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Tribeca Festival · 2014

Tribeca Festival 2014

Viewpoints

The festival say: "The core of Tribeca's commitment to launching fresh voices and embracing risky, utterly original storytelling is Viewpoints. Kicking off with the delightfully twisted Summer of Blood, Onur Tukel's comedic reimagining of the vampire genre, the spectrum of boundary-pushing work Viewpoints celebrates is reflected in a bounty of styles, genres, filmmakers, and subjects."

Programme

23 films · 6 reviews

Jump to a film

An Honest Liar

Renowned magician James “The Amazing” Randi, has been wowing audiences with his jaw-dropping illusions, escapes, and sleight of hand for over 50 years. When Randi began seeing his cherished art form co-opted by all manner of con artists, he made it his mission to expose the simple tricks charlatans have borrowed from magicians to swindle the masses. Weinstein and Measom chronicle Randi’s best debunkings, with the help of interviewees including Penn Jillette, Bill Nye, and “Mythbuster” Adam Savage.

(Country: US, Spain, Italy, Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Tyler Measom, Justin Weinstein; Writer: Tyler Measom, Greg O'Toole, Justin Weinstein)

World premiere. Documentary

Art and Craft

Mark Landis is one of the most prolific and notorious ‘artists’ of the century. An expert forger of masterpiece art, Landis has duped curators across the nation, further befuddling them by donating his imitations instead of selling them. Many have dedicated years tracking his escapades with one burning question: “Why?” Framed around a cat-and-mouse chase between Landis and those he has hoodwinked, Art and Craft paints a richly complicated portrait of mental illness, skewed philanthropy, and the desire to feel connected.

(Year: 2014; Director: Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman)

World premiere. Narrative

Bad Hair (Pelo Malo)

Junior is a 9 year-old with "bad hair". His efforts to smooth it down for the school picture incur the wrath of his mother Marta. His grandfather suggests that the boy stay with him on a permanent basis. He doesn't care if he's effeminate; he only wants to secure someone to look after him in his old age. Marta refuses and sets out to "re-educate" her son. Junior wants to live with his mother and for her to love him.

(Country: Venezuela; Year: 2013; Director: Mariana Rondón; Writer: Mariana Rondón; Stars: Beto Benites, Samantha Castillo, Nelly Ramos, María Emilia Sulbarán)

US premiere. Narrative

Below Dreams

A reverie of images and sound, Below Dreams loosely follows the narratives of three very different people returning to New Orleans for the promise of a better life. But as each character experiences the city’s realities, it becomes clear that their individual hopes and dreams may no longer be possible, and that with change must also come sacrifice.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Garrett Bradley; Writer: Garrett Bradley; Stars: Jamaine Johnson, Leanne Miller, Rebecca Matalon, Elliott Ehlers)

US premiere. Narrative

Beneath The Harvest Sky

Coming-of-age tale set on a Maine potato farm.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Aron Gaudet, Gita Pullapilly; Writer: Aron Gaudet, Gita Pullapilly; Stars: Emory Cohen, Callan McAuliffe, Aidan Gillen, W. Earl Brown, Joe Cobden, David Denman, Ava Doyle, Carla Gallo, Dustin Hamman, Zoe Levin, Michael McGrady, Erik Moody, Josh Mostel, Peter Paton, Carrie Preston)

US premiere. Narrative

Black Coal, Thin Ice (Bai ri yan huo)

Review preview for Black Coal, Thin Ice

A painstakingly deliberate neo-noir, heavy on atmosphere and taking its time to build.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A detective falls in love with a woman linked to the murder victims of his current investigation.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Yi'nan Diao; Writer: Yi'nan Diao; Stars: Lun Mei Gwei, Fan Liao, Xuebing Wang)

Full review

North American premiere. Narrative

Broken Hill Blues (Ömheten)

In Kiruna, a small Nordic mining community, the earth trembles day and night. Sparse in dialogue and with a gentle empathy for its protagonists, this directorial debut tells of growing up on very unstable ground.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2013; Director: Sofia Norlin; Writer: Sofia Norlin; Stars: Sebastian Hiort af Ornäs, Alfred Juntti, Lina Leandersson, Ella Nordin, Jenny Sandberg, Pär Andersson, Robin Edholm, Alexandra Dahlström, Sven Björklund, Kemal Görgü, Michael Odhag, Sonja Lindblom, Jesper Johansson, Camaron Silverek, Malin Dahl)

