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Tribeca Festival · 2016

Tribeca Festival 2016

US Narrative Competition

Programme

10 films · 3 reviews

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Always Shine

Review preview for Always Shine

Davis clearly relishes this role and delivers a standout performance, really letting rip.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Psychological drama about obsession, fame, and femininity follows two friends, both actresses, on a trip to Big Sur, to reconnect with one another.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Sophia Takal; Writer: Lawrence Michael Levine; Stars: Mackenzie Davis, Caitlin FitzGerald, Lawrence Michael Levine, Alexander Koch, Jane Adams, Khan Baykal, Colleen Camp, Michael Lowry, Marisa Takal, Mindy Robinson, Robert Longstreet)

Full review

World premiere

AWOL

Joey is a young woman in search of direction in her small town. A visit to an army recruiting office appears to provide a path, but when she meets and falls in love with Rayna that path diverges in ways that neither woman anticipates.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Deb Shoval; Writer: Deb Shoval, Karolina Waclawiak; Stars: Lola Kirke, Breeda Wool, Dale Soules, Bill Sage, Britne Oldford, Ted Welch, Libby George, Charlotte Maltby, Rick Zahn, Chloe Levine)

World premiere

Dean

An illustrator falls hard for an LA woman while trying to prevent his father from selling the family home in the wake of his mother’s death.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Demetri Martin; Writer: Demetri Martin; Stars: Gillian Jacobs, Mary Steenburgen, Briga Heelan, Kevin Kline, Christine Woods, Ginger Gonzaga, Reid Scott, Annie Heise, Demetri Martin, Camille Chen, Rory Scovel, Angelic Zambrana, Carol Commissiong, Meryl Hathaway, Luka Jones)

World premiere

Dreamland

Comedy. Part-time pianist Monty Fagan begins a May-December romance that upends his home life.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Robert Schwartzman; Writer: Benjamin Font, Robert Schwartzman; Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Shay Mitchell, Frankie Shaw, Talia Shire, Beverly D'Angelo, Noël Wells, Alan Ruck, Amy Landecker, Johnny Simmons, Brittany Furlan, Nick Thune, Robin Thomas, Sara Coates, Lilli Birdsell, Parisa Fakhri)

World premiere

The Fixer

After an exiled Afghan journalist arrives in a small town in Northern California, he lands a menial job as a crime reporter for the local newspaper. Restless in his new position, he teams up with an eccentric local to investigate the town’s peculiar subculture only to find things quickly taking a dangerous turn.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Ian Olds; Writer: Ian Olds, Paul Felten; Stars: James Franco, Rachel Brosnahan, Melissa Leo, Dominic Rains, Ari Atken, James Oliver Wheatley, Tony Quintero, Brook Edward Penca, Etienne Vick, Tom O'Reilly, Annie Lore, Molly Shaiken, Jason F. Knittle II, Kel Owens, Mathew Lipisko)

World premiere

Folk Hero & Funny Guy

Review preview for Folk Hero & Funny Guy

Whilst it has something going for it as a study of awkwardness, it never quite takes this far enough to break new ground.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
Two artistically inclined childhood friends, a comedian and a folk-rocker, set out on a tour together in hopes of regaining their “mojo” and finding love in the process.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Jeff Grace; Writer: Jeff Grace; Stars: Alex Karpovsky, Wyatt Russell, Meredith Hagner, Melanie Lynskey, Hannah Simone, Michael Ian Black, Heather Morris, David Cross, Sarah Arnold, Cameran Surles, Alex McKenna, Rachel Staman, Thida Penn, Jessica Rivera, Todd Berger)

Full review

World premiere

Kicks

When his hard-earned kicks get snatched by a local hood, fifteen-year old Brandon and his two best friends go on an ill-advised mission across the Bay Area to retrieve the stolen sneakers.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Justin Tipping; Writer: Joshua Beirne-Golden, Justin Tipping; Stars: Jahking Guillory, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer, Kofi Siriboe, Mahershala Ali, Molly Shaiken, Natalie Stephany Aguilar, Teresa Navarro, Kyndall Ferguson, Justin Hall, John Orantes, Tina Gilton, Bobby Ysip, Camille Elizabeth, Shakeel Sherman)

Opening film. World premiere

Live Cargo

Review preview for Live Cargo

Hemingway and Stanfield are both good in the central roles, with Howze charismatic as the antagonist on the fringes of the island community, but the film never really takes off the way it should.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
A couple try to recover from a tragic loss on the island where one of them grew up.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Logan Sandler; Writer: Thymaya Payne, Logan Sandler; Stars: Keith Stanfield, Dree Hemingway, Robert Wisdom, Leonard Earl Howze, Sam Dillon, Ayumi Iizuka, Frantz Lecoeur)

Full review

World premiere

The Ticket

When a blind man inexplicably regains his vision, he becomes possessed by a drive for a better life — a nicer home, a higher paying job — leaving little room for the people who were part of his old life.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Ido Fluk; Writer: Ido Fluk, Sharon Mashihi; Stars: Malin Akerman, Dan Stevens, Kerry Bishé, Oliver Platt, Liza J. Bennett, Peter Mark Kendall, Skylar Gaertner, Bettina Skye, Ekaterina Samsonov, Richard Lounello, Sal Rendino, Harry L. Seddon, Maryann Urbano, Andrew Polk, Ron Simons)

World premiere

Women Who Kill

Morgan and Jean work well together as true crime podcasters because they didn’t work well, at all, as a couple. When Morgan strikes up a new relationship with the mysterious Simone, their shared interest turns into suspicion, paranoia, and fear.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Ingrid Jungermann; Writer: Ingrid Jungermann; Stars: Annette O'Toole, Sheila Vand, Deborah Rush, Grace Rex, Francis Benhamou, Tami Sagher, Shannon Patricia O'Neill, Rodrigo Lopresti, Terence Nance, Ingrid Jungermann, Doug Moe, Ann Carr, Keisha Zollar, Anna Orlova, Ngozi Jane Anyanwu)

World premiere