BFF FILM & FESTIVAL BLOG
10 Films and Events We Look Forward to at the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival
written by Amanda Lederle
There are so many good films, events, and parts of culture I would want to immerse myself in, so narrowing it down to just 10 was not easy. From seeing influential on and off screen figures speaking about the filmmaking process to their social, political effects on communities, this year’s Tribeca Film Festival ( April 24- May 5) is looking energetic and inspiring!
As a festival goer, I know to not overbook myself so that I don’t rush from one theatre to the next or miss out on meals. With that in mind my chosen 10, generally lined up to be one a day so you can map out your festival week with ease.
So get your pass, map out your nearby restaurants and coffee shops, it’s festival time!
1. SHORTS! We start with Shorts because there are various dates, mostly at the beginning of the festival. In this year’s lineup there are 63 short films. You can choose from Sci Fi, Nature, Comedy (Funhouse), LGBTQ, and even animated shorts curated by Whoopi Goldberg! Gasp. The list goes on and with such variety, you are bound to find one you like. Two really stood out:
THE BOXERS OF BRULE (Jessie Adler, 2018, New York Premiere) directed by Adler, a Human Rights Storyteller, shares journey of a Lakota woman who creates a boxing team to combat youth suicide.
THE DOWNFALL OF SANTA CLAUS (Robert Depuis, 2018, North American Premiere) from Norwegian filmmaker Depuis brings to life in claymation a boy’s faith in St. Nick which is the only reason Santa Claus exists!
2. IN LIVING COLOR (Tribeca TV, Premiere Episode from 1990)
Sound the alarm and cancel all your plans on April 27, this is an event you do not want to miss. If you grew up watching In Living Color, like I did, you are in for a treat! Under the TV category, Tribeca is celebrating the premiere episode to celebrate its debut in 1990. This show set the stage for well-known actors like Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson and obviously, the Wayan brothers. Audience members will have a special experience with a post-screening conversation with creator and star Keenan Ivory Wayans and co-stars Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier, and Rosie Perez. This is surely a not to miss event for fans.
3. SEE YOU YESTERDAY (Stefon Bristol, 2019, World Premiere)
Bristol, a Bushwick Film Festival alum and 2018 Rising Star Award winner, teamed up with Spike Lee to further develop his short, same name, into this feature. A timely cultural commentary, this story is about two friends who make a time machine to go back in time to save her brother from being wrongfully killed by a police officer. This feature film will be released on Netflix this year.
4.TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS (Nick Zeig-Owens, 2019, World Premiere)
Calling all RuPaul’s Drag Race fans! Your Drag Race All-Star winner, Trixie Mattel gives you a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to be a folk singer, host your own talk show, relationships that falter and the trials of being on the road after winning Drag Race. A for attending audiences is a performance by Trixie Mattel treat after the screening!
5. LUCKY GRANDMA (Sasie Sealy, 2019, World Premiere)
Tsai Chin, (who has also been in two Bond films, one as a Bond girl) stars as a gambling grandmother who finds herself in trouble between New York gangsters. Directed by Sasie Sealy, a Tribeca alum winner of two film awards is sure to showcase this dark comedy of an immigrant woman with a punch of striking visuals. This film was the winner of the 2018 Untold Stories, a pitch in presented by AT&T and Tribeca Film Institute with a $1 million prize. The film celebrates women of color, on and behind camera.
6. GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH (David Charles Rodrigues, 2019, World Premiere)
This documentary chronicles the journey of 300 members of the Gay Men's Chorus of San Francisco traveling in the South. If you want to see a 100-minute film about bravery, friendship, and acceptance you’ve found it here. In Rodrigues’ feature documentary debut, viewers are introduced to members’ stories of being ostracized, relationships with the church and community and the transformation of common humanity. If this film doesn’t open your heart to sing, I don’t know what will!
7. TUCA AND BERTIE (Tribeca TV, 2019, World Premiere)
Get ready to laugh. Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong voice this animated episodic series about two 30-year-old friends. Did I mention they are also birds? If you like the humor and style of Bojack Horseman, you are in for a treat! Paulie, wanna cracker? (I’m sorry, I had to throw in a pet bird joke #sorrynotsorry). This Netflix show is debuting at the festival and will be available to watch at home on May 3. Stay after the screening for an conversation with Ali Wong, Tiffany Haddish and creator, Lisa Hanawalt.
