April 14, 2008

Tribeca Film Fest - April 23 to May 4 - the full overview

NewYorkology contributor Vanessa Geiger covers alternative cinema offerings in New York City. She's a freelance writer and photographer who has just finished production work on the upcoming documentary "Crazy Sexy Cancer" and was most recently published in GO Magazine.

It's time to gear up for the Tribeca Film Festival -- set for April 23 through May 4 -- which features an incredible selection of films for your viewing pleasure.

Among the 200-plus films on 21 screens, Tribeca will roll out 53 world premieres including the cartoon-inspired "Speed Racer," Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's "Baby Mama," and the David Mamet-direced "Redbelt."

Tribeca's free outdoor Drive-in returns this year with three screenings set for the plaza of the World Financial Center. Thriller Night (April 24) will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's legendary music video directed by John Landis. Festival organizers promise "the world's largest zombie disco" along with dance lesons, face painting, a Michael Jackson look-alike contest and a Solid Gold Dance Party.

Other Drive-In screenings are the "Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins" on April 25, and April 26 will be a fan-selected sports flick.

The New York-themed films include the documentary "Hotel Gramercy Park," (with a principal cast of Ian Schrager, Debbie Harry, Karl Lagerfeld, Paris Hilton;) the Warhol-inspired "Empire II;" and the Melvin Van Peebles-directed "Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha."

Tribeca's festival-within-a-festival, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival will take place Saturday, May 3 and will feature not only athletic-themed films but also free games and the chance to rub shoulders with Mr. Met and players from the New York Rangers, New York Knicks and New York Liberty.

The Sports Fest overlaps with the free Family Street Fair on the same day and will include performances by the casts of Broadway's "Legally Blonde" and "Xanadu," an interactive Bubble Garden courtesy of Off-Broadway's "Gazillion Bubble Show," appearances by Clifford the Red Dog, WordGirl and wax figures from Madame Tussauds New York.

Midnight screenings include "Killer Movie," "SqueezeBox!," "The Auteur," and "The Cottage."

There are a number of tickets and ticket packages you can purchase -- and competition will be tough. There were 185,000 tickets sold in 2007, according to festival organizers.

Since Saturday, individual tickets have been on sale exclusively for American Express Card members. As of April 18th, that pre-sale will be extended to downtown residents (with proof you have a Zip code below Canal Street.) Finally on April 19th, individual tickets will go on sale to the general public.

The prices:

Single tickets to evening or weekend general screenings (movies that starts between 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Mondays trough Fridays, and weekend screenings) - $15

Single tickets to weekday matinee or weekday late-night screenings (movies beginning prior to 5 p.m. or after 11 p.m. or later) - $8

Tribeca Talks, Converstations, and Behind the Screens - $25

Tribeca Talks Industry - $8

Passes and Packages

Hudson Pass - $1,100

Evening/Weekend Package - $125

Matinee/Late Night Ticket Package - $64

Competition Film Package - $75

Foreign Film Fan Package - $75

Documentary Film Fan Package - $75

Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Marathon Day Pass - $75

The festival also has a number of hotel partners, and oddly the long list does not include Robert Deniro's brand new Greenwich Hotel.

Many of the films screen several times throughout the festival. Here's a list of the initial screening dates for each film so-far confirmed. For an updated schedule, see the festival website.

April 24th
AMC 19th Street Location:
Charly - 4:30 p.m.
The Objective - 6 p.m.
Bitter & Twisted - 6:45p.m.
Waiting For Hockey - 7:30 p.m.
The Aquarium - 9 p.m.
Killer Movie - 10 p.m.
SHORTS: Sparks of Brilliance - 10:30 p.m

AMC Village VII
SHORTS: All Truisms - 4 p.m.
SHORTS: Spilt Second-4 p.m.
SHORTS: Off the Beaten Path - 5 p.m.
Going on 13 - 5:30 p.m.
Let the Right One In - 7 p.m.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell - 7:30 p.m.
The Wild Man of the Navidad - 7:45 p.m.
Milosevic on Trial - 8 p.m.
Somers Town - 8:30 p.m.
Playing For Change - 10 p.m.
The Cottage - 10:30 p.m.

