Tribeca Film Festival 2013: Feature Films Mini-Guide
Here's a list of the feature films screening at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, running April 17-28 in venues throughout Lower Manhattan.
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- DirectorJessica OreckStarsAarne AatsinkiLasse AatsinkiLauri AatsinkiOne year in the life of a family of reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland. A study of hard work, hard earned leisure, and an intricate bond between man and nature.
- DirectorScott CoffeyStarsEmma RobertsEvan PetersJohn CusackA naive college graduate, Amy, who believes she's destined to be a great poet, begrudgingly accepts a job in a shop while she pursues a mentorship with reclusive writer Rat Billings.
- DirectorAlex MeillierStarsXanana GusmãoJosé Ramos HortaGeoffrey RobinsonDocumentary exploring the role of an Australian filmmaker turned revolutionary in the independence movement in Timor-Leste.
- DirectorPhil MorrisonStarsPaul GiamattiPaul RuddSally HawkinsWhile out on parole, Dennis reluctantly takes a job selling Christmas trees with his old buddy Rene in order to make enough money to buy his estranged daughter the piano she's always wanted.
- DirectorClaudio GiovannesiStarsNader SarhanStefano RabattiBrigitte ApruzzesiStefano and Nader, two teenagers, share their time between a robbery at the supermarket and the mornings at the disco, but their friendship is destined to crack.
- DirectorRamin BahraniStarsDennis QuaidZac EfronKim DickensA farming family's business is threatened by an unexpected crisis, further testing the relationship between a father and his rebellious son.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsAlec BaldwinGeena DavisMichael KeatonThe spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEthan HawkeJulie DelpySeamus Davey-FitzpatrickWe meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.
- DirectorHisham ZamanStarsAbdullah TaherSuzan IlirBahar OzenA sixteen-year-old boy gets wrapped in plastic, and lowered into a tank truck full of crude oil. That's how Hisham Zaman's long awaited feature film debut begins.
- DirectorDave CarrollStarsChristian RiderChris 'Wonder' SchoeckAn intimate documentary exploring the lost art of the oldetime strongman and one man's struggle to overcome limitations of body and mind.
- DirectorAharon KeshalesNavot PapushadoStarsLior AshkenaziRotem KeinanTzahi GradAfter a little girl is brutally murdered, a suspect avoids arrest due to lack of evidence. Working separately, her father and a cop decide to do something about it.
- DirectorRachel BoyntonThe film's central story follows a small group of American explorers at Dallas-based oil company Kosmos Energy. Between 2007 and 2011, with unprecedented, independent access, Big Men's two-person crew filmed inside the oil company as Kosmos and its partners discovered and developed the first commercial oil field in Ghana's history. Simultaneously the crew filmed in the swamps of Nigeria's Niger Delta, following the exploits of a militant gang to reveal another side of the economy of oil: people trying to profit in any way possible, because they've given up on waiting for the money to trickle down. So what happens when a group of hungry people discover a massive and exquisitely rare pot of gold in one of the poorest places on earth?
- DirectorRob MeyerStarsKodi Smit-McPheeJames Le GrosDaniela LavenderDavid Portnoy, a fifteen-year-old birding fanatic, thinks that he's made the discovery of a lifetime. So, on the eve of his father's remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history.
- DirectorEnid ZentelisStarsMelissa LeoMarin IrelandJosh HamiltonIn this modern-day drama, Oscar-winner Melissa Leo beautifully conveys the heart-wrenching struggle that comes with love and addiction, while also lightheartedly depicting a woman rediscovering romance. She plays hopelessly hopeful Faye, mother to Sylvie (Marin Ireland) who, many months after a car accident, continues to complain of back pain. After she refuses physical therapy, it becomes clear to everyone except Faye that her daughter is addicted to painkillers. When earnest environmentalist Beckett (Josh Hamilton) moves to town, Faye quickly befriends him, hoping that he will be the solution to Sylvie's problems. As Beckett finds himself further intertwined in their lives, he inadvertently helps Faye realize the depth of her family's problem, even as he brings a touch of happiness. Before too long Faye's hand is forced, and she must decide whether to protect her daughter or find the happiness that she has long denied herself.
- DirectorLinda Bloodworth-ThomasonStarsCindy BitneyDavid CroneJessica MitchellShane Bitney Crone's plans to marry Tom Bridegroom in California after the same-sex marriage law is passed takes a tragic turn when his partner of six years accidentally dies and Tom's family refuses Shane from attending the funeral.
