Image courtesy of the filmmakers and Sound of Silent Film Festival From “The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer,” by the Brothers Quay.

Chicago fest makes its NYC debut, at Anthology Film Archives

BY TRAV S.D.  | On June 7 and 8, New Yorkers will have a rare chance to experience something that was once quite common, now for all intents and purposes extinct: contemporary, original silent films with live accompaniment by a small orchestra.

Anthology Film Archives will be playing host to the Chicago-based organization Access Contemporary Music (ACM), which will be presenting its Sound of Silent Film Festival in the Big Apple for the first time.

ACM was founded in 2004 by Chicago composer Seth Boustead to foster and promote new work by contemporary classical composers. Now in its eighth year, ACM’s Sound of Silent Film Festival is an opportunity for composers to score for film, and to have the scores performed live before an audience as was a common practice in the early twentieth century (while much silent film accompaniment was improvised, major films such as D.W. Griffith’s 1915 “The Birth of a Nation” were distributed with sheet music to an original score).

According to festival spokesperson Claire Arkin, “the festival has generated a loyal and enthusiastic following” in its hometown for showing films that are “wonderfully weird, funny and at times disturbing.”

This year’s edition includes works by film makers ranging from the well -known to the more obscure. Star contributions include “The Big Shave” by Martin Scorsese, “First Kiss” by Gus Van Sant, “Heart of the World” by Guy Maddin, “The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer” by the Brothers Quay and “The Mermaid” by anime pioneer Tezuka Osama.

But the films by lesser-known directors rate attention, too. “G.M.” by Martin Pickles is a period fantasia inspired by George Méliès, in which the pioneering French film-maker finds a mysterious world behind the walls of his home. In William Lorton’s clever “Cheating, Inc.,” a student makes use of an absurdly elaborate global spy network in order to cheat on his college math exam. “Father and Daughter” by Michael Dudok De Witt is a beautiful animated film from the Netherlands in which a young girl sets out to catch up to her father who has left on a journey, and finally meets him — seventy years later.

In Steve Stein’s “Must Like Magic” a young man answers a help wanted ad for a magician’s apprentice, and ends up having better skills than the man who interviews him. Virgil Widrich’s “Copy Shop” is a surreal outing, where the clerk who works in the titular store actually manages to duplicate himself. Alexander Payne’s “Carmen” is actually set to the music from the original opera by Bizet, arranged by Seth Boustead. The music for the other films ranges from the modern-sounding and dissonant to the traditional.

The composers featured include Boustead, Amos Gillespie, Randall West, Brian O’Hern, Eric Malmquist, William Susman, Eric Reda, Doug Johnson, Amy Wurtz, Matthew Pakulski and Patricia Morehead.

Image courtesy of the filmmakers and Sound of Silent Film Festival From Michael Dudok De Witt’s “Father and Daughter.”

FILM
SOUND OF SILENT
FILM FESTIVAL
8-10pm
Fri., June 7 & Sat., June 8
At Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. (btw. First & Second Sts.)
Tickets: $30 at the door, $20 online ($10 for students/seniors)
Visit acmusic.org or call 212-505-5181

BY RANIA RICHARDSON
The decline of a parent can be devastating — so why would a filmmaker turn a camera on his mother as she falls prey to Alzheimer’s disease? “It’s a project to tell your mom that you love her,” director Banker White says to his mother during the course of “The Genius of Marian.”

Lovingly, White and his co-director and wife, Anna Fitch, trace the evolution of Pam’s affliction (the same one that took hold of her own mother, Marian, who was institutionalized because of the disease).

Marian was a home-schooled painter who captured her family in oils, and we see images of Pam as a playful child and as a beautiful young woman on the beach. The stunning artwork adds a joyful aspect to a sad story of disease as legacy, in a Kennedy-like family.

A comfortable home in the Boston suburbs, a caring family and a sacrificing husband barely lessen the tragedy of confusion, memory loss and increasing debilitation after Pam’s diagnosis at age 61. She kept her disease a secret as long as she could, but soon was calling macadamia nuts “acamanias.”

Longtime friends suggest that since lovely, popular Pam was the best at everything she did, she had farther to fall from the Alzheimer’s. Taking a leave from work to care for her full-time, husband Ed (obviously still in love) is the hero of the film.

A poignant contrast is made with two sequences. When Pam was a pretty, young model she appeared in a commercial for Arrid deodorant. More recently, unable to apply deodorant on herself, Ed swipes some under her arms before performing his daily ritual of dressing her.

The film may have the look and feel of home movies, but archival and new footage and shots of Marian’s paintings are edited masterfully together to tell the story of a vibrant life and a much-loved woman.

