New York’s Tribeca Film Festival announced its star attraction films on Monday for its seventh annual cinema regalia.
Running from April 23 to May 4, as Spoutblog accurately points out, it appears that Tribeca is lazily just recycling “festival leftovers.” And this seems to be the case.
The festival has already “scaled back” this year and its A-list material is familiar: Harmony Korine‘s Micheal Jackson and Marilyn Monroe impersonators film, “Mister Lonely” (which already premiered at Cannes 2007), the hip-hop heavy coming-of-age tale, “The Wackness,” which screened at this past Sundance in January, “Savage Grace” (another Sundance ’08 leftover starring Julianne Moore), “Elite Squad” (the Brazilian big winner at the Berlin ’08 fest), “Lou Reed’s Berlin,” (directed by insufferable teddy bear Julian Schnabel and shown at both Sundance ’08 and the ’07 Toronto International Film Festival) and many, many more. Oh well, some of them aren’t bad films though and probably still likely to many New Yorkers.
Other highlight playing at the Tribeca film festival that we’re excited about – cribbed from the full list press release:
“My Winnipeg,” directed by Guy Maddin, written by George Toles and Maddin. (Canada) – Premiere, Narrative. Guy Maddin’s (“The Saddest Music in the World”) self-described “docu-fantasia” on his wintry hometown blurs facts and fictions, childhood memories and outlandish hand-me-down tales in the auteur’s dreamy, hyper-stylized fashion. An IFC Films Release.
“Baghead”, directed and written by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass. (USA) – New York Premiere, Narrative. It’s not often that a film can be both a hilariously tongue-in-cheek send-up of indie flicks and a brilliantly insightful bit of character drama, but the Duplass brothers (“The Puffy Chair”) pull it off in this story of four fledgling actors, a rustic cabin, and. . . something. . . in the woods. A Sony Pictures Classics Release.
“Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot,” directed by Adam Yauch. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Rucker Park. The mecca for all street basketball players. In Beastie Boy Yauch’s super-energized and highly musical documentary, eight of the country’s top 24 high school players participate in the first “Elite 24” tournament on the same court that helped turn Dr. J, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain into legends. An Oscilloscope Pictures Release. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.
“The Universe of Keith Haring,” directed by Christina Clausen. (Italy, France) – Premiere, Documentary. Featuring Madonna, Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Fab 5 Freddy, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, this documentary takes an affectionate look at the colorful life of Keith Haring, whose street drawings helped define the 1980s New York art scene. An Arthouse Films Release.
“Katyń,” directed by Andrzej Wajda, written by Andrzej Mularczyk, Wladyslaw Pasikowski, and Wajda. (Poland) – New York Premiere, Narrative. One of Europe’s master filmmakers has finally been able to depict the suffering resulting from one of the darkest episodes of 20th-century history: the 1940 slaughter of ’s 15,000-man officer corps, which claimed the life of Wajda’s father. Academy Award nominee, Best Foreign Language Film. German, Polish, Russian with English subtitles.
“Standard Operating Procedure,” directed by Errol Morris. (USA) – North American Premiere, Documentary. Can a photograph change the world? Can an exposé also be a cover-up? In Standard Operating Procedure, Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris turns the camera on the American soldiers who took the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs. A Sony Pictures Classics Release in association with Participant Productions.
The “Restored and Rediscovered” program does offer some classic goodies, including new pristine prints of Federico Fellini’s “Toby Dammit,” and Curtis Harrington’s “Night Tide” with a young Dennis Hopper. The “Special Screenings” program will showcase “Once Upon a Time in the West” by Sergio Leone and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