- DirectorFelix van GroeningenStarsVeerle BaetensJohan HeldenberghNell CattrysseElise and Didier fall in love at first sight, in spite of their differences. He talks, she listens. He's a romantic atheist, she's a religious realist. When their daughter becomes seriously ill, their love is put on trial.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsSaoirse RonanGemma ArtertonSam RileyResidents of a coastal town learn, with deathly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought shelter at a rundown hotel.
- DirectorKat CoiroStarsJustin LongKeir O'DonnellEvan Rachel WoodA young writer tries to impress a girl he meets online with an embellished profile, but he finds himself in a real mess when she falls for him and he has to keep up the act.
- DirectorZach HeinzerlingStarsUshio ShinoharaNoriko ShinoharaAlex ShinoharaThis candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own.
- DirectorPhilippe Le GuayStarsFabrice LuchiniLambert WilsonMaya SansaTwo actors. One play. Can the differences between the two egocentric men be put aside for the sake of friendship and theatre?
- DirectorHilla MedaliaStarsPierre DulaineYvonne MarceauAlaa BubaliRenowned ball-room dancer Pierre Dulaine takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa, to teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance and compete together.
- DirectorMarina de VanStarsMissy KeatingMarcella PlunkettPádraic DelaneyIn a remote Irish village, police are called to the scene of a bloody massacre, but they ignore the lone survivor's claim that the house was responsible for the carnage that killed her parents and brother.
- DirectorMo OgrodnikStarsHaley BennettJohn MagaroColby MinifieWhen a teen from the wrong side of the tracks falls in love with a wealthy girl at the local boarding school, he agrees to help her smuggle drugs from Ecuador for the benefit of her upper crust friends. But when the plan unravels and he becomes the fall guy for their crimes, he is forced to decide how far he will go for the girl he loves.
- DirectorJennifer ArnoldSenain KheshgiStarsBrian BoitanoEgon KrenzJutta MüllerAt the height of the Cold War, Katarina Witt became one of East Germany's most famous athletes. Trained in an ice rink that gave rise to socialist heroes, Witt dominated her field by winning six European skating titles, five world championships and back-to-back Olympic gold medals, becoming arguably the world's best figure skater. Known as "the most beautiful face of socialism," her success gave her a unique status in East Germany. It also triggered constant surveillance by the Stasi, East Germany's notorious secret police force. This film chronicles how Witt fought for her future in socialist East Germany, faced the great changes that occurred after the fall of the Berlin wall and ultimately ended up both a beneficiary and victim of the East German regime.
- DirectorChristina Alexandra VorosStarsFrida GianniniMatvey LykovNick ReaA look at the life and work of Gucci fashion designer, Frida Giannini.
- DirectorChiemi KarasawaStarsElaine StritchTina FeyAlec BaldwinThe uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner is showcased both on and off stage via rare archival footage and intimate cinema vérité.
- DirectorCraig ZiskStarsJulianne MooreMichael AngaranoGreg KinnearAn English teacher's life is disrupted when a former student returns to her small town after failing as a playwright in New York.
- DirectorMeera MenonStarsRaymond LeeMichael StegerLyman WardFARAH GOES BANG is a road-trip comedy centered on Farah Mahtab, a woman in her twenties who tries to lose her virginity while campaigning across America for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. Farah and her friends K.J. and Roopa follow the campaign trail across historic Route 66 on their way to Ohio, the central battleground state of 2004, seizing control of this charged moment in their lives and the life of their country.
- DirectorMichael Beach NicholsDeidre SchooStarsDJ AaronAnimeKareem BaptisteA riveting look at Brooklyn street dancers battling for supremacy in the world of 'flexing.
- DirectorTomasz WasilewskiStarsMateusz BanasiukMarta NieradkiewiczBartosz GelnerThe story of a young man discovering his homosexuality, while his girlfriend tries to cling onto him.
- DirectorRichard RaaphorstStarsRobert GwilymHon Ping TangAlexander TerentyevIn the dying days of WWII, a battalion of Russian soldiers is lured into the secret lab of a deranged scientist and forced to face off against an army of horrific flesh-and-metal war machines.
- DirectorDanny MulheronStarsTemuera MorrisonKate ElliottHanna TevitaA dysfunctional gang of criminals takes a middle class Maori family hostage and discovers too late that they are cannibals.