Directed by Banker White & Anna Fitch

Documentary

84 minutes

Screening at the Tribeca Film Festival

4/21 at 7:30pm, 4/23 at 6:45pm and 4/26 at 3pm

At Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.)

For tickets & info, call 646-502-5296 or visit tribecafilm.com/filmguide

Emmanuelle Devos, as Alix. Photo by Céline Nieszawer.

BY SAM SPOKONY  | Now this is romance. The knowing glances, the swells and falls, the awkward moments, the utter silence. It’s always nice to experience a piece of fiction in which the depth of emotion is really shown rather than told, and “Just a Sigh” follows that old mantra of narrative in all the right ways. Jérôme Bonnell puts it all out there, displaying — with supreme confidence  — an invigorating ability to navigate the folds of both tense social interaction and quiet introspection, while never losing his sense of humor and sheer imaginative spark.

During a break from a theatre performance in Calais, 43-year-old French actress Alix (played by Emmanuelle Devos) is on her way back to her home in Paris to relax and spend some time with her boyfriend. But while riding the train into the city, a somewhat older British man (Gabriel Byrne) sitting in a nearby seat catches her eye. She catches his eye. It’s cute. And so on. They speak briefly, but there’s an interruption, and the connection is lost…for the moment.

From this point, it could have devolved into pure cheese, but it didn’t. Instead, it’s where (all innuendo aside) Bonnell really gets it in.

It turns out that this handsome, nameless man is on his way to a church. But when Alix suddenly has an impulse to follow him, she soon realizes that Mr. Mysterious isn’t there for fun. He’s there for the funeral of a dear colleague (he’s a literature professor), and one for whom he had strong (yet unconsummated) romantic feelings.

This is where it gets interesting. As Alix realizes that her own boyfriend is nowhere to be found (and, better yet, that she might even be subconsciously avoiding the guy, for reasons we find out later), these two characters just sink into each other — heaping upon each other the unbridled passion they’ve apparently both been bottling up. And it’s gripping stuff.

As the film goes on, it’s one joy and folly after another, as Alix sorts out her demons — familial, professional, and otherwise — on the streets of Paris, while never losing the thought of this one strangely awesome guy who’s been thrust into her life.

Meanwhile, Bonnell sprinkles the whole thing with generous helpings of vibrant color, classical music, absurdly funny coincidences and mistakes (and a strong narrative line that never lets us forget why we walked in the door). Devos and Byrne are both wonderful. They’re constantly outdoing one another with moments of intensity, longing and loss — but at the same time, they’re a perfect complement.

If you’re looking to get hit right in the feelings, folks, then check this one out. In the end, it really is just a sigh, nothing more — but that’s why it’s good.

Directed by Jérôme Bonnell

Runtime: 104 minutes

English, French with subtitles

Screening at the Tribeca Film Festival

4/21 at 10pm and 4/25, 10pm, at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.)

4/28, 2:30pm, at AMC Loews Village 7 (66 Third Ave., at 11th St.)

For tickets & info, call 646-502-5296 or visit tribecafilm.com/filmguide

Chris Schoeck, bending a horseshoe in his storage unit. Photo by Ryan Scafuro

BY TRAV S.D.  |  “Bending Steel” is an unexpectedly moving documentary by director Dave Carroll about a guy with the quixotic dream of becoming an old-time circus strong man.

Chris Schoeck, the film’s subject, is a 43-year-old physical therapist and self-professed loner who literally spends all of his spare time in a storage room straining to bend pieces of metal. To be more precise, he actually accomplishes this seemingly impossible feat routinely.

Before the camera, we watch him twist horseshoes straight like taffy, bend a pipe wrench over double and transform a thick steel bar into a “U” shape. When he says “That’s a good kind of nail to work on,” he’s not talking about carpentry — it’s either for bending in half or driving into a board using only his fist. And when he gets tired of metal, Schoeck tears phone books and decks of playing cards in half with his bare hands. Schoeck, by the way, only weighs about 150 pounds.

It turns out that accomplishing such feats of strength is not only a matter of brute force, but of willpower. To help him realize his dream, Schoeck hires a Pennsylvania-based consultant, Chris “Haircules” Rider — so named because of his long, flowing mane, and the fact that he is able to pick up heavy weights that have been tied to it using his mighty scalp-strength. It’s Rider’s job to help Schoeck build his confidence by teaching him about performance, inspiring him and psyching him up.

The film follows the two as they make a pilgrimage to the home of a legend in their field, Slim the Hammer Man (whose specialty is lifting sledgehammers). Slim’s garage, in turn, is a shrine to the memory of sideshow star The Mighty Atom (Joseph L. Greenstein). At a gathering of a club called the Steel Nuts, Schoeck is encouraged by one of the members to attempt to bend a quarter on his teeth — and he does, chipping one in the process.

