By CHRISTINE CONNALLON and MIKE PERCIACCANTE
NEW YORK – Celebrating its 14th year of bringing the best and brightest to moviegoers, the Tribeca Film Festival 2015 showcased cinematic gems in both feature- and short-length categories. With a total attendance of over 467,000 attending over a staggering 490 screenings and panels and representing work from 38 countries, the possibilities were endless.
Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center as a way to help the economic growth of the hard hit downtown region through storytelling and culture, the Tribeca Film Festival is one of the brightest points of the year for the thousands who attend to enjoy the films and events, both in person and online. Let’s look back at some of the highlights of this year’s festival as we begin to plan for the wonder that is sure to be TFF 2016.
Song of Lahore This standout documentary, which will be released on video on April 1, follows the incredible creation of Sachal Studios. Lahore in Pakistan’s 1947 independence was a magical place full of creative beings, including musicians, artists and poets. This thriving center of cultural exploration was alive and vibrant. Fast forward to the current state of Lahore, a place that has lost creative color due to Islamization, ethnic divisions, war and corruption. That is, until one man, Izzat Majeed, forged ahead to create Sachal Studios in an attempt to preserve the traditional music of a nation that had rejected its long and vibrant musical roots. He convinced a number of master musicians to collaborate and they released some classical and folk albums without much fanfare. When they released an experimental album fusing jazz and South Asian instruments, everything changed. Their version of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five gained critical attention and acclaim and Wynton Marsalis invited the Sachal Jazz Ensemble to New York to perform with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, resulting in a memorable and powerful concert. Despite international recognition, the group is still relatively unknown in Pakistan where they still work to reinvigorate an art that has lost relevance in Pakistan’s cultural identity.
Orion: The Man Who Would Be King A fascinating documentary, Orion is the story of Jimmy Ellis, a man from Alabama who possessed a singing voice with an uncanny similarity to Elvis Presley. When Elvis died in August of 1977, the world mourned his loss and many fans held onto the theory that their favorite singer had indeed faked his own death. When Sun Records came across Ellis, they saw the perfect opportunity to play on the emotions of fans by introducing the mysterious Orion, a masked performer in who sounded remarkably like the King. When Ellis appeared in 1979 as Orion, he recorded 11 albums and performed to fans from around the country who lost their minds, fueling the concept that perhaps the King had not yet left the building. This film is a perfect example of truth being stranger than fiction could ever be.
In My Father’s House Documentarians Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (who brought us Knuckleball) have put together a compelling look at family, music and the past. Songwriter and performer Che “Rhymefest” Smith is raising his own family and, in an attempt to reconnect with his past, he purchases his childhood home on the South Side of Chicago. When he discovers that his estranged dad is an alcoholic and living on the streets nearby, he tentatively begins on a journey to reconnect with the father who abandoned him over 2 decades earlier. With lots of twists and turns, Che discovers everything about himself and fatherhood in the process.
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck At times both disturbing and delightful, this wildly captivating documentary depicting the life of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain is chock full of amazing archival footage from photographs to video and interviews from all the key players in Cobain’s life. His daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, wore an executive producer hat for the film, which explains the personal access and gives the viewer a truly unprecedented look at the boy, the husband, the addict, the genius, the son, the father and the iconic musician whose suicide in April of 1994 left legions of fans heartbroken. Difficult to watch at times when Cobain and wife Courtney Love are high in old footage, Montage of Heck paints a raw and honest portrait of an artist.
As I Am: The Life and Times of DJ AM Director Kevin Kerslake employs a host of techniques to bring Adam Goldstein, formerly of the rock band Crazy Town and the first million dollar earning DJ in the United States, to life. With archival footage as well as interviews that view like a Who’s Who in the music scene, the most powerful tool he used was having DJ AM’s own voice posthumously narrate the film, sharing with the audience the urgent feeling that any day could be his last. From his incredible collaborations, struggle with drugs and subsequent need to counsel his peers when he found his own sobriety to the fiery plane crash that he narrowly escaped along with Blink 182’s Travis Barker, Goldstein’s life was one of luxury and loneliness, excess and desperation. As I Am poetically covers his struggles and joy, ending with the untimely drug overdose that ended his final chapter.
Cartel Land An inside look at the Mexican drug cartels, Matthew Heineman’s fearless documentary is a fascinating exploration of illegal narcotic trafficking and the colorful vigilante groups on both sides of the drug war, clearly showing that nothing is black and white when questionable measures to ensure victory are taken.
The Adderall Diaries Based on Stephen Elliott’s bestselling memoir, this is the story of an author completely stuck by writer’s block and fueled by an ever increasing drug problem who becomes obsessed with a public murder trial. The stellar cast of James Franco, Amber Heard, Ed Harris and Christian Slater make this an unforgettable classic.
The Wolfpack: Crystal Moselle’s masterpiece has gained lots of traction. Her debut film is the stunning tale of the Angulo siblings, sheltered in extreme measures by their overprotective father who did not trust the outside world or the influences of it on his family. As a coping mechanism, the brothers get lost in the world of film. Prisoners of their home, the boys watch their favorite movies over and over, transcribing the scripts, designing costumes and realistic props, then finally staging entire movies. When one daring brother escapes the apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to explore the real world beyond their front door, it starts a snowball effect, with the dynamic shifting for both the offspring, as well as their mother who has also suffered under the reign of the patriarch of the family.
With films to satisfy the urges of any movie goer, the only question is how will the fine folks at the Tribeca Film Festival top this lineup? Thankfully, we only have a few short months to bask in the wonder of the 2016 edition.