- DirectorDarren SteinStarsMichael J. WillettPaul IaconoSasha PieterseWhat happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title "gay best friend" for three high school queen bees?
- DirectorJosh FoxStarsAl ArmendarizKindra ArnesenLon BurnamA documentary that declares the gas industry's portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth, and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth's climate with the potent greenhouse gas methane.
- DirectorBanker WhiteAnna FitchStarsEd WhitePam Steele WhiteA woman with Alzheimer's disease and a filmmaker decide to create a tribute that showcases the family, using the nostalgia and magic of super 8 home movies and vintage film photographs.
- DirectorNicholas D. WrathallStarsGore VidalHoward AusterJames BestThis is an unashamedly opinionated film. In Gore Vidal's America, the political coup has already happened. The right have triumphed and the human values of the liberals have been consigned to history. But how did this happen and who organized it? In this film Gore Vidal's acerbic, opinionated and informed approach rips away at the facade of the new America. The film dramatizes Gore's political views and his concern at the present state of American democracy using interviews and historical footage of his famous appearances on television and talk shows over the last fifty years. In the recently filmed interviews Gore examines the course of American history and policy making and draws dramatic conclusions on the fate of the nation in the modern age.
- DirectorEmir BaigazinStarsTimur AidarbekovAslan AnarbayevMukhtar AndassovLonely Kazakh teenager Aslan is bullied at his new school. He prepares himself for a bloody revenge on the school bully Bolat.
- DirectorChristian VincentStarsCatherine FrotArthur DupontJean d'OrmessonThe story of Danièle Delpeuch and how she was appointed as the private chef for François Mitterrand.
- DirectorDaniel Patrick CarboneStarsRyan JonesNathan VarnsonColm O'LearyAfter a neighborhood tragedy, two adolescent brothers confront changing relationships, the mystery of nature, and their own mortality.
- DirectorWhoopi GoldbergStarsDebbie AllenKaye BallardHarry BelafonteA look at the work and influence of African-American stand-up comedienne, Moms Mabley.
- DirectorScott BurdickWhen a returning Afghanistan veteran threatens to sue the small town of King, NC unless they take down a Christian Flag from the public Veteran's Memorial, a firestorm of protests and threats ensue. Most residents claim that the Separation of Church and State is a myth and that the Founders intended this to be a Christian Nation. Starting with the words of dozens of King's citizens, the trail to find the truth leads to Monticello, Washington D.C., and even alongside a group of Christians who are convinced that May 21st is the end of the world, as well as a half dozen other contradictory religious viewpoints. The question becomes, how does one determine the truth of history and of God?
- DirectorAlastair SiddonsStarsLadj LyJean-Pierre RomelAlex LouisInside Out is a film about the french artist JR giving away his method and the inspiring stories that follow that. JR wins the TED Prize 2011. He gives his prize (the wish to 'turn the world Inside Out') and his art back to the people, creating a global participatory art project inviting people to stand up for what they care about through the power of their own image. From Tunisia to Haiti, North Dakota to Pakistan, the film follows individuals and communities pasting their portraits in the streets. Now they don't just see art, they make it.
- DirectorJérôme BonnellStarsEmmanuelle DevosGabriel ByrneGilles PrivatA French actress meets a foreigner who awakens something deep within her.
- DirectorReha ErdemStarsDeniz HasgülerOnur ÜnsalYildirim SimsekJin, a guerrilla, lives in a cave and decides to escape from the organization. She finds some civilian clothes and goes down from the mountain to the city. However, the city is no safer than the mountain.
- DirectorDan KraussStarsAdam WinfieldChristopher WinfieldEmma WinfieldThis provocative, bold, and deeply moving documentary profiles Adam Winfield, a soldier-turned-whistleblower who returns from the battlefield to expose shocking war crimes that the U.S. Army will do anything to cover up.
- DirectorBenny SafdieJosh SafdieStarsLenny CookeTom KonchalskiLeBron JamesLenny Cooke was the number-one ranked high school basketball player in America, but his inevitable fall from grace will forever be remembered.
- DirectorJason OsderStarsBirdie AfricaRamona AfricaWilson GoodeA history of the conflict of the City of Philadelphia and the Black Liberation organization, MOVE, that led to the disastrously violent final confrontation in 1985.
