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From the "On The Scene" Archives: Tribeca On Tap: Fest Preps for Expanded '05 Event by Eugene Hernandez
The competition lineup for an expanded 2005 Tribeca Film Festival will be unveiled today in New York (and will be posted at the end of this article later today). In just four years, the upstart international film event has rapidly grown into an event that this year will fill nearly two weeks on the fest calendar. Set to run from April 19 - May 1st in Manhattan, TFF will open in Midtown this year with a screening of Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter" starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, from Universal Studios. An earlier April slot this year puts a bigger breather between the end of the Tribeca fest and the start of the Festival de Cannes in mid-May, but also places the event right in the middle of what has become a very busy fest month. TFF will now almost entirely overlap the 48-year-old San Francisco Film Festival, once headed by TFF executive director Peter Scarlet. More than 250 features will screen at Tribeca '05, including 60 world premiers, 8 international premieres, and 34 North American premieres, according to organizers. While the competition roster is being unveiled today, later this week planners will reveal the list of special and spotlight screenings, while more features will be announced next week. Shorts will be unveiled on March 21st with more announcements to follow. "I'm extremely pleased that in the next few weeks we'll be announcing full details about our upcoming presentation of outstanding new works by some of the best-known artists of world cinema," said Scarlet in a statement, offering a bit of a preview of the lineup, "Including Claire Denis, Robert Drew, Costa-Gavras, Peter Greenaway, Robert Guediguian, Barbara Kopple, Ermanno Olmi, Volker Schlondorff and Wong Kar-Wai." Continuing in the statement he added, "And we're just as excited about the scores of other exciting new films by some fantastically talented people who aren't household names - yet." Higher profile films already unveiled include the aforementioned Sydney Pollack film, "The Interpreter," along with the world premieres of Griffin Dunne's "Fierce People" starring Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland from Lions Gate, and James Collet-Sara's "House of Wax" starring Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, Jared Padalecki, Jon Abrahams and Robert Richard from Warner Bros. (a re-make of the horror film of the same name). Among the new movies seeking distribution at the festival will be Danny Leiner's "The Great New Wonderful" starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edie Falco, Tony Shalhoub and Olympia Dukakis, John Hock's basketball doc "Through the Fire," and Dori Berinstein's doc about Broadway plays, "SHOW Business." Jurors already on tap for the Tribeca fest include Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, impresario Damon Dash, director Griffin Dunne, actors Teri Hatcher, Michael Imperioli, Alfred Molina and Alan Cummings, editor Ingrid Sischy, fashion's Diane Von Furstenburg, editor/publisher Mort Zuckerman, film critic Peter Travers, former news anchor Tom Brokaw and author Mitch Glazer. "In just our fourth year, the scope and quality of Tribeca's offerings are extraordinary and gratifying," said TFF co-founder Jane Rosenthal in a statement. "This festival will always reflect the aspirations of our neighborhood and the need that launched it, but as we grow stronger every Year, I am delighted to also witness its emergence as a platform for discovering and supporting filmmakers and celebrating the power of film." In other festival news, the Tribeca Family Film Festival will grow in 2005, with daily showings and the return of the outdoor street festival on April 30th. Back again will be the outdoor Tribeca Drive-In screenings, including the original "House of Wax" in 3-D, and a screenings of the acclaimed Slamdance '05 doc, "Mad Hot Ballroom" from Paramount Classics. New this year will be the ASCAP Music Lounge at the Knitting Factory, offering live performance from emerging and established music artists. Festival packages will go on sale next week for American Express members, with public sales of packages on sale on March 21 and individual tickets available to the general public on April 10 (April 3 for American Express members). [ For more information, please visit: http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org. ] The Tribeca competition lineup (information provided by the Tribeca Film Festival): NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION "4," directed by Ilya Khrzhanovsky, written by Vladimir Sorokin (Russia) - North American Premiere "The Beat My Heart Skipped" (De battre mon coeur s'est arręté), directed by Jacques Audiard, written by Jacques Audiard and Tonino Benacquista (France) - North American Premiere. A Wellspring release "Boats Out of Watermelon Rinds" (Karpuz Kabugundan Gemiler Yapmak), directed and written by Ahmet Uluçay (Turkey) - U.S. Premiere "Gilaneh," directed by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab, written by Mohsen Abdolvahab, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Farid Mostavi (Iran) - International Premiere "I Am a Sex Addict," directed and written by Caveh Zahedi (U.S.A.) - North American Premiere "Iowa", directed and written by Matt Farnsworth (U.S.A.) - World Premiere "Life and Death Plunder," directed by Li Shaohong, written by Liao Yimei (China) - World Premiere "My Brother's Summer" (L'estate di mio fratello), directed and written by Pietro Reggiani (Italy) - World Premiere "Neo Ned," directed by Van Fischer, written by Tim Boughn (U.S.A.) - World Premiere "The Night of Truth" (La nuit de la vérité), directed by Fanta Régina Nacro, written by Nacro and Marc Gautron (Burkina Faso) - U.S. Premiere "Simon" (Simon), directed and written by Eddy Terstall (Netherlands) - International Premiere "The Sisters," directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, written by Richard Alfieri (U.S.A.) - World Premiere "Transamerica," directed and written by Duncan Tucker (U.S.A.) - North American Premiere "Ushpizin," directed by Gidi Dar, written by Shuli Rand (Israel) - North American Premiere "Wandering Shadows" (La sombra del caminante), directed by Ciro Alfonso Guerra, written by Diana Caicedo (Colombia) - North American Premiere DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION "Coca - The Dove from Chechnya," directed and written by Eric Bergkraut (Switzerland) - North American Premiere "The Devil's Miner," directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani (U.S.A., Germany) - U.S. Premiere "Favela Rising," directed by Jeff Zimbalist (Brazil, U.S.A.) - World Premiere "A Flood in Baath Country" (Déluge au pays du Baas), directed by Omar Amiralay (Syria) - North American Premiere "From Two Men and A War," directed by Robert Drew (U.S.A) - North American Premiere "Little Peace Of Mine" (shalom katan sheli), directed by Eyal Avneri (Israel) - North American Premiere "Looking for the Lost Voice" (Bikvot Hakol Havud), directed and written by Tzipi Trope (Israel) - International Premiere "El Perro Negro: Stories from the Spanish Civil War," directed by Peter Forgács (Netherlands, Hungary) - North American Premiere "Pilgrimage," directed by Bahman Kiarostami (Iran) - World Premiere (shown on a program with Infidels by the same director) "Prostitution Behind the Veil" (Prostitution bag sloret), directed by Nahid Persson (Denmark) - North American Premiere "Punk: Attitude," directed by Don Letts (U.K., U.S.A.) - World Premiere "The Sky Turns" (El cielo gira), directed and written by Mercedes Álvarez (Spain) - U.S. Premiere "Souls of Naples" (Zielen van Napels), directed and written by Vincent Monnikendam (Netherlands) - International Premiere "A State of Mind," directed by Daniel Gordon (U.K., North Korea) - North American Premiere. A Kino International release "To The Other Side" (Al Otro Lado), directed by Natalia Almada (U.S.A., Mexico) - World Premiere "Totally Personal" (Sasvim Licno), directed by Nedzad Begovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – World Premiere "Towards Mathilde" (Vers Mathilde), directed by Claire Denis (France) – North American Premiere | |
