Sunday, May 4--------Although it is tempting, it is actually quite difficult to take a diverse event as the Tribeca Film Festival and tie its themes or influences into one neat bow. Film festivals are, after all, about diversity and multiplicity of voices. While the programmers of the event certainly have an overall picture of how the films interact with one another, oftentimes the influences are not that clearly on the surface, and only become revealed days after their initial, sometimes accidental, pairing. There is also the confusing sense that as a member of the Press, my Tribeca viewing experiences were largely sans audience, at specially scheduled Press and Industry Screenings, filled with blasé reviewers and industry mavens. 

Among the predominant themes that one could see from the vast program of 120 films from around the world was the continued vitality of what has been classified as the “coming-of-age” film. This theme seems to be one that never runs its course and is an acknowledged favorite of new directors who draw upon semi-autobiographical themes that have played out in their own lives. That magical and transitional time when a young child forever leaves behind the innocence and certainty of youth for an adulthood where the predominant color is gray (not black nor white) makes for dramatic filmmaking and has a built-in resonance for many audiences. At this year’s event, these themes were played out in a number of excellent films.

In the comic saga BART GOT A ROOM, American director Brian Hecker offers a colorful and quirky comedy about a young man’s panic when he doesn’t yet have a date for his high school prom. With the help of his wacky parents (played by William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines) and a plain-Jane best friend, the young man learns important life lessons as he steps into the role of neurotic adult. A quirky narrative style is also at play in the film BITTER & TWISTED by debut director Christopher Weekes. In this drama of longing and loss, a young man dies and the film flashes forward three years to assess the toll it took on his parents, brother, and ex-girlfriend. A similar atmosphere of loss and redemption is played out in LOST INDULGENCE, a visually stunning meditation on loss by Chinese director Zhang Yibai.  A sense of loneliness and alienation also pervades the French film CHARLY by Isild Le Besco. In this intimate story, a 14 year old boy crosses paths with a tough girl named Charly, who takes him into her mobile home, where an unusual domestic arrangement evolves. The transition from innocence to knowingness is also the theme of the feature documentary GOING ON 13, which follows a group of young girls as they navigate the precarious path to womanhood. 

In the Best Picture-winning film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, Swedish director Tomas Alfredson mixes the classic elements of the coming-of-a (...)

Elliot GouldEmile HirschJane FondaJohn WatersJulianne MooreLiam NeesonNatasha RichardsonRobert De NiroMariah CareyStingMadonnaSteve MartinSigourney Weaver (...)

Saturday, May 3------One of the more intriguing new players in the digital download field is Film Annex. Through its website, Filmannex.com, the company's mission is to provide a new channel for promoting filmmakers and their works as well as distributing their films — to anyone with an Internet connection and selective corporate clients. Since art and independent films (particularly non-English language films) are often hugely popular at film festivals, but suffer at the distribution level to the point where they often remain undistributed or barely available with low revenues. Filmannex.com brings a new form of promotion and distribution for the art and independent film.

Film Annex empowers the filmmaker to take vital decisions for the distribution of his/her productions. The filmmaker decides the sales prices for each film, the type of player (ex. Quicktime, Flash, Microsoft Media, etc.) and the quality/size of each film/file on-line. The filmmaker can post multiple versions of the same film title at different quality and price. The filmmaker is also provided the tools to drive traffic, interest and affiliates to his/her film titles. The Filmannex.com concept is a free, flexible and global way for filmmakers to own their distribution, reach billions of potential viewers and promote their films.

This past week, Film Annex hosted a series of events at the Tribeca Film Festival to promote the company and its creative artists. The Film Annex TriBeCa Project was a series of nightly events, featuring film screenings, great music, and drinks. Events were held at M1-5 (http://www.M1-5.com), a 5000 square feet lounge on 52 Walker Street in Tribeca, New York City.

At the nightly meet-and-greets, Film Annex screened clips from its own collection of classic films, contemporary art installations, and the works of independent filmmakers and animators. Film Annex also showed clips from the latest IFC Films releases as well as short films produced with grants awarded by CTV's Bravo!FACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent).

For more information, log on to: www.filmannex.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Tribeca FF Dailies Editor

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN 

Saturday, May 3-------Following a packed 10-day marathon of film screenings, industry events, seminar panels and chic parties, the Tribeca Film Festival ended this weekend with the announcement of the winners of the juried awards in several categories. The World Competition winners were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 18 countries. Two awards were also given to honor New York films, which were chosen from seven narrative and nine documentary features. Awards were also given for the best narrative, best documentary and student visionary films in the Shorts competition.   