- DirectorMatt CreedStarsAmy GranthamSimon ChaputBenjamin SlaterLily is an exploration of a vulnerable period in a young woman's life. When her cancer treatment comes to an end, Lily is faced with a newfound clarity of herself. As she navigates through this difficult time she is forced to make decisions and answer questions she put off over the years. Cancer has been the only thing she's followed through on from beginning to end, this epiphany weighs heavy on her mind.
- DirectorCaradog W. JamesStarsToby StephensCaity LotzDenis LawsonIn efforts to construct perfect android killing machines in a war against China, UK scientists exceed their goal and create a sentient robot.
- DirectorYves MontmayeurStarsMichael HanekeJean-Louis TrintignantYves MontmayeurMichael Haneke, theorists of the image that knows better than any other the dregs of our society with their existential fears and emotional derail ment to bring to light - a portrait.
- DirectorTom BerningerStarsTom BerningerMatt BerningerBryce DessnerTom Berninger chronicles his time spent on the road as a member of the tour crew for The National, the rock & roll band fronted by his brother, Matt.
- DirectorJane WeinstockStarsJennifer Jason LeighMartin HendersonAlia ShawkatAfter a tumultuous affair between international photojournalist Lee (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and troubled writer John (Martin Henderson) ends in John's disappearance, Lee lands in a mental hospital to recuperate. She strikes up a friendship with a fellow patient bearing an uncanny resemblance to her missing lover. The pair works to uncover the truth behind the disappearance, but Lee's precarious sanity comes under threat when the clues lead to the last place she would ever expect.
- DirectorAdam Bhala LoughStarsFelix ArguellesSteve BerraChris ColeEight of the world's best pro-skateboarders prepare for the upcoming Street League Championship in NYC. Each equally talented, they all must overcome unique challenges - family pressures, injuries, money, fame and their own internal struggles - for a chance to win $200,000 and the title of best street-skateboarder in the world. The Motivation is a non-fiction sports film from internationally acclaimed filmmaker Adam Bhala Lough (The Carter, Bomb the System) featuring the biggest names in professional skateboarding today.
- DirectorKarl MuellerStarsJon FosterSarah JonesMark StegerA young couple moves to the woods and soon finds their nightmares and reality colliding.
- DirectorEric RochantStarsJean DujardinCécile de FranceTim RothAn FSB officer falls in love with his agent, an American woman, who works as a trader in a Russian bank.
- DirectorNobuteru UchidaStarsKiki SuginoYûki ShinoharaTakeshi YamamotoSet after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Yukako and Saeko are neighbours at their small Tokyo apartment. They are both anxious, nervous and uneasy about the world. Yukako worries about radiation and toxicity and wants to relocate. Saeko is feeling the same, which adds to the pressure she feels given how her husband has requested a divorce. Setting aside the obvious similarities the two grow close once one attempts a suicide.
- DirectorVivienne RoumaniOut of Print draws us into the topsy-turvy world of the written word, illuminating the turbulent, exciting journey from the book through the digital revolution. Writers, publishers, readers all in flux. Booksellers closing shop. Librarians and teachers seeking new roles. Storytellers like Ray Bradbury, complemented by evocative visuals, weave a compelling tale. Scott Turow and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon as an online bookstore, place us in the middle of their debate. People tell us they read snippets all day long, yet one of five Americans no longer reads a single book, in any format, in an entire year. Personal stories of parents and students take us into their worlds, highlighting how this revolution is changing every aspect of the printed word -- and changing us.
- DirectorSean DunneThe 'Hillbilly Heroin' epidemic that's slowly rotting the soul of rural America.
- DirectorAtiq RahimiStarsGolshifteh FarahaniHamid DjavadanHassina BurganIn a war ridden country a woman watches over the husband reduced to a vegetable state by a bullet in the neck, abandoned by Jihad companions and brothers. One day, the woman decides to say things to him she could never have done before.
- DirectorDeepti KakkarFahad MustafaStarsRitu MaheshwariLoha SinghIrfan SolankiIn a city with 15 hour power cuts, hundreds of people risk their lives to steal electricity. With the first female chief of the electricity company vowing to eliminate all illegal connections, the lines are drawn for a battle over electricity.
- DirectorDavid Gordon GreenStarsPaul RuddEmile HirschLance LeGaultTwo highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind.
- DirectorJosh C. WallerStarsZoë BellRachel NicholsTracie Thoms50 abducted women are forced to fight each other using their bare hands.