BMCC
I Am Because We Are - 6 p.m.
Yonkers Joe - 9:30 p.m.

Directors Guild America (DGA)
Standard Operating Procedure Conversations In Cinema - 6:30 p.m.

PACE
Quiet Chaos - 6 p.m.
Elite Squad - 9:30 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
My Winnipeg-6 p.m.
Fire Under Snow - 8:30 p.m.
Trucker - 9 p.m.

APRIL 25TH
AMC 19TH Street
Seven Days Sunday - 5:50 p.m.
Bart Got a Room - 6 p.m.
Chevolution - 6:30 p.m.
Eden - 8:30 p.m.
From Within - 9 p.m.
Old Man Bebo - 9:30 p.m.

AMC Village VII
SHORTS: Window Seat - 1:45 p.m.
My Life Inside - 4 p.m.
Playing for Change - 4:30 p.m.
SHORTS: Deal With It - 4:45 p.m.
War, Love, God, and Madness - 5 p.m.
Lost-Indulgence - 5:30 p.m.
Lioness - 6 p.m.
My Marlon Brando - 6:15 p.m.
Algeria, Unspoken Stories - 7 p.m.
SHORTS: Identity Crisis - 7:30 p.m.
Marina of the Zabbaleen - 7:45 p.m.
Sita Sings the Blues - 8:15 p.m.
Fighter - 8:30 p.m.
Faubourg Treme` - 9:15 p.m.
Lake City - 9:30 p.m.
SHORTS: Cold Feet - 10:30 p.m.
The Auteur - 10:45 p.m.
Sick Nurses - 11 p.m.
SHORTS: Nuthouse - 11:30 p.m.

BMCC
Redbelt - 6:30 p.m.
Lake City - 9:30 p.m.

PACE
Boy A - 5 p.m.
Three Kingdoms - 8:30 p.m.

Tishman (Tish)
The Caller - 5:30 p.m.
Squeezebox! - 9 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
Donkey In Lahore - 5 p.m.
World's Apart - 5:30 p.m.
The Caller - 5:30 p.m.
Kassim the Dream - 6 p.m.
Fermat's Room - 8 p.m.
Milky Way Liberation Front - 8:30 p.m.
Three Kingdoms - 8:30 p.m.
Squeezebox! - 9 p.m.
Newcastle - 9 p.m.

APRIL 26TH
AMC 19TH Street
SHORTS: The Eye Opener - 2:30 p.m.
Kassim The Dream - 3 p.m.
A Portrait of Diego - 3:30 p.m.
Idiots and Angels - 5:30 p.m.
Love, Pain, & Visa Versa - 6 p.m.
Ball Don't Lie - 6:30 p.m.
The 27 Club - 8:30 p.m.
The Wackness - 9 p.m.
Celia the Queen - 9:30 p.m.
Baghed - midnight

AMC Village VII
This is not a Robbery - 4 p.m.
My Marlon Brando - 5:15 p.m.
Chicken, Fish & Crab - 5:30 p.m.
Algeria, Unspoken Stories - 5:45 p.m.
Simple Things - 6:45 p.m.
Under Our Skin - 7 p.m.
Anumar Broadway Film - 7:45 p.m.
Two Mothers - 8:15 p.m.
Paraiso Travel - 9 p.m.
Lost: Indulgence - 9:15 p.m.
The Aquarium - 10 p.m.
Progressive Landscapes - 10:45 p.m.

BMCC
Tennessee - 6 p.m.
Savage Grace - 9:30 p.m.

DGA
Lake City Behind the Screens - 6:30 p.m.

PACE
Gotta Dance - 5 p.m.
A President to Remember - 6:30 p.m.

