Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios to be new destination for festivalgoers at 14th Annual TFF, April 15-26. AT&T’s “Film for All” Friday to return with Free Festival Screenings on April 24
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, yesterday announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with the films selected for the Viewpoints section, which recognizes fresh voices in international and American independent cinema. Fifty-one of the 97 feature-length titles were named as part of the film program of the Festival’s 14th edition.
Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival helps filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enabling the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. It is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors. Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001, following the attacks on the World Trade Center, to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music, and culture, the Festival brings the industry and community together around storytelling. The Tribeca Film Festival has screened more than 1,600 films from more than 80 countries since its first edition in 2002. Since inception, it has attracted an international audience of more than 4.9 million attendees, and has generated an estimated $900 million in economic activity for New York City.
The Festival (#TFF2015, #TribecaTogether) also announced that AT&T will once again invite audiences to Festival screenings for free on Friday April 24 as part of AT&T’s “Film for All” Friday. TFF will take place from April 15 to 26 at locations throughout downtown Manhattan and will open with the documentary Live From New York!, an exploration of 40 years of American politics, tragedy, and popular culture through the comedic lens of “Saturday Night Live.”
As previously announced, the Festival will be anchored in TriBeCa with a new creative hub and gathering place at Spring Studios, which will provide a home for the Festival community to celebrate storytellers, artists and their work, and allow TFF attendees to interact and collaborate. Spring Studios will host many of the Festival’s special events, conversations, innovation events, Awards Night, and 
numerous Festival parties. The filmmaker, industry, and press lounges will be based at this creative hub in close proximity to the new press and industry screening venue, Regal Battery Park Stadium 11. Spring Passes are available for purchase and provide entry to Spring Studios, both throughout the Festival or for a given day.
The 2015 film selection includes feature films from 31 countries, including 64 World Premieres, three International Premieres, 13 North American Premieres, five U.S. Premieres, 11 New York Premieres and one restoration. A total of 119 directors will present feature works at the Festival, with 40 of these filmmakers making their feature directorial debuts. The 2015 film slate was chosen from a total of 6223 submissions.
Thirty of the Festival’s feature film directors are women –the highest percentage in the Festival’s history. Nine of these directors (as well as two screenwriters) are eligible to receive the third annual Nora Ephron Award, which recognizes a woman who embodies the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer.
“We were inspired by, and really admire the ambition and risk-taking of the filmmakers who are striving to capture the emotions and complexities of everyday life in this year’s submissions,” said Frederic Boyer, Artistic Director Tribeca Film Festival.
“The films in competition and viewpoints come from all over the world and showcase a wide range of styles, yet have remarkable universality. They exhibit a sophistication in storytelling and a pursuit of truth that we believe will resonate with audiences,” added Festival Director, Genna Terranova.
This year, 12 narrative and 12 documentary features making their North American, International, or World Premieres will compete for cash prizes totaling $225,000, as well as artwork from the Artists Awards program, featuring donated work from contemporary artists.
The films selected for the World Narrative Competition, World Documentary Competition, and Viewpoints are:
World Narrative Feature Competition
This year’s showcase highlights a particularly diverse representation of international cinema, from Iceland and Costa Rica to South Africa and Albania. These are stories with a strong sense of location, whether it’s two brothers surviving the Civil War in rural Kentucky (Men Go To Battle), a spate of mysterious suicides in a Welsh industrial town (Bridgend), or an underworld thriller set in Greece with strong overtones of the financialcrisis (Wednesday 04:45). Yet despite their specificity of locale, an underlying commonality runs through the films making them accessible to diverse cultures and audiences: lone-wolf characters reach out for connection in The Survivalist, Franny and Virgin Mountain. In other films, families grapple with crises: a mother strives to protect her wayward son inDixieland; an estranged father and son collide in The Adderall Diaries; and a couple heals together after tragedy in Meadowland. Titles in this curated selection of 12 international stories and voices compete for the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, Best New Narrative Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Editing in a Narrative, and Best Cinematography.
Stephen Elliott (James Franco) and Neil Elliott (Ed Harris) Anna Kooris
The Adderall Diaries, directed and written by Pamela Romanowsky. (USA) – World Premiere. Elliott (James Franco, left), a once-successful novelist inflicted with writer’s block and an Adderall addiction strives to escape his problems by delving into the world of a high-profile murder case. Amber Heard, Ed Harris, and Cynthia Nixon co-star in this adaptation of Elliott’s best-selling memoir.
Bridgend, directed by Jeppe Rønde, co-written by Jeppe Rønde, Torben Bech, and Peter Asmussen. (Denmark) – North American Premiere. Sara (Hannah Murray) and her dad arrive in a town haunted by a spate of teenage suicides. When she falls in love with Jamie (Josh O’Connor), she becomes prey to the depression that threatens to engulf them all. Jeppe Rønde’s debut is based on the real-life Welsh county borough of Bridgend, which has recorded at least 79 suicides since 2007.