- DirectorBruno BarretoStarsGlória PiresMiranda OttoTracy MiddendorfA chronicle of the tragic love affair between American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares.
- DirectorDavid RoachWarwick RossStarsRussell CroweSara EisenDebra MeiburgThe great chateaux of Bordeaux struggle to accommodate the voracious appetite for their rare, expensive wines, which have become a powerful status symbol in booming China.
- DirectorMira NairStarsRiz AhmedLiev SchreiberKiefer SutherlandA young Pakistani man chasing corporate success on Wall Street finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family's homeland.
- DirectorMarina ZenovichStarsDavid BanksRona BarrettDavid BrinkleyThe life and times of Richard Pryor.
- DirectorKim MordauntStarsSitthiphon DisamoeLoungnam KaosainamSuthep Po-ngamLaos. In a land ravaged by war and exploitation, a boy whose family believe he is cursed must redeem himself by taking part in a dangerous rocket competition.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsStephen CrismanDree HemingwayJack Hemingway'Running from Crazy' is a documentary examining the personal journey of model and actress Mariel Hemingway, the great granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, as she strives for a greater understanding of her family history of suicide and mental illness. Through stunning archival footage of the three Hemingway sisters and intimate verite moments with Mariel herself, the film examines the remarkable though often heartbreaking Hemingway legacy. As Mariel comes to terms with the tragedies of her family's past that have shaped the course of her life, deeply hidden secrets are revealed and truths emerge. Through it all, Mariel finds a way to overcome a similar fate for herself and her daughters, brings awareness to an issue she's deeply passionate about, and discovers an inner strength and peace.
- DirectorCharles LaneStarsCharles LaneNicole AlysiaTom AlpernNearly silent comedy filmed in black and white follows a street artist (Charles Lane), who rescues a baby after her father was murdered. The artist then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately he ends up in a horse drawn chase of the murderers.
- DirectorDavid M. RosenthalStarsSam RockwellJeffrey WrightKelly ReillyThe tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.
- DirectorJohnathan GurfinkelStarsSivan LevyEviatar MorRoy NikGili changes schools and hooks up with the most popular guy to improve her social status. He passes her off to friend after friend and the lines of consent begin to blur.
- DirectorSam FleischnerStarsJesus Sanchez-VelezAndrea Suarez PazAzul ZorrillaIn this intense, immersive journey, a young boy finds himself lost in the lively, dangerous world of the New York City subway, while his mother fiercely searches for him above ground in a race against the clock as Hurricane Sandy nears.
- DirectorLaurie CollyerStarsNaomi WattsMatt DillonTess HarperA Florida couple holding minimum-wage jobs deals with an unexpected pregnancy.
- DirectorVahid VakilifarStarsMohammad RabbanipourAs darkness falls a solitary motorcyclist rides through the far flung streets of Tehran. Purportedly on a mission of pest control, he is tormented by the ever present electromagnetic fields that daily raise his body temperature. In order to protect his hypersensitive body from the pervasive waves, he has concocted an aluminum jumpsuit unseen beneath abundant clothing.
- DirectorMatt WolfStarsJena MaloneBen WhishawJulia HummerTeenagers did not always exist. In this living collage of rare archival material, filmed portraits, and voices lifted from early 20th Century diary entries, a struggle erupts between adults and adolescents to define a new idea of youth.
- DirectorBill SiegelStarsEamonn AndrewsMuhammad AliDavid SusskindThe legal battles of the great American boxer against being conscripted into the US military during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorClark GreggStarsClark GreggFelicity HuffmanAllison JanneyIn an attempt to sign a Hollywood starlet, struggling talent agent and former child star Howard Holloway must contend with her volatile father, a scheming long-time rival, and a producer and casting director who despise him.
- DirectorSimon BarrettJason EisenerGareth EvansStarsLawrence Michael LevineKelsy AbbottAdam WingardSearching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student's disappearance.
- DirectorEmanuel Hoss-DesmaraisStarsThomas Haden ChurchMarc LabrècheAnie PascaleThomas Haden Church stars in this darkly comic thriller about a snowplow driver who, after accidentally killing a man, attempts to escape the cops by fleeing into the harsh Canadian wilderness.
- DirectorArvin ChenStarsRichie JenMavis FanChin-Hang ShihA married man begins to question his sexual orientation as he and his wife consider having another child.