North American premiere. Narrative

Electric Slide

A heightened homage to the City of Angels, Electric Slide riffs on the real-life story of Eddie Dodson, the notorious "Gentleman Bank Robber." With a debonair sophistication and a serious talent for flirt, Dodson managed to lure money from mesmerised female tellers at over 60 banks during an epic spree in the 1980s.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Tristan Patterson; Writer: Timothy Ford, Tristan Patterson, Tristan Patterson; Stars: Chloë Sevigny, Isabel Lucas, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Arquette, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Vinessa Shaw, Christopher Lambert, Cortney Palm, James Ransone, Joe Nieves, Amy Ferguson, Will McCormack, Kendrick Sampson, Oz Perkins, Samantha Colburn)

World premiere. Narrative

Famous Nathan

Nathan’s Famous Frankfurters, a New York City icon, has left a lasting imprint on the collective memory and palate of Coney Island. Director and grandson of ‘Famous’ Nathan himself, Lloyd Handwerker, takes a look back at the immigrant experience and almost 100 years of family and New York history.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Lloyd Handwerker; Writer: Lloyd Handwerker)

World premiere. Documentary

Honeymoon

Review preview for Honeymoon

Shows how tension can be mounted on a budget.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Two newlyweds find their relationship tested in a house by the lake.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Leigh Janiak; Writer: Phil Graziadei, Leigh Janiak; Stars: Rose Leslie, Harry Treadaway, Ben Huber, Hanna Brown, Henry Lawrence)

Full review

New York premiere. Narrative

Ice Poison (Bing Du)

Review preview for Ice Poison

With the pacing so glacial, the predictable story is likely to prove fatal for all but the most patient viewers.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A young farmer becomes a drugs courier in a bid to make ends meet.

(Country: Taiwan, Myanmar; Year: 2014; Director: Midi Z; Writer: Midi Z; Stars: Wang Shin-Hong, Wu Ke-Xi)

Full review See: Interview with Ke-xi Wu about Poor Folk, Silent Asylum, Ice Poison, Road To Mandalay and Nina Wu

North American premiere. Narrative

I Won't Come Back (Ya ne vernus)

Aloof graduate student Anya is on the run from the police when she encounters precocious and willful Kristina, an orphan determined to find her grandmother in Kazakhstan. Kristina offers a momentary solution to Anya’s desperate situation, and the unlikely pair begins a harrowing and unpredictable odyssey, hitchhiking across the epic landscapes of Russia and its neighboring countries.

(Country: Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia, Finland, Belarus; Year: 2014; Director: Ilmar Raag; Writer: Oleg Gaze, Oleg Gaze, Yaroslava Pulinovich; Stars: Andrey Astrakhantsev, Polina Pushkaruk, Vika Lobacheva, Sergey Yatsenyuk, Laina Sergeeva, Olga Belinskaya, Galina Mochalova, Tatyana Zykova, Yuriy Orlov)

World premiere. Narrative

Karpotrotter (Karpopotnik)

A road movie about place, time, and memory, as well as an homage to filmmaker Karpo Godina, whose work flourished during the Black Wave of Yugoslavian filmmaking in the 1960s. Director Matjaž Ivanišin retraces the footsteps of his compatriot’s journey, interlacing Godina’s original Super 8mm footage with folklore music, landscape imagery, and contemporary portraits of the local villagers.

(Country: Slovenia; Year: 2014; Director: Matjaž Ivanišin; Writer: Matjaž Ivanišin, Nebeojša Pop-Tasić)

North American premiere. Narrative

Land Ho!

Review preview for Land Ho!

The contrast between the characters and the actors sparky chemistry means the laughs have a head start, but there is also a considerable amount of psychological terrain being covered.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Two old friends take a trip to Iceland.