Rachel (Riley Keough) & Kermit (Chris Zylka)
Still photogapher: Khaki Bedford
Dixieland, directed and written by Hank Bedford. (USA) – World Premiere. In the hot lazy days of a Mississippi summer two star-crossed lovers, a recently released ex-con (Chris Zylka) and an aspiring stripper (Riley Keough), become trapped in a downward spiral of crime and obsessive love, as they try to ditch their small town lives. Featuring an impressive performance by Faith Hill.
Franny, directed and written by Andrew Renzi. (USA) – World Premiere. Richard Gere, above, delivers a bravura performance as the title character, a rich eccentric who worms his way into the lives of a deceased friend’s young daughter (Dakota Fanning) and her new husband (Theo James). The narrative feature debut of writer-director Andrew Renzi, Franny is a warm and winsome drama about the pangs of the past, and the families we choose.
Luke Wilson (Philip) Photo credit: Reed Morano
Meadowland, directed by Reed Morano, written by Chris Rossi. (USA) – World Premiere. Sarah and Phil’s son goes missing, shattering their life together and forcing each to find their own way to cope. Cinematographer-turned-director Reed Morano presents a masterfully crafted contemplation on a relationship strained to the breaking point. Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson capture the unraveling emotions with remarkable power, alongside Kevin Corrigan, John Leguizamo, Elisabeth Moss, Giovanni Ribisi, Juno Temple, and Merritt Wever.
Men Go to Battle, directed and written by Zachary Treitz, co-written by Kate Lyn Sheil. (USA) – World Premiere. Kentucky, 1861. Francis and Henry Mellon depend on each other to keep their unkempt estate afloat as winter encroaches. After Francis takes a casual fight too far, Henry ventures off in the night, leaving each of them to struggle through the wartime on their own.
Necktie Youth, directed and written by Sibs Shongwe-La Mer. (Netherlands, South Africa) – North American Premiere. Jabz and September are two twenty-something suburbanites drifting through a day of drugs, sex, and philosophizing in their privileged Johannesburg neighborhood, ill-equipped to handle a tragedy that has interrupted the hollowness of their daily lives. Using rich black and white photography, Sibs Shongwe-La Mer paints a raw, unique portrait of self-obsessed youth facing adulthood in an increasingly divided city. In Afrikaans, English, isiZulu with subtitles.
Survivalist, Martin McCann Photographer: Helen Sloan
The Survivalist, directed and written by Stephen Fingleton. (Northern Ireland, UK) – World Premiere. Self-preservation takes on a new level of meaning in this organic post-apocalyptic drama, where the only way to get food is to farm it. A man is threatened when two starving women stumble across his cabin and demand to stay. Each new mouth to feed strains the limits of what the farm can produce and diminishes their chance for survival.
Sworn Virgin (Vergine Giurata), directed and written by Laura Bispuri, co-written by Francesca Manieri. (Albania, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Switzerland) – North American Premiere. As a young woman living within the confines of a Northern Albanian village, Hana longs to escape the shackles of womanhood, and live her life as a man. To do so she must take an oath to eternally remain a virgin. Years later, as Mark, she leaves home for the first time to confront a new set of circumstances, leading her to contemplate the possibility of undoing her vow. In Albanian, Italian with subtitles.
Photographer: Esteban ChinchillaActors: Kattia Gonzalez and Fernando Bola?os
Viaje, directed and written by Paz Fábrega. (Costa Rica) –World Premiere. After meeting at a party, Luciana and Pedro spark up a spontaneous rendezvous when Luciana accompanies Pedro to a national forest on a work trip. Eschewing the fraudulent nature of traditional relationships, the pair explores the beauty in the nature that surrounds them as they indulge in the passions of their encounter and navigate the various meanings of commitment. In Spanish with subtitles.
Virgin Mountain, directed and written by Dagur Kári. (Iceland, Denmark) – North American Premiere. Fúsi is a mammoth of a man who at 43-years-old is still living at home with his mother. Shy and awkward, he hasn’t quite learned how to socialize with others, leaving him as an untouchable inexperienced virgin. That is until his family pushes him to join a dance class, where he meets the equally innocent but playful Sjöfn. In Icelandic with subtitles.
Wednesday 04:45 (Tetarti 04:45), directed and written by Alexis Alexiou. (Germany, Greece, Israel) – World Premiere. A life’s work becomes a prison for jazz club owner Stelios when a shady Romanian gangster calls in his debts. This gripping, underworld drama is a parable on the perils of accumulated debt, and a depiction of the descent of a mostly decent man. Director Alexis Alexiou perfectly balances the complex emotions that drive a man to take the most drastic measures available. In Greek with subtitles.
World Documentary Feature Competition
Sponsored by Santander Bank, N.A.