European films figured strongly in the winners circle. The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature was given to LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Lat den rätte komma in) by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson. Novelist John Ajvide Linquit adapted his best-seller to tell the beautifully touching tale of the first romance of 12-year-old Oskar and the girl next door, Eli….who also happens to be a vampire. The jury commented that the film was exceptional “for its mesmerizing exploration of loneliness and alienation through a masterful reexamination of the vampire myth.” Director Tomas Alfredson receives a cash prize of $25,000 plus the art award "Maternal Nocture: Clearing Storm” created by Stephen Hannock.  The film has a North American distribution in place, with Magnet Releasing, the specialty arm of Magnolia Pictures. 

Winner of the Best New Narrative Filmmaker prize is Turkish director Huseyin Karabey for the film MY MARLON AND BRANDO. The film, a co-production with The Netherlands and the UK, is a cross-cultural love story between a Turkish actress living in Istanbul and a Kurdish actor living in Iraq. The story is set on the eve of the American invasion and spins a unique take on the “Romeo And Juliet” legend with contemporary references. The jury praised the film for “its skillful blending of documentary style with a classic love story.” The film had its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The director receives a cash prize of $25,000, sponsored by American Express, and the art award “Bonfire,” created by Ross Bleckner.   

Best Actor honors were shared by Thomas Turgose and Piotr Jagiello, the teenage protagonists of the UK drama SOMERS TOWN, directed by Shane Meadows. Turgose plays a lad from the British Midlands who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jagiello, who plays a Polish refugee living with his construction worker fa (...)

Friday, May 2-------With all the films being screened in a concentrated 10 days at the Tribeca Film Festival, it takes a mix of courage and chutzpah to organize a staged reading to attract distribution and financing interest. But that's exactly what the powers that be at Paradigm Shift Productions and Streamline Filmworks pulled off this past Monday.

The film in question is MONEY MATTERS from award-winning short film director Ryan Richmond. The presentation included a showing of the short film of the same title and the expanded feature film version as a staged reading. The event took place at the City Cinemas Village East (the same theater that hosted the Press and Industry screenings).

MONEY MATTERS is a coming-of-age story about a 14 year-old biracial girl, Monique Matters, who is trying to navigate faith and sexuality in a dysfunctional single-mother household in the rough waters of Washington D.C. When her mother's disturbing past comes to light, the teenage girl, who never knew her white father, now a priest, must face the devastating circumstances of long kept secrets and somehow reconcile her familial relationships before it’s too late.

The short film version of MONEY MATTERS (2001)  played at a number of international film festivals, and was nominated for the IFP Gordon Parks Award and won the Princess Grace Award for Young Filmmakers. The feature version is produced by Mark E. Downie (HUNDRED PERCENT) and executive produced by Sam Pollard, who produced the Spike Lee documentary on Hurricane Katrina, WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE. For more information, contact Mark E. Downie of Paradigm Shift Productions, email: MEDlit4flm@aol.com or log on to the website: www.streamlinefilmworks.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Tribeca FF Dailies Editor

Harvey KeitelIsabella RosseliniDavid BowieDeborah HarrySir Ben KingsleyCheryl HinesChiwetel EjioforEdie FalcoClive OwenBruce WillisFaye Dunaway

Thursday, May 1--------One of the fab parties this week at the Tribeca Film Festival was the Tuesday evening bash at BAR 13, hosted by Wallflower Press, the largest publisher of film books and magazines in the United Kingdom. Yoram Allon, Editorial Director and Publisher, was in Gotham with his wife Nicky Allon and editor Ian Haydn Smith as part of the company’s North American launch of the INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE, the authoritative Yearbook of International Cinema, and FILM & FESTIVALS MAGAZINE, a quarterly covering the world of film festivals.

Wallflower Press arranged with the Tribeca Film Festival to distribute close to 1000 copies of the INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE to Festival Industry Delegates as part of their “welcome bags” (which mainly consisted of thin brochures and gimmicky trinkets). Wallflower Press also distributed the April edition of FILM & FESTIVALS MAGAZINE, which contains a preview article on the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL, as well as wrap and preview coverage of festivals in the first half of 2008 and various feature stories on films, festivals and how-to information for independent filmmakers. 

“The Tribeca Film Festival is a perfect venue for us to reach both American and international industry professionals, filmmakers and media”, said Allon said during the packed-to-the-rafters soiree. “Since taking over the publication of the INTERNATIONAL FILM GUIDE from Variety, our goal is to make it the definitive resource on world cinema. FILM & FESTIVALS is poised to become a significant media presence with the coverage of international film festivals, world cinema and the personalities who make up our business.” 

The Tuesday night fete, held in the James Bond-like Upper Lounge and Roof Deck at BAR 13 was co-hosted by International Media Resources, a New York-based public relations, marketing and editorial services company, and Columbia University Press, the trade publisher and distributor that represents Wallflower Press titles in North America. “This was a great opportunity to meet and greet Tribeca attendees and the New York film and media community”, Allon added. “We see this presence in New York as the first step in a year-long campaign to let both the North American industry and film buffs know about the books that we publish and the new media initiatives that we are launching.” 