(Country: Iceland, US; Year: 2014; Director: Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens; Writer: Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens; Stars: Paul Eenhoorn, Earl Lynn Nelson, Alice Olivia Clarke, Karrie Crouse, Elizabeth McKee, Emmsjé Gauti, Magnús Kr. Guðmundsson, Þrúður Kristjánsdóttir)

Full review See: Land Ho! interview with Earl Lynn Nelson and Paul Eenhoorn

Love And Engineering (Love & Engineering)

Is there an algorithm for love? Atanas, a Bulgarian engineer living in Finland, is determined to find out. With the help of some of his geeky bachelor friends, he sets up a series of experiments to crack the code and develop a new, scientific approach to dating.

(Year: 2014; Director: Tonislav Hristov; Writer: Tonislav Hristov)

International premiere. Documentary

Maravilla

A true underdog story, Maravilla follows Argentinian boxer Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez, as he sets out to reclaim the title of Middleweight champion that was unfairly snatched from him in 2011 by Julio Chavez, Jr.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2014; Director: Juan Pablo Cadaveira)

International premiere. Documentary

The Overnighters

Desperate, broken men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local pastor's decision to help them has extraordinary and unexpected consequences.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Writer: Jesse Moss)

New York premiere. Documentary

The Stag (The Bachelor Weekend)

The presence of an obnoxious soon-to-be brother in law complicates a stag do.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2013; Director: John Butler; Stars: Andrew Scott, Hugh O'Conor, Peter McDonald)

Starred Up

Review preview for Starred Up

Mackenzie shows everyone, inmates and guards alike, to be trapped in a corrupted, corrupting system that resists all change.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
A young offender is relocated to the adult prison where his father is locked up.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: David Mackenzie; Writer: Jonathan Asser; Stars: Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn, Rupert Friend, Anthony Welsh, David Ajala, Ian Beattie, Sam Spruell, Tommy McDonnell, Darren Hart, Peter Ferdinando, Gershwyn Eustache Jr)

Full review See: David Mackenzie in conversation on Starred Up

US premiere. Narrative

Summer Of Blood

Misanthropic and immature Eric faces a premature mid-life crisis after his girlfriend leaves him. With no career and even less charisma in bed, it seems like this loveable loser is beyond hope, until one fateful summer night when a vampire bites him in a Brooklyn alleyway. The next day, Eric finds his confidence invigorated and his stomach in excruciating pain that can only be cured by one thing…blood.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Onur Tukel; Writer: Onur Tukel)

World premiere. Narrative

Traitors

Malika is the lead singer of an all-female punk band and sees music as a means to escape a dull and conservative life in Tangier. When a producer expresses interest in her, she jumps at the chance, but first she’ll need to find the money for recording, and a drug run across the Moroccan border may be her only option.

(Country: Morocco, US; Year: 2013; Director: Sean Gullette; Writer: Sean Gullette; Stars: Chaimae Ben Acha, Soufia Issami, Mourade Zeguendi, Driss Roukhe, Nadia Niazi, Morjana Alaoui)

North American premiere. Narrative

Vara: A Blessing

A woman agrees to pose for a sculptor, despite the risks.

(Country: Hong Kong, US; Year: 2013; Director: Khyentse Norbu; Writer: Sunil Gangopadhyay, Khyentse Norbu; Stars: Shahana Goswami, Mohamed Adamaly, Swaroopa Ghosh, Rohit Raj, Devesh Ranjan, Rajah Ganesshan, Gayan Anuradha Dissanayake, Ruvin De Silva, Kaushalya Navaratne, Geeta Chandran, Maximus Alles, Kushan Weerasuriya, Dhanushka Nilaweera, Shehan Omerdeen, Chinthaka Fernando)

North American premiere. Narrative

Young Bodies Heal Quickly

Review preview for Young Bodies Heal Quickly

The film, shot on 16mm by Sean Williams, gives the film a retro out-of-time feel and Betzer gives us room to think, the spartan scripting matched by a minimalistic approach to the music.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Two boys go on the run after committing a crime.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Andrew T Betzer; Writer: Andrew T Betzer; Stars: Kate Lyn Sheil, Julie Sokolowski, Hale Lytle, Daniel P. Jones, Gabriel Croft, Alexandre Marouani, Judson Rosebush, Johnathan Frasier, Sandra L. Hale, Arthur Velwest, Mosiah Maddox, Adrian Lemon, Pilisa Mackey, Jay Featherstone, Ali Lynch)

Full review See: Director Andrew T Betzer interview about Young Bodies Heal Quickly

World premiere. Narrative