TISH
Man on Wire - 5:30 p.m.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster - 9 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
Dying Breed - 10 p.m.
Let the Right One In - 11 p.m.
Fermat's Room - midnight

APRIL 27TH
AMC 19TH Street
57,000 Kilometers Between Us - 7:30 p.m.
Everywhere at Once - 9 p.m.

AMC Villlage VII
Kicking It - 10:30 a.m.
The Zen of Bobby V - noon
Football Undercover - 3:45 p.m.

BMCC
Terra - 4 p.m.
Life In Flight - 8 p.m.

PACE
2001: A Space Odyssey Conversations in Cinema - 3 p.m.
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha - 7:30 p.m.

TISH
Theater of War - 6 p.m.
Guest of Cindy Sherman - 9 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
Newcastle - 5:30 p.m.
Days In Sintra - 8:30 p.m.

APRIL 28TH
AMC 19TH Street
The Secret of the Grain - 9 p.m.

AMC Village VII
Life In Flight - 3:30 p.m.
Hotel Gramercy Park - 4:45 p.m.

BMCC
Gunnin' for that #1 Spot - 6 p.m.
War, Inc. - 9:30 p.m.

DGA
Tribeca Talks: Mike Figgis - 6:30 p.m.

PACE
The Dali Lama: Peace and Prosperity - 5 p.m.
Toby Dammit - 8:30 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
Ramschand Pakistani - 6:15 p.m.
Terra - 8 p.m.

APRIL 29TH
AMC 19TH Street
Katyn - 6 p.m.
Before the Rains - 9 p.m.

AMC Village VII
War Child - 1:45 p.m.
Playing - 6 p.m.
Baghdad High - 7:30 p.m.
Secrecy - 7:45 p.m.
SHORTS: Enviro Rupture - 10 p.m.

BMCC
Finding Amanda - 7:30 p.m.

DGA
Tribeca Talks: Pangea Day - 7 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
Mister Lonely - 6:15 p.m.

APRIL 30TH
AMC 19TH Street
Zoned In - 6 p.m.
Strangers - 7:30 p.m.

AMC Village VII
Waiting for Hockney - 9:45 p.m.

PACE
Two Timid Souls - 6:30 p.m.
The Universe of Keith Harning - 9:30 p.m.

Village Cinemas East
A Powerful Noise - 6:15 p.m.
A Story of the Red Hills - 9:30 p.m.

MAY 1ST
AMC 19TH Street
Whatever Lola Wants - 7:30 p.m.

AMC Village VII
Before the Rains - 12:30 p.m.

BMCC
99 Miles The Documentary Conversations in Cinema - 6 p.m.

PACE
Lou Reed's Berlin - 8:30 p.m.

MAY 2ND
BMCC
Lake City - 9:30 p.m.

PACE
Harvest 3000 Years - 5 p.m.
Empire II - 9 p.m.

MAY 3RD
BMCC
Speed Racer - 6:30 p.m.

PACE
Tribeca Talks: Injecting the American Dream - 5 p.m.

Village East Cinemas
Meekrat Manor - 11 a.m.
Window Seat - 11:15 p.m.

MAY 4TH
AMC 19TH Street
SHORTS: Sparks - 7 p.m.

AMC Village VII
"NY Loves Film" Documentary Competition Winner - 1 p.m.
World Documentary Competition Winner - 1:30 p.m.
Made in N.Y Narrative Competition Award Winner - 1:45 p.m.
World Narrative Competition Award Winner - 2 p.m.
Documentary Emerging Filmmaker Award Winner - 4 p.m.
Narrative Emerging Filmmaker Award Winner - 4:45 p.m.
The Cadillac Audience Award Winner - 5:30 p.m.

PACE
Night Tide - 5 p.m

Image source: Emile Hirsch as Speed Racer in the Mach 5, in a scene from Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' action adventure "Speed Racer," distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

April 14, 2008 11:37 AM in Broadway, Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Kids, Sightsology, Sports

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