News

Kicking off today in the Big Apple is Doc NYC, a festival which showcases the best stories from all over the world in documentary form. One of the highlights of the festival is the world premiere of Peabody and Guggenheim award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha’s latest film, Naila and the Uprising. The film follows Naila Ayesh, who played a key role in the First Intifada, the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history.

Utilizing animation, archival footage, and present-day interviews, it shows her journey — and the other women in the First Intifada — as they fight against injustice. We’re pleased to debut an exclusive clip from the film, featuring animation work from Sharron Mirsky and Dominique Doktor, which shows the forms of resistance that Ayesh and deployed. Check out the clip below.

Award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (Budrus) chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh, who played a key role in...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced today that it has selected 42 jurors for this year’s festival. The jurors include members of the filmmaking community — including Bryce Dallas Howard, Whoopi Goldberg, Paul Haggis, Taraji P. Henson, Kenneth Lonergan, Eva Longoria, Josh Radnor, and Evan Rachel Wood — as well as policy makers and entertainment business leaders.

According to a press release, the seven juries will award $180,000 in cash and prizes during the Festival (April 17-28). Tribeca All Access (Taa) Creative Promise Awards will award an additional $20,000 — $10,000 for narrative and $10,000 for documentary. All winners will also receive a work of original art by...

The Sundance Institute has 13 independent films available through a variety of platforms to rent, download or stream via the Institute’s Artist Services program. Titles include 2012 Sundance Film Festival films Detropia, I Am Not a Hipster, The Atomic States of America, and We’re Not Broke. For full details on where to access these films, please visit sundance.org/nowplaying. (The complete list of new titles available follows below.)

“With the proliferation of new digital outlets these days, Sundance Institute saw a real need to help filmmakers and producers easily access these platforms and to provide information on how best to navigate and take advantage of independent distribution,” said Keri Putnam, Executive Director, Sundance Institute. “ It's exciting to see these filmmakers charting their own path towards finding audiences.”

In addition, to making it easier for audiences to find Sundance Institute and Film Festival films all year long, this year’s online film guide and mobile app for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival includes a new feature from GoWatchIt.com which creates a universal ‘queue’ so fans can be notified as soon as films they are interested in become available in the marketplace. Sundance Institute has also installed GoWatchIt on the Now Playing page (www.sundance.org/nowplaying) for the titles accessing distribution through its Artist Services.

Look for the Artist Services films on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Microsoft Xbox, Netflix, SnagFilms, Sony Entertainment Network, SundanceNOW, Vudu and YouTube. Special bonus video content from the Institute’s archives is available for select titles. The Artist Services program provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work. New Video, a Cinedigm company, is the exclusive aggregation partner for distribution across all portals in the program. The Artist Services initiative is made possible by The Bertha Foundation. These deals were brokered via pro bono legal services generously provided by law firm O’Melveny & Myers, which has built the legal framework for the Artist Services program and participating filmmakers since its inception.

Titles That Are Available:

The American Astronaut (Director and Screenwriter: Cory McAbee) — Sundance Institute Screenwriter’s Lab Fellow Cory McAbee stars in his sci-fi feature film as an interplanetary trader. The film also stars 2012 Independent Spirit Award nominee James Ransone (Starlet, HBO’s Treme and The Wire) as Bodysuit. (2001 Sundance Film Festival)

The Atomic States of America (Directors: Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce) — Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce’s provocative documentary takes viewers on a journey to nuclear reactor communities across the country. (2012 Sundance Film Festival)

Budrus (Director: Julia Bachas) — Documentary filmmaker Julia Bacha’s award-winning 2009 documentary follows a Palestinian community organizer who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save the village of Budrus from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Budrus was produced by Just Vision, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the power and legitimacy of Palestinians and Israelis working nonviolently to end the occupation and resolve the conflict. (2009 Sundance Documentary Film Grant)

Detropia (Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady) — Winner of the Best Documentary Editing Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and nominated for Gotham and Cinema Eye awards, Detropiachronicles the lives of several Detroiters trying to survive and make sense of what is happening to their city – once an industrial utopia, now on the brink of bankruptcy. (2012 Sundance Documentary Film Grant, 2012 Sundance Film Festival)