This is a group of friends founded on machismo, yet Schoeck is able to find more sensitivity, acceptance and understanding with them than he does from his own parents (whom ironically, are the only thing holding him back). Dismissive, truly horrible people, they can’t be bothered to support him or even pretend to take an interest in what he does, gazing unimpressed when he bends a steel bar an inch and a half thick in front of them in their back yard. (The father suggests that it might be a trick bar, and then points out that the son is out of breath).

The climax of the film is Schoeck’s debut at the Coney Island Olde Time Strongman Spectacular, where he hopes to surprise everyone by bending a steel bar that is two inches thick. Even the experts tell him he won’t be able to pull it off. In the front row are two empty seats reserved for his parents.

You won’t get any spoilers here but I will reveal that the outcome affected me greatly on an emotional level. Far from a silly topic, this is one man’s existential journey, and it packs a punch — right to the solar plexus.

Directed by Dave Carroll

Runtime: 93 minutes

Documentary

Screening at the Tribeca Film Festival

4/24 at 3pm and 4/27 at 10:30pm, at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.)

For tickets & info, call 646-502-5296 or visit tribecafilm.com/filmguide

From left: Sumrit Warin as Toma, Sitthiphon Disamoe as Ahlo, Thep Phongam as Purple, Loungnam Kaosainam as Kia and Bunsri Yindi as Taitok. Photo by Tom Greenwood

BY SCOTT STIFFLER  |  Australian filmmaker Kim Mordaunt’s 2007 documentary “Bomb Harvest” charted the decades-long impact of unexploded wartime ordinance strewn throughout Laos. Of an estimated 260 million bombs dropped by the United States from 1964-1973 (in an attempt to render the Ho Chi Minh Trail unusable), some 80 million failed to explode on impact. They’ve been taking lives, and land, ever since.

Mordaunt returned to that rapidly developing nation (“the most bombed country, per capita, on the planet”) for his first work of narrative fiction. Starring mostly non-professional actors, “The Rocket” is no mere rookie effort — thanks largely to its cast of naturals and a familiar yet engaging storyline. Mordaunt’s observational style is a smart choice that pays off, from mythical beginning to fairy tale end. The stark contrast between lush rural beauty and hardscrabble existence, tradition and progress, harsh reality and magical realism all benefit from the filmmaker’s confident and, yes, documentary-like restraint.

Optimistic, determined little Ahlo may or may not be bad luck. There’s no way to tell for sure, since his twin brother died at birth. “One is blessed, the other carries a curse,” says the midwife/mother-in-law who, sworn to secrecy by Ahlo’s doting mother, will always regard the child with a suspicious eye.

During Ahlo’s tenth year, the family is forced to relocate, so their farmland can be flooded — a necessary concession for the construction of a huge hydroelectric dam, whose uninvited presence comes with promises from the government that life will improve overnight (in the form of plentiful water and electricity in their new homes). That sets the stage for one of the film’s most memorable sequences, in which village residents sit through an animated presentation touting their bright future while Ahlo dives into a catchment area. As air from his exhaled breath bubbles to the surface, he swims past recently flooded houses and grand stone religious statues that are already forgotten relics of an idealized past.

When the family pulls up roots, Ahlo’s stubborn refusal to abandon his fishing boat leads to a tragic accident, and his twin status is revealed. “I’m not cursed,” he insists, after a series of unfortunate happenings seem to indicate otherwise.

Fleeing from the squalor of their new home (scrap metal lean-tos improvised when the pre-fab dwellings never show up), Ahlo befriends some new allies and announces he’s going to win a rocket festival that takes place in a drought-stricken village. First prize will buy enough land to prevent his father from moving the family to the big city and taking a factory job — and allow Ahlo the opportunity to plant a mango seed that will grow in tribute to a loved one whose death he feels responsible for.

Everyone dismisses him, of course, except for an equally resourceful little girl and her uncle — a James Brown-loving, purple suit-clad alcoholic whose military past holds the key to Ahlo’s sky-scraping, rainmaking, award-winning, life-changing rocket. This being a classic hero’s journey, that’s no more of a spoiler than noting that the dragon in a knight’s tale will be slayed. But the particular way in which Ahlo proves himself is what makes “The Rocket” soar. Mordaunt takes the deadly weapons of “Bomb Harvest” and turns them into agents of positive and lasting change, when placed in the right hands.

Written & Directed by Kim Mordaunt

Runtime: 112 minutes

Screening as part of the Tribeca Film Festival

4/24, 8:30pm, at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.)