The twelve films of this year’s documentary competition represent the year’s highest achievements in nonfiction storytelling. The section showcases investigations of the most important issues of our time, as well as deeply personal real-life stories sure to open a wider perspective on the human condition. Timely work includes Tom Swift qnd The Electric Rifle, an exposé of law enforcement’s over-reliance on the taser, and Indian Point, a portrait of the aging titular nuclear power plant just 50-miles outside New York City. Revered documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles returns to the Festival with the eye-opening In Transit, while Very Semi-Serious chronicles the hilarious weekly work of New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff. Other selections include Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s powerful In My Father’s House, which looks at Grammy Award-winning rapper Rhymefest’s complicated relationship to fatherhood, and Autism In Love, a sensitive depiction of autistic adults searching for a connection. Strongly interwoven into many of these titles is the idea of tradition: Films like Palio and The Birth of Saké depict passionate men honoring the cultural byways of their regional pasts, while Zimbabwe’s Democratsexamines how a nation can maintain its heritage while modernizing and moving forward into the future. Titles in this compelling collection of stories and styles compete for Best Documentary Feature, Best New Documentary Director and Best Documentary Editing.
Autism in Love – Lindsey and Dave Photo credit: Scott Uhlfelder
Autism in Love, directed by Matt Fuller. (USA) – World Premiere. What does it mean to love and be loved? With remarkable compassion, director Matt Fuller examines the reality of autistic adulthood and shows how the members of this often-misunderstood community cope with the challenge of keeping romance alive. Autism in Love is a celebration of accepting the differences in others, and in ourselves.
The Birth of Saké, directed by Erik Shirai. (USA) – World Premiere. Traditional and labor-intensive, the production of Saké has changed very little over the centuries. Erik Shirai’s love song to the artisans who have dedicated their lives to carrying on this increasingly rare artform follows the round-the-clock process for six straight months, offering a rare glimpse into a family-run brewery that’s been operating for over 100 years. In Japanese with subtitles.
Mwonzora & Mangwana Cinematographer: Henrik Bohn Ipsen
Democrats, directed and written by Camilla Nielsson. (Denmark). – North American Premiere. In the wake of Robert Mugabe’s highly criticized 2008 presidential win, Zimbabwe’s first constitutional committee was created in an effort to transition the country away from its authoritarian leadership. With unprecedented access to the two political rivals overseeing the committee, this riveting, firsthand account of a country’s fraught first steps towards democracy plays at once like an intimate political thriller and unlikely buddy film. In English, Shona with subtitles.
Ready to Race in Havana Motor Club Photographer: Patrik Graham
Havana Motor Club, directed and written by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt. (Cuba, USA) – World Premiere. Reforms have offered opportunity in Cuba but the children of the Revolution are unsure of the best route forward. For a half-dozen drag racers, this means last-minute changes to their beloved American muscle cars, as they prepare for the first sanctioned race in Cuba since 1960. Punctuated by a lively Cuban soundtrack, Havana Motor Cluboffers a fascinating glimpse at the resilience and ingenuity of the competitive spirit. In Spanish with subtitles.
In My Father’s House, directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, co-written by Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, and Pax Wassermann. (USA) – World Premiere. After moving into his childhood home on Chicago’s South Side, Grammy Award–winning rapper Che “Rhymefest” Smith hesitantly sets out to reconnect with his estranged father, the man who abandoned him over twenty years ago. In My Father’s House is a stirring, multigenerational chronicle of Che’s sincere but often-fraught journey to build a future for his own family by reconnecting with his traumatic past.
In Transit, co-directed by Albert Maysles, Nelson Walker, Lynn True, David Usui, and Ben Wu. (USA) – World Premiere. The Empire Builder is America’s busiest long-distance train route, running from Chicago to Seattle. Throughout these corridors sit runaways, adventurers, and loners – a myriad of passengers waiting to see what their journey holds. A touching and honest observation, co-directed by the iconic documentarian Albert Maysles, In Transit breathes life into the long commute, and contemplates the unknowns that lie at our final destination.
Indian Point, directed and written by Ivy Meeropol. (USA) – World Premiere. Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant looms just 35 miles from Times Square. With over 50 million people living in close proximity to the aging facility, its continued operation has generated controversy for the surrounding community. In the brewing fight for clean energy and the catastrophic possibilities of complacency, director Ivy Meeropol weaves a startling portrait of our uncertain nuclear future.
Giovanni Atzeni riding for Goose / Andrea Mari riding for Lupa
Photographer: Guillaume Bonn
Giovanni Atzeni Photographer: Guillaume Bonn
Palio, directed by Cosima Spender and Co-Written by John Hunt and Cosima Spender. (UK, Italy) – World Premiere. In the world’s oldest horse race, the Palio, taking bribes and fixing races threatens to extinguish the passion for the sport itself. Giovanni, unversed in corruption, challenges his former mentor, who dominates the game. What ensues is a thrilling battle, filled with the intoxicating drama that is at the center of Italian tradition. In Italian with subtitles.
Song of Lahore
Song of Lahore, directed by Andy Schocken and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. (USA, Pakistan) – World Premiere. Until the late 1970s, the Pakistani city of Lahore was world-renowned for its music. Following the Islamization of Pakistan, many artists struggled to continue their life’s work. Song of Lahore turns the spotlight on a group of stalwart musicians that kept playing and ultimately attracted listeners from around the world. In English, Punjabi, and Urdu with subtitles.
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