8. THE REMIX: HIP HOP X FASHION (Lisa Cortes and Farah X, 2019, World Premiere)
Rewind to a time where 80s and 90s hip hop fashion was dominated by men, standout voices like Mary J Blige, Missy Elliot and Lil’Kim expressed themselves through fashion to be heard. This film from two women of color looks at the journey of female hip hop artists and their influence as fashion icons. Cortes is known for her work as producer on MONSTER’S BALL (Marc Forster, 2001) and PRECIOUS (Lee Daniels, 2009). Farah X has worked with high profile brands including Calvin Klein, Coach and music icons like Prince, Mariah Carey, and J.Lo.
9. LOST TRANSMISSIONS (Katharine O’Brien, 2019, World Premiere)
Juno Temple and Simon Pegg star in this commentary about the mental healthcare system and homeless landscape in LA. Pegg plays a music producer who stops taking his schizophrenia medication while Temple’s character gathers her friends to find him to get into treatment. I am looking forward to seeing how Pegg portrays this character alongside the backdrop of this urban cityscape. This is O’Brien’s feature debut.
10. Tribeca Pride
A whole day dedicated to LGBTQ conversations, I am squealing with excitement! From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. you can enjoy a full day of discussions about activism, representation in politics and Hollywood, being multi-creative and much more. The whole day is a preamble to the evenings World Premiere of the documentary, WIG (Chris Moukarbel, 2019) a film about the drag movement through archival and contemporary footage.
This is going to be a night to remember! Screening also begins with 7 specially selected LBGTQ+ shorts. Following the feature is a drag performance hosted by Lady Bunny including Charlene Incarnate, Bobby Samplsize, Flotilla and many more. The full day will be sprinkled by community members and big screen actors like Neil Patrick Harris and John Cameron Mitchell and community leaders like Alok Vaid Menon and Jacob Tobia.
For Tickets and passes to the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival visit: www.tribecafilm.com/festival/tickets
If you are attending and watching any of these films let us know what you think and share a picture of you at the screening. Tag @BushwickFilmFest.
Enjoy the show!
This article was written by BFF contributing writer Amanda Lederle. Amanda is a film enthusiast that has dedicated her life to mental health awareness, CreateBeing.com. Amanda has a background in Film Studies and lives with their partner and chinchilla, Chewbacca in Toronto, Canada.
FESTIVAL REVIEW: 2016 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
The Bushwick Film Festival loves independent film festivals! Especially those, like the Tribeca Film Festival, that take place in our very own city. #Tribeca2016 had its 15th edition last week, and we attended a number of panels, screenings and talks, which we shared with all the indie film lovers out there who follow us on Instagram and Facebook. If you missed the experience on social media, you can read a summary below of the films we liked and didn’t like, along with what inspired us. And remember to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and like us on Facebook so we can stay connected!
Films
Califórnia | Photo by Aline Arruda, courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
Califórnia
Set in Brazil during the 80s, Califórnia follows a young girl between the time of her first period and her first sexual experience. Estela (Clara Gallo) is desperate to escape her life and embark on a trip with her uncle to California. But she is forced to explore her identity and desires while the looming AIDS epidemic of the era threatens her wishes. Califórnia follows most of the ingredients of a coming-of-age story, except that it is told from the feminine perspective. As director Marina Person noted at a Q&A following the last screening, this is an important difference. It’s hard not to enjoy this movie and even fall for some of the characters. Califórnia proves to be another example of how, no matter the language or setting, humanity has more universal stories than we’d like to admit.
— Moraima Capellán Pichardo
Live Cargo | Photo by Daniella Nowitz, courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival
Live Cargo
Live Cargo (directed by Logan Sandler) offers up a story I couldn’t invest myself in, and yet, I didn’t want to miss a single frame. Early into the film’s runtime, the opaque nature of its storytelling left my mind wandering, but – even without a plot I could attach my concerns to – it still undoubtedly made an impact. Most of the moviegoing public, myself included, probably hasn’t seen an abundance of digital black & white films. It’s possible some audiences have never even seen a single one. Let’s face it, B&W is not “in” and may never be again. What’s special about Live Cargois that it doesn’t look like the 120-year-old The Arrival of a Train, or even Raging Bull. Its textures vary from those films because new cinema in 2016 looks like the present, not the past.
