Today marks the first of what I hope will be a ongoing series of guest writers on the blog covering major events and festivals - particularly those of relevance to the nonfiction community. Since I couldn't make it to Tribeca this year, I asked my pal Ryan Harrington to send his thoughts on the just concluded Gotham fest.
Tribeca this year had its fill of controversy - from the notorious boost in ticket prices to bloggers and press given the run-around to a festering conspiracy theory (which Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE quickly closed the door on). Harrington's A&E IndieFilms premiered their new Alexis Arquette sex change doc She's My Brother at the fest, writes that something felt different on the ground too. He also blogs about some of his favorite films of the festival:
The Tribeca Film Festival has been very good to A&E IndieFilms and to me personally over the past four years. We’ve acquired two films and premiered a film in the festival each year. One of those films, Jesus Camp, which premiered at last year's fest, went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. This year, our latest film, ALEXIS ARQUETTE SHE’S MY BROTHER, had its world premiere and Alexis spent the week here to promote the film.
However, things seemed different this year. I’m not sure if it was from the exhaustion of back to back April festivals, screenings and events. Or catching wind of a very unhappy industry, upset with Tribeca's force-feeding their growth on us - both with overblown ticket prices and far flung industry screening (on Manhattan’s east side - egads). Whatever it is, one thing became crystal clear to everyone this year: Tribeca finally admitted that it was all about the money, baby. Now, clearly the driving force behind our business is money, but Tribeca is nudging its smaller, indie-er and longtime loyal sponsors out to make way for larger, corporate machines that can claim ownership on their many programs for the price tag of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Surely AmEx’s presence was felt throughout the city: free popcorn on street corners, smiling people with logo’d sweatshirts offering people directions, step and repeats at every venue. You get the picture. It’s all very friendly and nice really – but it misses the entire point of what the film festival is supposed to embrace: community.
And while past festivals have opened with major Hollywood titles, this year’s festival was simply overpowered by the looming shadow of SPIDERMAN 3 and the weeklong celebration promoting it, which was aptly titled “Spidey Week”. The webbed-one's big premiere happened to be scheduled on the same night as the premiere of our Alexis doc. And while our film was fortunate to have a high profile celebrity and theme, there were any number of other films and filmmakers whose movies happened to premiere the same night who were maybe fighting for attention.
I really dig David and Nancy who program the doc section of the festival. They are smart and talented and programmed a pretty sturdy slate of films. The problem with the festival generally is that there are too many films - and too many mediocre films at that - that clutter the week-long schedule. I'm not sure what it is about SXSW that seems to get it so right that so many other festivals seem to bungle. Perhaps it's how SXSW break up their festival by having essentially two parts: Friday thru Tuesday for premieres and industry, with a secondary Wednesday to Saturday portion for locals, music fest attendees and film repeats. I think more festivals would be smart to follow their lead.
I did however walk away from the festival with a number of docs that have continued to resonate with me. And there are many that I haven't yet been able to see (as I write this I am sad to report that I have yet to view Alex Gibney’s TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE), but hope to in the coming months.
My highlights include:
AUTISM: THE MUSICAL (directed by Tricia Regan) follows five autistic kids as they write and rehearse their own musical. I will admit that I’m usually one to shy away from documentaries about children that are sick, have AIDS, autism or mental problems, but I have to say this doc really won me over. It truly rises above stereotypes.
CHOPS (directed by Bruce Broder) focuses on the Essentially Ellington Festival, a competition of the best high school jazz bands from across the US. I have heard this doc continually mentioned with SPELLBOUND or MAD HOT BALLROOM - two other docs about competitions for young people. But the characters in this film have something the others don’t - a pure talent that enables them to work as a cohesive unit.
BEYOND BELIEF (directed by Beth Murphy) feels like a sure-fire Oscar short-list contender. The film follows two widows whose husbands died on 9/11 as they travel to Kabul to help other widows.
THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES (directed by John Erick Dowdle) is actually a horror hybrid fake-doc and is certainly a genre that the industry is paying attention too. I’ve heard from other programmers that we'll be seeing more of these faux horror docs over the coming year. Dowdle’s film cuts between interviews with FBI profilers and videotapes of horrendous torture found in an elusive serial killers abandoned home. It certainly has its problems (bad acting is the most glaring one), but it took risks and I admire that.
A SLIM PEACE (directed by Yael Luttwak) is about Israeli, Palestinian, Bedouin Arab and American Settler women coming together in the West Bank with the common goal of losing weight. This is a really clever successful documentary - although, like some of its subjects, it could use a bit of shaping.
PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG (directed by Jim Brown) is a look at the life and times of folk singer Pete Seeger. It's a surprisingly moving film that deals with the social changes of the last many decades, particularly the 1940s and 50s. It was one of my favorites.
Overall, Tribeca has come a long way over the past six edition and it is growing by leaps and bounds. But with this year's stumbles, one wonders what the future holds for Tribeca. Personally, I hope that the festival organizers re-connect with the vital independent film community that thrives in New York. A festival like Tribeca should be a celebration of that community, it shouldn't hold the community at arm's length.
For more on Tribeca, head over to indieWIRE which has extensive reporting in their On the Scene: Tribeca section, as well as GreenCine Daily, which has been rounding up the best of the Tribeca coverage (in particular, see here, here and here). GreenCine's David D'Arcy praises Diego Luna's nonfiction directorial debut Chavez - more on that from Eugene Hernandez.
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