"Blessed by Fire" and "The War Tapes" Among Top Tribeca Film Festival Winners

Two war-inspired films took top honors at the 5th Tribeca Film Festival. "Blessed by Fire" (Iluminados por el Fuego) by Tristan Bauer and U.S. director Deborah Scranton's "The War Tapes" won the Best Narrative Feature prize and Best Documentary Feature prize respectively during an awards dinner this evening (Saturday) in Chinatown in Lower Manhattan. "Fire," (Argentina, Spain) is based on the memoir of a veteran of the Falklands Islands War between Argentina and the U.K. in the early '80s, while present-day Iraq is the backdrop for "War Tapes," which chronicles the stories of several members of a National Guard unit deployed to Iraq sharing their experiences and lives from their point-of-view. Also taking honors this evening were Marwan Hamed for "The Yacoubian Building" for Best New Narrative Filmmaker (Egypt) and Pelin Esmer for "The Play," which took Best New Documentary Filmmaker (Turkey). indieWIRE will publish a full roster of Tribeca '06 winners later this weekend. [Brian Brooks]