“Elly” and “Racing Dreams” Triumph at Tribeca Fest

Asghar Farhadi, director of "About Elly" with Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert DeNiro, tonight at the Tribeca fest. Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE

Iranian director Asghar Farhad’s “About Elly” won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature tonight in New York and Marshall Curry’s “Racing Dreams” took Tribeca’s Best Documentary Feature prize at a ceremony attended by Tribeca Film Festival co-founders Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal and hosted by Gideon Yago.

The prize for “Elly’s” Farhad includes $25,000 and the artwork “Rockets and the Red Lights (Mass MoCA # 70) by Stephen Hannock. While “Dreams’” Curry took Tribeca’s Best Documentary Feature prize which includes $25,000 and the artwork “Sky III,” created by Clifford Ross in addition to two voyage certificates for a Transatlantic crossing on Queen Mary 2.

Also taking home prizes tonight were director Rune Denstad Langlo (“North) who received the Best New Narrative Filmmaker nod ($25,000) and “The Eclipse” star Ciaran Hinds who received the Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film award. Zoe Kazan (“The Exploding Girl”) took the prize for Best Actress in the same category. Ian Olds, meanwhile, won the Best New Documentary Filmmaker prize for his film, “Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi ($25,000).

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Best Narrative Short winner Carlos Chahine “The North Road” with shorts jury members Debra Messing and Mary-Kate Olsen. Photo by Brian Brooks. The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival screened a pared down 85 features and 47 short films from 36 countries. The doc and narrative world competitions included 12 films in each category. TFF’s Heineken Audience Award winner will be announced May 2 at the festival wrap party. “I am delighted that we have awarded films from such diverse origins; helping to launch careers, establish names and tell stories that would otherwise not be told. I wish all of the filmmakers continued success and hope that they continue to bring their works back to Tribeca,” said festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal, in a statement. “The jurors’ passion for the films echoes what we are seeing from audiences,” added Nancy Schafer, Executive Director of the festival. “The breadth of talent displayed through all the competitions is reflected in the jurors’ choices. We thank all our jury members for their dedication and hard work.” Screenings of all winning films will take place at New York’s AMC Village VII on Sunday, May 3. The full list of 2009 Tribeca Film Festival jury winners (Descriptions provided by the festival) [Continued on page 2] Page 1 of 2 Next Login to recommend this article » posted on April 30, 2009 Films to Snag Comments 1 onetet says on May 1, 2009 at 10:22am RACING DREAMS can be seen Friday, May 8th at the Maryland Film Festival, with director Marshall Curry presenting: http://www.md-filmfest.com/films.cfm?id=201 Login to Leave a Comment »