High School Record (Director and Screenwriter: Ben Wolfinsohn) — In Ben Wolfinsohn’s semi-improvised 2005 “mock doc,” four exceptionally awkward 17-year-olds struggle through their senior year as moments of humiliation and triumph are caught on tape in a documentary shot by fellow classmates at a performing arts high school. (2005 Sundance Film Festival)

I Am Not A Hipster (Director and Screenwriter: Destin Daniel Cretton) — Featuring music by indie electronic band, Canines, and a break-out performance by Dominic Bogart (Flash Forward), Cretton’s music-focused drama premiered at sold-out screenings at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. (2011 and 2012 Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute Grant, 2012 Sundance Film Festival)

Primer (Director and Screenwriter: Shane Carruth) — Shane Carruth’s cult classic won the Grand Jury Prize and Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Timed to the premiere of the director’s much-anticipated follow-up film, Upstream Color, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. (2004 Sundance Film Festival)

Pursuit of Loneliness (Director and Screenwriter: Laurence Thrush) — Award-winning director Laurence Thrush’s (Left Handed) 2012 Sundance Film Festival premiere stars a cast of non-professional actors depicted in their own workplace roles. (2012 Sundance Film Festival)

The Slaughter Rule (Directors: Alex Smith and Andrew Smith) — David Morse (Treme) and Ryan Gosling (Drive) star in Alex and Andrew Smith’s feature writing-directorial debut about a fatherless high-school quarterback. Nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards’ John Cassavetes Award.. (2002 Sundance Film Festival)

Stingray Sam (Director and screenwriter: Cory McAbee) — Cory McAbee’s 2009 follow up to The American Astronaut features writer-director McAbee as Stingray Sam and “Crugie” as The Quasar Kid, two space convicts in a series of episodic adventures narrated by David Hyde Pierce (Frasier). (2009 Sundance Film Festival)

to.get.her (Director and screenwriter: Erica Dunton) — Five teenage girls with a shared secret get together for a weekend of “no consequences” in this 2011 Sundance Film Festival premiere that won the Best of Next <=> Audience Award. Actress-model Jazzy De Lisser stars in a “mystery” written and directed by Erica Dunton (The 27 Club). (2011 Sundance Film Festival)

Wave Twisters (Directors: Eric Henry and Syd Garon) — Animators Syd Garon (Superheroes, Last Call at the Oasis) and Eric Henry’s “turntablism-based musical” won the 2001 Midnight Films Audience Award at the 2001 SXSW Film Festival. Scripted to a recording by “scratch” artist DJ Qbert, Wave Twisters follows a group of heroes traveling through inner-space on a quest to save the lost art of Hip Hop. (2001 Sundance Film Festival)

We're Not Broke (Directors: Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce) — A timely exposé on how the government has allowed U.S. corporations to avoid paying taxes, and the growing wave of discontent that is has fostered. A 2012 Sundance Film Festival premiere from the filmmakers of The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt. (2012 Sundance Film Festival)

Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Earlier this week in a gala event in Berlin, Puma and Britdoc have given the Puma.Creative Impact award for Julia Bacha's "Budrus," recognizing it as the film released in the past two years that has made the most significant positive social or environmental impact.  "Budrus tells the story of the coming together of Palestinian communities and Israelis to stage a peaceful protest against Israel's Separation Banner encroachment of their village.  The Creative Impact award both rewards the filmmaker for their accomplishment and honors the film's social campaign with a 50,000 Euro Award.  Josh Fox's "Gasland," a film about the filmmakers' campaign to show law- and policymakers the effects of using the fracking to extract gas from the ground that screened all over the U.S. and world took a Special Jury Prize. Read More: Is The Issue Doc Dead? How 'Gasland' and 'Hillary' Show Things Aren't Looking...

Composed entirely of footage taken by a West Bank Palestinian, this account of the oppresion of a village is the kind of material that rarely makes the news

This sombre movie bears comparison with Julia Bacha's 2009 documentary Budrus; it is also about a Palestinian village on the West Bank, substantially but precariously dependent on olive farming, which is threatened with obliteration by the Israeli government's anti-terrorist barrier. Bil'in is a village near Ramallah, where a farmer called Emad Burnat bought a video camera to film his baby son Gibreel – but found himself using it instead to record images of the struggle and protest against the wall. Altogether, Burnat got through five cameras, smashed and shot by the army. He himself suffered wounding, saw injury and death visited on his community, and most poignantly of all saw his son Gibreel grow up, hardened by events that most children his age do not see.