Wallflower Press is a London-based independent publishing house specializing in cinema and the moving image. The company publishes over 30 new titles each year and has recently moved into the magazine business with FILM AND FESTIVALS MAGAZINE and other publications. The company will be soon announcing various new media content creation and distribution initiatives for the coming year. For more information, consult the company website: (...)

Thursday, May 1-------Although the Tribeca Film Festival does not have a formal market, the sheer number of World and International Premieres has upped the acquisitions quotient for films participating in the program. In the past week, a number of deals were announced that have given the Festival more “industry cred”.

IFC Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopena's FERMAT’S ROOM. The Spanish drama tells the story of four mathematicians who do not know each other, but are invited by a mysterious host on the pretext of resolving a great enigma. The room in which they find themselves turns out to be a shrinking room that will crush them if they do not discover in time what connects them all and why someone might wish to murder them. The mystery thriller had its world premiere at the Sitges Film Festival, while winning top prizes at Fantosporto in Portugal and the Malaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema in Spain.

Spanish international sales company Filmax has acquired international sales rights and Spanish theatrical rights to PARAISO TRAVEL, which had its North American premiere at the Festival this past week. The film, a US/Colombia co-production directed by Simon Brand, is based on Jorge Franco’s novel and has been a major hit in its native Colombia. In the film, a lovesick teenager follows his seductive girlfriend as they illegally travel from Medellin to New York.  When they become separated, he searches through the dark canyons of New York City to find his true love. Hollywood talent agency CAA is handling North American rights on the film and a deal could soon be announced. Filmax will aggressively market the film to the European theatrical and television markets.

 Britain’s Channel 4 has announced a UK television deal for WAITING FOR HOCKNEY, an American documentary about the artist Billy Pappas, that had its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Festival. In the film, a young working class Baltimore man spends 10 years on a single portrait, believing it is his means to fame and fortune. But he also believes that only one man can lead him there is the famous English artist David Hockney. 

Uber sales company Fortissimo Films (with offices in Amsterdam and Hong Kong) has bought all rights outside of North America for the documentary film CHEVOLUTION, which is also world premiering at the Festival. The documentary, directed by the American team of Trisha Ziff and Luis Lopez, was financed by Red Envelope Entertainment, the distribution arm of Netflix. The film examines how the famous photograph of Che Guevara became an iconic image of revolt and political engagement. The film includes interviews with actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Antonio Banderas, as well as political and cultural figures from Cuba, South America, the US and Europe. The film will be screening in the Cannes Film Market later this month.

Expect more deals to be announced as t (...)

Oscar Winner Sissy Spacek 

Wednesday, April 30------Aside from a multitude of premiere screenings and a rash of industry parties, the Tribeca Film Festival is delivering celebrities and filmmakers up close and personal in a series of special events.

In a number of different discussion serires, the Festival has explored issues and trends in society and the entertainment industry with some of the biggest names in film, literature and media.  The series includes a new program, “Behind the Screens: films and conversations about truth, clarity and responsibility,” and the popular Tribeca Talks Panel Series. 

Sponsored by iShares, “Behind the Screens” has featured three half-hour, in-depth discussions and audience Q&A with film participants following select screenings at the Directors Guild Theater.  “Behind the Screens” debuted this past weekend with the Lake City, a screening of the dramatic feature film followed by a conversation with Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek, about her performance in the film. 

The series continued with a rare public appearance by venerable New York filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles on his semi-autobiographical boisterous adventure Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha, which premiered earlier this week at the Festival. Rounding out the trio of special talks will be Under Our Skin, which examines Lyme disease, an often-overlooked ailment on the verge of epidemic, followed by a discussion with director, Andy Abrahams Wilson, author Amy Tan who has suffered from Lyme disease, and Dr. Richard Horowitz, known for his pioneering work with the disease.

Highlights from this year’s Tribeca Talks Panel Series have included a discussion with world-class director, writer and composer Mike Figgis, who talked about his constant evolution in digital filmmaking; a conversation with BAFTA-winning director, writer and sometime actor Shane Meadows, whose newest film Somers Town premiered in competition this week.

Wired Contributing Editor Eric Steuer, Paul “DJ Spooky” Miller and filmmaker and Webby Award founder Tiffany Shlain will discuss technology, intellectual property and the future of participatory media at Reuse, Remix and Renew: Film Tools for the 21st Century.  Another panel , Click to View: The Future of New Media focused on the fast-growing world of new media and what it means for artists and audiences. The panel featured actress-turned-director Isabella (...)

Tuesday, April 29----Just in case you thought the Tribeca Film Festival was only about movies, the Tribeca Music Lounge opens tonight at the Canal Room, featuring cutting-edge music performances from some of New York and America's most interesting new music artists. Be there or be square.