Anti-digital crusaders like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan will choose death before going digital, but their renouncement of a new era of films and filmmakers is no different than when your parents told your teenage self to turn down that loud and offensive punk rock record that you were really into. Live Cargo’s creative team embraces modern filmmaking techniques, and in the process delivers something that is different from all of the films your favorite auteurs made, but every bit as gorgeous.
— Joseph Willwerth
The Charro of Toluquilla | Photo by José Villalobos Romero, courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival
The Charro of Toluquilla
A few minutes before the screening, I was walking behind a man wearing a black sombrero and a plaid button-down. Given that we were in the Tribeca neighborhood, it was easy to recognize him as El Charro de Toluquilla. I had also been keeping up with the documentary ever since reading about it over at IndieWire, when it premiered at the Guadalajara Film Festival.
The Charro of Toluquilla provides a brief but intimate look at Jaime García, who embodies the image of traditional macho Mexican horsemen (charros), while living unapologetically as HIV-positive. In over three years of production, director Jose Villalobos Romero managed to integrate himself into the life of El Charro, who at a Q&A reassured the audience that his personality is authentic, no matter how over-the-top it might seem to be. (Sidenote: To everyone’s delight, he energetically ran up and down the theater aisles, handing over the microphone for questions). El Charro is hard to forget, and he doesn’t disappoint.
The documentary portrays a refreshing and often laugh-out-loud funny take on a father-daughter relationship and the topic of marriage. It is the type of storytelling we need in a time when Mexican men are often portrayed as caricatures for political gain.
— Moraima Capellán Pichardo
Wolves | Photo by Juanmi Azpiroz, courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
Wolves
Director Bart Freundlich, piled on more drama and surprises in Wolves than this moviegoer could handle. The film includes a degenerate gambler, an alcoholic, a pervert, a struggling author and a bad father – and that’s only Michael Shannon’s character. Newcomer Taylor John Smith excels on the screen as a high school basketball star at odds with his dad (Shannon), and navigating situations that no 18-year-old should have to be prepared for. Freundlich takes every coming-of-age archetype and pushes it to the extreme, throwing subtlety out the window, but by doing so, he fails to give proper care to such serious subject matter.
— Joseph Willwerth
Talks and Panels
Ira Sachs and Andrea Arnold
During a Tribeca Talk, Ira Sachs (Love Is Strange) spoke with director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank) about her career of filmmaking adventures and her new film, American Honey, set to debut at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. When Sachs asked what she found most shocking about her time shooting in America, Arnold detailed the horrors of poverty and drugs that the crew witnessed while filming in the South. When he asked her about her fears, she surprised everyone by claiming that she has none. In fact, Arnold seems to thrive on making low-budget independent films and has no qualms about being a woman in an industry dominated by men. Arnold’s secret to achieving her one-of-kind realism on the screen is to make movies like she prepares a meal in the kitchen, “without a recipe.” The auteur consistently challenges her creative self: American Honey was filmed with countless non-actors. who she only gave new pages of the script to just prior to each day of filming. Arnold apparently heeds her own advice to the audience: “Take the reins and go for it.”
Idina Menzel & Marc Platt
A packed audience had the pleasure of catching Idina Menzel (Frozen) in a very different setting during a Tribeca Talk, moderated by producer and friend Marc Platt (Wicked). There wasn’t a person seated who didn’t love hearing about how, when she was younger, the world-renowned singer had actually believed that she would one day be able to star as one of the black leads in Dreamgirls. Ever since her parents brought her to a Broadway show in her pajamas, Menzel has been nothing less than enamored with singing and acting, in all its forms. Though her career is full of successes, she emphasized that there have been just as many lows, just as many rejections, as there were times when she felt acceptance for her work. Through it all, she has appreciated all of the moments in her career and, for the record, would be overjoyed to be CGI’d into the long-in-the-works Wicked movie (if it ever gets made).
Menzel also runs A BroaderWay Foundation, a camp that fosters the creativity of underprivileged young girls and gives them the opportunity to dream big, just like she did when she was their age.
— Joseph Willwerth