Emily Smith A scene from ‘My Neighborhood.’

Queen Noor of Jordan began supporting filmmaker Julia Bacha and her production company Just Vision in 2009 after they were awarded the King Hussein Foundation Leadership Prize for the documentary “Budrus.” The film tells the story of how a group of Palestinians from Hamas and Fatah, and Israelis fought the military’s building of a security fence that would cut off the village of Budrus.

On April 21, Just Vision’s latest documentary, “My Neighborhood,...

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off for the eleventh time starting Wednesday when "The Five-Year Engagement" premieres, and festival organizers have just announced the star-studded jury for this year's edition.

Thirty-nine celebrities -- of various levels of fame and awards kudos -- make up the six juries, with producer Irwin Winkler ("Goodfellas") serving a jury president.

Among those selected by Tribeca this year: Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore and Olivia Wilde. Also on the list: Brett Ratner. The controversial big-budget director will serve on the Documentary and Student Short Film Competition jury along with Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun, Susan Sarandon and Shailene Woodley, among others.

“We are honored to have this accomplished group dedicate the time and care it takes to view and discuss the films in competition this year,” Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal said in a statement.

For...

It’s a star-studded list that includes some interesting, and surprising, names, which is just what you’d expect from the Tribeca Film Festival. The juries have been announced, and you could hardly got a more varied mix.

Juries Announced For 2012 Tribeca Film Festival And Tribeca Film Institute Programs

Academy Award-Winning Producer/Director Irwin Winkler To Serve as Jury President

Patricia Clarkson, Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Dakota Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Susannah Grant, Kellan Lutz, Michael Moore, Mike Newell, Brett Ratner, Susan Sarandon, Olivia Wilde, and Shailene Woodley are among the Jurors

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by founding partner American Express, today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 39 individuals, including award-winning filmmakers, writers and producers, acclaimed actors, respected critics and global business leaders. Irwin Winkler has been named President of the Jury. The Jury will be divided among the six competitive Festival categories and will announce the winning films,...

Conversations this International Day of Peace will this year undoubtedly be focused on Palestinians' bid for Un membership, the latest development in the decades-old Israel-Palestine conflict. Brazilian filmmaker Julia Bacha has spent years in the Middle East and, as she notes at the top of her recent Ted Talk, one of the most common questions she's asked is, "Where are the Palestinian Ghandis?"

Fact of the matter is, they exist, and they're hard at work, trying to bring about nonviolent solutions, one confrontation at a time. In 2003, the Palestinian village of Budrus mounted a 10-month-long nonviolent protest to stop a barrier being built across their olive groves — successfully — and Bacha was there to document the saga in full as it unfolded in her film, Budrus.

Budrus is an inspiration, and for 24 hours, Mubi is teaming up with Just Vision, Typecast and Antidote Films to present the doc for free in the Us,...

A Tribeca Film Institute Panel at the New School this week mulled over just this topic. From the program:

You’ve completed your school work and made a few films in school, and now you need to figure out your next steps. What career options exist for filmmakers? How can you develop and raise money for a film project and still cover your living expenses? This panel addresses these questions and provides examples and answers relevant to all makers of film and other media.

The panelists:

Sharon Badal (Moderator) is head short film programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival.

Sandi DuBowski is the Director/Producer of Trembling Before G-d, Producer of A Jihad for Love, and Co-Producer of Budrus.

Macky Alston is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, an educator on issues of media and religion, an organizer within the worlds of philanthropy and media-making, and a regular writer and reviewer on film and religion

Moon Molson?...

Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew's "Atletu" took home high honors from the 7th annual Bahamas International Film Festival over the weekend. The Ethiopian sports drama about former Olympic Gold Medal winner Abebe Bikila won the Spirit of Freedom (Narrative) competition and was also named as the recipient of the Festival's Audience Award for best feature narrative. The Israeli-American documentary "Budrus," from director Julia Bacha, won the Spirit of Freedom prize ...

