The 12th Annual Tribeca Film Festival starts today and to celebrate MoviefiedNYC is excited to share just a few of the films we are looking forward to catching in the next two weeks.
Ali Blue Eyes
Nader and Stefano: one is Egyptian but was born in Rome, the other is Italian and is his best friend. Nader’s girlfriend Brigitte is Italian too, but that’s exactly why the boy’s parents oppose their love. Alì Blue Eyes tells of a week in the life of an adolescent boy who thries to disobey the values of his family. Precariously balanced between being Arab or Italian, Nader, courageous and in love, will have to endure solitude, the streets, cold, hunger, fear and the loss of friendship, in the attempt to regain his own identity.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
I am excited by anything director, Mira Nair has to offer after Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair, The Namesake and Amelia.
SYNOPSIS – Pakistan-born Changez Khan is a talented young man with a bright future who turns a Princeton degree into a successful career as a Wall Street analyst and finds love with a beautiful photographer, Erica. But Changez’s life takes a dramatic turn in the wake of 9/11, as he faces racial prejudices in America and pursues a career as a radicalized university professor in his native Lahore.
Based on the celebrated bestseller by Mohsin Hamid, Mira Nair’s delicate, multi-layered adaptation examines the complex and globally contentious ideas and ideologies of the post-9/11 world. Fueled by superb performances from Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber and Martin Donovan. Nair takes us on a thought-provoking personal and political exploration of issues we think we understand but are perhaps polarizing beyond comprehension. With her own inestimable style and intelligence, she has fashioned a resonant examination of a decade of change: the world we came from, the world we currently live in and its affect on us all.
Before Midnight
I’m curious to see if director Richard Linklater whose previous films include Slacker (1991), Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004) can keep this third collaboration with stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke alive, fresh and smart.
Star Wars Uncut (Previously featured on MoviefiedNYC Tumblr)
SYNOPSIS – Guided by project creator Casey Pugh, helped by the viral success of his Emmy-winning revision of A New Hope and using everything from hand-drawn animations to intricate reenactments, fans reimagine The Empire Strikes Back, fifteen seconds at a time. This joyful celebration of the Star Wars universe shows both the extent of fan culture around the world and the increasing sophistication of the tools with which we can rewrite our favorite stories.
I (heart) dystopic, futuristic sci-fi. I’m excited to see The Machine.
SYNOPSIS – Already deep into a second Cold War, Britain’s Ministry of Defence seeks a game-changing weapon and enlists brilliant programmer Vincent McCarthy to research and develop a cybernetic super soldier in a secret governmental lab. When a programming bug causes his prototype to run amok, McCarthy takes his obsessive efforts underground, far away from inquisitive eyes. Soon he has perfected the ideal marriage of human and machine in his ultimate creation, a beautiful and dangerous being that may be the key to ending the endless war, but a sentience stirring inside the machine puts everyone’s plans in jeopardy. With rare vision, jaw-dropping special effects and Caity Lotz’s (The Pact) versatile and nuanced interpretation of a machine that may be the most human character of all, visionary director Caradog James fully realizes his unique future dystopia.
V/H/S/2
Why not?
SYNOPSIS: This highly anticipated next installment to last year’s midnight sensation V/H/S features segments from contemporary genre film’s leading talents. Jason Eisener’s frenetic entry recalls ’80s pre-teen adventure movies as pranking adolescents run terrified from otherworldly visitors. Blair Witch Project innovators Gregg Hale and Eduardo Sánchez return with a singular slant on the perspective of gut-hungry zombies. Adam Wingard provides perhaps the most first-person viewpoint, capturing apparitional menaces via a cybernetic eye. With every turn of a corner, unimaginable satanic forces spawn to sounds of air raid sirens in Timo Tjahjanto and Gareth Evans’s godless joint effort. Contained within Simon Barrett’s chilling wraparound segment, V/H/S/2 is an expansive portmanteau of clever unrestrained brutality and fun.
Documentary
Michael H. Profession: Director
A close up of the auteur.
SYNOPSIS – Over the past two-and-a-half decades, director Michael Haneke has established himself as a towering figure in modern cinema. This career-spanning documentary charts the Austrian auteur’s body of work in reverse chronological order, from the recent Oscar®-winning film Amour through his feature debut, The Seventh Continent, to present a fascinating investigation into the mind of a consummate professional at work.
With unprecedented access to the filmmaker and his work on set, director Yves Montmayeur—who has shot several making-of features for Haneke—illuminates the works of the artist on his own terms and sheds light on the sacred intimacy of his creative process. Through behind-the-scenes footage of Haneke’s hands-on and surprisingly playful directing style, analysis of scenes from films across his oeuvre and interviews with frequent collaborators including Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche, a portrait emerges of the man whose rigorous focus on the craft of filmmaking has produced works of profound artistry.
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
Diva, hilarious and real! I am very much looking forward to this documentary.
SYNOPSIS – At eighty-seven years old, Elaine Stritch is taking her show on the road one last time. This uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner, playing cities across the U.S., is captured both on and off stage in this compelling chronicle of a true legend. Along the way, Stritch tells stories about her many Broadway roles like Mame, shares secrets about her leading men and is brutally honest about aging. With interviews from Tina Fey, Nathan Lane, Hal Prince and others, director Chiemi Karasawa blends rare archival footage and intimate cinema vérité to reach beyond Stritch’s brassy exterior to reveal a dimensional portrait of a complex woman and an inspiring artist.
Lil Bub & Friendz
I guess you could say it’s curiosity—it’s the stuff of CRAZY cat people!
SYNOPSIS: Co-directed by Juliette Eisner and Andy Capper, Called “the most fameous cat on the internet.” Lil Bub & Friendz is the heartwarming story of the world’s cutest celebrity cat, and her sensational rise to international fame. A wide-eyed, deformed “perma-kitten,” Lil Bub has won the love and attention of the internet and the media with her unique look and inspiring story—one of positivity and giving in the face of destitution and hardship. Lil Bub & Friendz provides an in-depth look into the virality of YouTube videos and memes that define pop culture today, and exposes the world of “cat people” through the first-ever Internet Cat Video Film Festival.
SYNOPSIS – Reem is the savvy promoter, Flizzo the undefeated local legend, Jay Donn the innovator with the talent to carry him far away from home, if he can learn to work with the outsiders who want to take him there. What unites them: a competitive dance form of dramatic contortions, simulated violence, seamlessly flowing footsteps and the occasional humorous touch. Welcome to the world of Flex. Flex Is Kings is a sparkling testament to the freeing power of art and a powerful visual celebration of the beauty born when raw energy is directed toward the creative process.
Cutie and the Boxer
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