's civil war.
Kiss The Water
(Country: US, UK; Year: 2013; Director: Eric Steel)
Portrait of salmon fly-maker Megan Boyd.
World premiere. Documentary
Lenny Cooke
(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie; Stars: Lenny Cooke)
World premiere. Documentary
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.
The Moment
(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
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.
Taboor and Odayaka
Northwest (Nordvest)
(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)
A teenager gets sucked into a turf war.
New York premiere. Narrative
Odayaka
(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)
Two women in Tokyo face a wave of anxiety after the south-east Asian tsunami.
World premiere. Narrative
The Patience Stone (Syngué Sabour)
(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
An Afghan woman tending to her comatose husband gradually finds the means to confound the patriarchal society around her and assert her own voice.
Taboor
(Country: Iran; Year: 2012; Director: Vahid Vakilifar; Stars: Mohammad Rabbanipour)
In a near-future Iran, a man goes about his solitary life.
US premiere. Narrative
Wadjda
(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)
A young Saudi girl who will stop at nothing to earn enough money to buy the bicycle she craves.
US premiere. Narrative
Northwest and Jin
What Richard Did
(Country: Ireland; Year: 2012; Director: Lenny Abrahamson; Writer: Malcolm Campbell; Stars: Jack Reynor, Róisín Murphy, Sam Keeley, Lars Mikkelsen)
When a teenager does something shockingly out of character, his future is threatened.
US premiere. Narrative
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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