Bran Nue Dae and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole have been nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in the Best Children’s Film and Best Animated Film categories respectively.

New Zealand’s Boy was also nominated for Best Children’s Film, and Australian actor Tony Barry has been recognised for his performance in that country’s feature Home by Christmas.

The Jury is headed by producer Lord David Puttnam, and winners will be announced on the Gold Coast on December 2.

The nominees are:

Best Feature Film

Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock)

People’s Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Produced by Guo Yanhong, Han Sanping, Wang Zhonjun, Peter Lam Kin Ngok, Wang Tonguan and Albert Yeung.

Bal (Honey)

Turkey / Germany

Produced by Semih Kaplanoðlu.

Co-Produced by Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper.

Mengjia (Monga)

Taiwan

Produced by Lee Lieh and Doze Niu Chen-zer.

Paju

Republic of Korea

Produced...

Brazilian filmmaker Julia Bacha explains the global impact her powerful documentary Budrus has had around the world since premiering at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. Still from the film Budrus We learned that the women of Budrus, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, know how to put up a fight - but a nonviolent one. Back in 2003, we heard about a nonviolent protest in Budrus, which was about to be divided by Israel's Separation Barrier. It was a potentially devastating situation for the inhabitants: not only were they going to be split apart from neighbors and their cemetery, but most damaging of all - the olive trees, which were their livelihood. Many Israelis we've met echoed the refrain that if Palestinians adopted nonviolent means, there would be peace, and Budrus was an opportunity to put this idea to the test. What transpired over ten months was an unprecedented display of...

Enter The Void (18)

(Gaspar Noé, 2009, Fra/Ger/Ita) Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy. 143 mins

Noé adjusts your set from the inside with a film so hallucinogenic you might need to check into rehab afterwards. Despite some of the furthest-out visuals ever seen, nobody could accuse him of glamorising drugs. Following an American loser through the sleazy side of Tokyo, mostly after his death, it's a long, miserable tale, but the execution is amazing.

The Town (15)

(Ben Affleck, 2010, Us) Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall. 125 mins

Affleck takes on a whole Boston district in this crime saga, which overextends him a little. It's a serious drama struggling to get out of a generic cops-and-robbers thriller.

Eat Pray Love (PG)

(Ryan Murphy, 2010, Us) Julia Roberts, James Franco, Javier Bardem. 140 mins

Roberts goes to Italy, India and Bali but she's never been to "me" in this emetic hymn to self-absorption.

World's Greatest Dad (15)

(Bobcat Goldthwait,...

This Event Is Over.

Tickets For 12/6 In Washington DC And 12/8 In Boston Will Be On Sale Soon.

Ida proudly presents conversation and clips with Julia Bacha, a key member of the creative teams behind the award-winning documentaries Encounter Point, Control Room and her latest, Budrus.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 in New YorkDoors Open: 7:00pmDiscussion & Audience Q&A: 7:30pm - 9:30pm

Tribeca Cinemas54 Varick StreetNew York, NY 10013

 

For More Info And To Buy Tickets, Visit The Event Page

 

Special Support Provided by the Academy Of ...

Telling documentary about a village on the Palestinian West Bank. By Peter Bradshaw

This thought-provoking piece from documentary-maker Julia Bacha is about the village of Budrus, on the Palestinian West Bank. It found itself in a frightening territorial stranglehold when the Israeli government began to build its anti-terrorist "barrier" wall in 2003 to guard against suicide-bomber incursions. The villagers' livelihood depended utterly on the olive trees which were brutally uprooted by the army bulldozers to make way for the wall, whose route snaked around in such a way as to cut off communities from each other and make their living all but impossible. Former Fatah activist Ayed Morrar organises an avowedly non-violent resistance with the help of sympathetic Israeli liberals and international observer-activists. The "non-violence" of course comes under strain when the Idf's irresistible force comes into contact with the protesters' immovable object. What is so arresting about Bacha's film is...

In this week's action-packed show, Jason meets Hollywood legend Robin Williams and director/writer Bobcat Goldthwait to discuss their darkly comic new film, World's Greatest Dad.

Jason also speaks to documentary producer Ronit Avni about his challenging and humanitarian new film, Budrus, which tells the story of how one small community of Palestinians saw off the Israeli army peacefully.

Xan Brooks pops in to review some of this week's other releases including Ben Affleck's cop thriller The Town, Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love and Gasper Noé's intense drama Enter the Void.

Plus, Andrew Pulver discusses the Film Power 100 – the Guardian's list of the people who influence most what UK audiences see on the big screen – which kicks off the Guardian and Observer Film Season 2010 in Friday's Film & Music.

Jason SolomonsXan BrooksAndrew PulverJason Phipps...

The award-winning feature doc "Budrus," from director Julia Bacha, will be coming to select theaters nationwide this fall via Balcony Releasing. A hit on the festival circuit, and winner at Tribeca and Berlinale, Balcony will open "Budrus" in New York on October 8 and Los Angeles on October 22, in advance of its national roll-out. Bacha's film, a Just Vision production, profiles a Ayed Morrar, a Palestinian community organizer, who unites ...

2010 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Awards

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When We Leave (Die Fremde), Dog Pound, Monica & David, And The Arbor Win Top Awards In Juried World Competitions

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More Than $150,000 Handed Out In Cash Prizes

[April 29, 2010 – New York, NY] –The ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its world competition categories tonight at a ceremony hosted at the W Union Square in New York City.

The world competition winners for narrative and documentary films were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 20 countries. Two awards were given to honor New York films, which were chosen from seven narrative and six documentary features. Awards were also given for the best narrative, best documentary and student visionary films in the short film competitions. This year’s Festival included 85 features and 47 short films from 38 countries.

Also announced at the awards were the...

The ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival announced its winners Thursday night at a ceremony hosted at the W Union Square in New York City.

“The award winning films selected by the jury each features strong characters and subjects; these films challenge you to see the world from another perspective,” said Jane Rosenthal. “I wish all the filmmakers continued success and hope that they will bring their work back to Tribeca in the years to come.”

Following are the winners and their awards:

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – When We Leave (Die Fremde), directed and written by Feo Aladag. (Germany).

Special Jury Mention: Loose Cannons, directed by Ferzan Ozpetek and written by Ferzan Ozpetek and Ivan Cotroneo.

Best New Narrative Filmmaker – Kim Chapiron for Dog Pound, written by Kim Chapiron and Jeremie Delon. (France).

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg in Gainsbourg, Je t’Aime … Moi Non Plus,...

Tonight, as the Tribeca Film Festival comes to an end, the Festival Awards were announced. This year the jury was comprised of Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Alba, Cheryl Hines, America Ferrera, Justin Bartha, Brooke Shields, Alicia Keys, Zach Braff, Aidan Quinn, Hope Davis, Gary Ross, Selma Blair, Peter Facinelli, Whoopi Goldberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey were among the 35 festival jurors.

The big prize for Best Narrative Feature went to, “When We Leave” (Germany), written and directed by Feo Aladag. Also Best Documentary Feature went to, “Monica & David” (USA) directed by Alexandra Codina. You can read my review of “Monica & David”. The film follows a married couple with Down Syndrome, learning to live together and wanting to gain more adult responsiblities was the most charming film I’ve seen during the festival. The couple accepted the award in New York City.

Although I am personally disappointed my favorite documentary, “The Arbor” didn’t get the award,...

While Tribeca is being called the Alex Gibney festival, Brian Whisenant saw another documentary that was generating much buzz. Tribeca 2010: Budrus By Brian Whisenant There is something to be said of festival buzz.

TribecaFilm.com: Tell us a little about Budrus. Julia Bacha: Budrus is a small Palestinian village that might carry the secret for ending the Middle East conflict in a pluralistic and nonviolent way. In the film Budrus, we tell the story of Palestinian community organizer Ayed Morrar, who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter Iltezam launches a women's contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. TribecaFilm.com: What inspired you to tell this story? Jb: Budrus inspired everyone at Just Vision, the organization I work for. We wanted to put this village on the map since most people have never heard about it.

Join Tff at the Apple Store SoHo, Sunday, April 18, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. Tribeca and Apple are holding a special pre-Festival meet-and-greet event, featuring a range of filmmakers representing the breadth of work in this year's Festival. From Off-Broadway cabaret pioneers (Arias with a Twist) to abuse of political power at the highest levels (Gerrymandering), the documentaries featured here will take you to places you've never been before. The narratives, too, are a spectrum of cinematic experiences, from racy back-alley trysts in Monogamy to Meskada's portrait of rural American class struggle. Watch as Tribeca filmmakers unveil clips and trailers from some of this year's most anticipated films, discuss their work, and answer questions from the audience. 4:00 - 4:45 Julia Bacha, Budrus In one of the most conflicted parts of the world, a Palestinian family man unites rival parties ...

While most eyes are on Austin, Texas this week for SXSW, many people on the East Coast eagerly await a closer show as this year’s Tribeca Film Festival kicks off on April 21st. The festival is mainly for indie pictures, rather than the larger, blockbuster films, but is also a great place for up-and-coming directors and writers to showcase their work.

With the festival coming up in just over a month, they are already rolling out this year’s schedule and have announced the first 34 films out of a total of 85 feature length and 47 shorts screening at this year’s fest. Among the titles were those submitted to the World Narrative and Documentary competition, as well as the Showcase and Special Events.

Some of the titles look to be quite intriguing, and could include some of the bigger names of the next decade. Be sure to check out the...

9th Annual Festival to Present 85 Feature-Length and 47 Short Film Selections from April 21 – May 2, 2010

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Tribeca Film Festival Virtual and Tribeca Film Boost Festival Reach

New York, NY [March 10, 2010] – The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, the Founding Sponsor of the Festival, today announced the first 34 films to be presented among the 85 feature length and 47 short films at this year’s Festival. The 34 titles include 24 World Narrative and Documentary Competition films, as well as out-of-competition feature film selections in the Showcase and Special Events sections.

The 2010 Tff will take place from April 21 to May 2 in lower Manhattan. The 2010 film selection encompasses feature films from 38 different countries, including 45 World Premieres, 7 International Premieres, 14 North American Premieres, 6 U.S. Premieres and 12 New York Premieres, among which are 7 titles which are part of the fourth annual Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival. 96 directors will be presenting feature works at the Festival, with 38 of these filmmakers presenting...

The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival has announced its scheduled lineup -- and just like its home, New York City, its got a little bit of everything.

The Festival will kick off with the world premiere of DreamWorks' 3D "Shrek Forever After."

But then it launches into a darker realm with documentaries like Alex Gibney's latest. The Oscar-winning director ("Taxi to the Dark Side") will screen his new untitled doc on the former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, who resigned his post in 2008 due to a sex scandal, as a work-in-progress. The film will screen as one of three special events that festival organizers announced Wednesday (Mar. 10).

The Special Events section also includes another work-in-progress screening of "The Western Front." This documentary follows its writer/director and Marine, Zachary Iscol, who returns to his battle site in Iraq's Al Anbar province. David Lean's 1965 classic "Doctor Zhivago" got a make-over for its 45th anniversary,...

Tribeca International Film Festival announced the first 34 feature films of the 2010 festival slate. “This year’s competition, the core of the Festival, represents contemporary international filmmaking at its finest, bringing together fresh voices with established storytellers. These stories will leave audiences engaged, as well as entertained, which is what our Festival is all about,” said David Kwok, Director of Programming for the Tribeca Film Festival.

Representing 8 countries, this year’s World Narrative Feature Competition will be an international film collection created by many first- and second-time directors. 7 of the films here in this section are World Premieres. Road, Movie directed by Dev Benegal will be screened in ‘Showcase’ section of the festival. The lineup is as follows:

World Narrative Feature Competition "Buried Land," directed by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes and Steven Eastwood, written by Rhodes, Eastwood and Dzenan Medanovic. Set in a war-torn town in Bosnia that attracts tourists visiting ancient pyramids.

Alex Gibney's latest documentary, a portrait of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned his post in 2008 because of a sex scandal, will be spotlighted at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, which runs from April 21 to May 2 in New York.

The currently untitled film from the director of the Oscar-winning "Taxi to the Dark Side," will screen as a work-in-progress as one of three special events that festival organizers unveiled today.

"I think people will be really surprised," said David Kwok, the festival's director of programming. "It doesn't just focus on the scandal. It's more comprehensive than that, looking at Eliot Spitzer as a person and at his entire career."

Also playing in the fest's Special Events section are David Lean's 1965 epic "Doctor Zhivago," marking its 45th anniversary with a new restoration that will be released by Warner Home Video, and a work-in-progress screening of the doc "The Western Front,...

Until women reach a 50-50 parity with men directors, my mission continues to count the women directors in upcoming and recent film festivals (and an occasional informal glance at what’s selling in the markets). Women’s films in Berlin reflect women’s place in the world both in content and in the numbers of women represented as directors, producers, writers, etc. John Cooper of Sundance stresses the increasing and possibly 50-50 parity of women producers, but I am looking at the directors. As March is Women’s History Month (and all the other months are Men’s History Month according to Gloria Steinem’s L.A. Times Article of March 4, 2010) this blog is in honor of all women everywhere.

Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow for winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. La Times puts into perspective the fact that the Best Director Oscar went to Kathryn Bigelow...

With Berlinale wrapped, let's take one last looksie at random celebs working the premieres and photo ops. Part of our irregular red carpet lineup tradition. And then the awardage.

From left to right: I didn't know what Michael Winterbottom looked like, so I've included him here. He's a boyish 48. I think his career is pretty fascinating because it covers so much global ground and differing genre terrain. He's so prolific while still making intelligent films. I'm impatient so prolific works for me. That said, his new noir The Killer Inside Me might be one I'll have to skip. If festival types are so horrified by the violence I'm sure it's more than I can take.

Julianne Moore looking foxy on her way to fifty. She's gone a bit goth here with smoky eyes, black dress and black fingernails. More on her in a bit.

Two-time Oscar nominee Isabelle Adjani, who hasn't been working much,...

Sandi Dubowski (Trembling Before G-d, A Jihad for Love) whose Budrus is now premiering at the Panorama section of the Berlinale (where a total of 54 films from 29 countries have been selected, of which 31 are world premieres and 18 directorial debuts) spoke at Sundance Ff's panel discussion on new modes of distribution entitled Is There A Doctor In The House moderated by IndieWire's beloved Eugene Hernandez, unselfishly offered these links to organizations which support social issue docs:

Active Voice (link), Bavc Producer’s Institute for New Technologies (link), Brave New Films (link), Channel 4 Britdoc Foundation (link), Chicken and Egg Productions (link), Cinereach (link), The Fledgling Fund (link), The Good Pitch (link), Impact Partners (link), the Sundance Documentary Fund (link), Tribeca All Access and the Tribeca Gucci Documentary Fund (link), Workbook Project (link), and many more.

Berlin -- The Berlin film festival's Panorama sidebar is coming back loud and proud this year with a lineup packed with films examining gender identity and the gay movement.

The 2010 Panorama opens Feb. 11 with the Russian film "Jolly Fellows," director Felix Mikhailov's look at the drag queen subculture of a Moscow club.

This year's lineup also features Cheryl Dunye's thriller "The Owls," in which aging lesbians try to get away with murder; and Jake Yuzna's "Open," a series of intertwined love stories featuring gay and trans-gendered partners.

Several of Panorama's documentary selections explores related themes -- such as Crayton Robery's "Making The Boys" about Matt Crowley's ground breaking gay play "The Boys in the Band;" "Cuchillo de Palo," Renate Costa's expose of persecution of homosexuals during the Paraguayan dictatorship and the German doc "Rock Hudson – Dark and Handsome Stranger" from directors Andrew Davies and Andre Schaefer.

Flashbulbs, red carpet, star spotting and the first-ever screening of a much-awaited movie . the line-up for the much-anticipated Diff celebrity Galas at Madinat Arena has been revealed.Rob Marshall.s Nine, a sumptuous multi-layered adaptation of the popular stage play will open the 6th edition of the week-long Festival on December 9. Starring Daniel Day Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren, the film depicts the midlife crisis of a director struggling with creativity which leads him into a series of complicated romantic entanglements- including his wife, his mistress and his muse. The acclaimed director of Chicago (winner of six Oscars including Best Picture) and Memoirs of a Geisha, Marshall is scheduled to direct the next installment of Pirates of the Caribbean. .Joining the opening film are some of the finest and eagerly awaited movies including world premiere of City of Life, the first...