For tickets & info, call 646-502-5296 or visit tribecafilm.com/filmguide

Ted Fielding (Will Forte) and Vanetia Casey (Maxine Peake) make a run (and jump) for it. Photo by Karina Finegan.

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN | Directed by the Academy Award-nominee Steph Green, “Run and Jump” follows the moving story of an Irish family in the wake of a tragedy. First, we encounter the mother, Vanetia Casey (excellently played by Maxine Peake). On a rainy day, she is picking up her husband Conor (Edward Macliam) from a hospital to bring him home, where their two young children and in-laws await them eagerly.

The narrative reveals that Conor, who is only in his late 30s, has had a stroke. His survival is considered somewhat of a miracle, but it has left him mentally disabled and fundamentally changed. Most importantly, he is not able to recognize his family members, nor his relationship to them — and he seems incapable of feeling any emotions towards humans, be it his wife, parents or children.

As the optimistic and spirited Vanetia is struggling to re-establish a sense of normalcy, a foreign houseguest further complicates matters. He arrives in the form of the quiet American doctor Ted Fielding, (played by “Saturday Night Live” alum Will Forte). Fielding had received a research grant to document every step of Conor’s reintegration and consequently takes up a room in the Casey’s home. It is his grant that provides the family with some crucial financial aid, as they soon realize that Conor will not be able to assume his role as breadwinner.

Although Vanetia first somewhat resents living under Ted’s scientific supervision, she soon comes to see him as a calming friend. She tells him about the family’s happy life before Conor’s stroke and it is her infectious lust for life that makes Ted fall for her. The situation becomes the more dramatic the more everyone (the audience included) realizes that Conor will never recover.

“Run and Jump” is somewhat of a hybrid. It is a portrait of a family facing tragedy, the story of human relationships and an unconventional romance. It is Green’s fine balance of light and devastating moments that leave the film to shake, move and soothe us. As much as “Run and Jump” makes you realize that life as we know and love it might be over in a heartbeat, it also serves as a pledge that there is always much to live for.

Directed by Steph Green
102 Minutes

Screening at the Tribeca Film Festival
4/22 at 3:45pm and 4/23 at 8:30pm, at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.)
4/26 at 6pm, at AMC Loews Village 7 (66 Third Ave., at 11th St.)

For tickets & info, call 646-502-5296 or visit tribecafilm.com/filmguide

Brooklyn’s Jonathan “Jay Donn” George, from “Flex is Kings.” Photo Courtesy of Visit Films

Athletes, entertainers, dancers and directors get the reality treatment

BY TRAV S.D. | As it has from its inception, the 2013 edition of New York’s hometown Downtown film festival will showcase an impressive slate of documentaries. This year, 61 films from over a dozen countries will grace Tribeca Film Festival screens, with an unsurprising preponderance of them originating from the U.S.

In the past, the festival has been accused of not having a theme or a focus. This year’s documentary division does not suffer from that drawback, although the theme that has emerged can’t be said to be a particularly serious one. Given the festival’s close association with Robert DeNiro, it may not shock you to learn of a curatorial preoccupation with the subject of celebrity. Nearly half the films are about the famous, the near famous, the once-famous, the briefly famous or those aspiring to be famous. The most extreme example is perhaps Andy Capper and Juliette Eisner’s “Lil Bub & Friendz” — about Internet “cat-lebrity” and meme of the moment, Lil Bub. Mercifully, the heroes of the other films are human for the most part.

Several are about famous actors. There’s “Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic” by Marina Zenovich, a profile of the late controversial comedian, who passed away in 2005. Not to be outdone, Whoopi Goldberg chimes in with “I Got Something to Tell You” — a documentary about her hero, the pioneering African-American female comic Moms Mabley. “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me” is a portrait of the Tony- and Emmy-winning actress, legendary for being a hot pistol. Directed by Chiemi Karasawa, it features interviews with Tina Fey, Nathan Lane, Hal Prince and others. “The Battle of amfAR” (by documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, of “The Celluloid Closet”) tells the story of how Elizabeth Taylor came to found the first AIDS research foundation.

Famous literary figures are at the center of several docs. Director Barbra Kopple (of the Oscar-winning 1976 coal miners’ strike documentary “Harlan County U.S.A.”) gives us “Running from Crazy” — an up close and personal view of the Hemingway family’s history of suicide and mental illness. “Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia,” directed by Nicholas Wrathall, paints a picture of the recently deceased novelist, essayist and screenwriter — with commentary by David Mamet, Christopher Hitchens, Mikhail Gorbachev and others. “Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton” (co-directed by Stephen Silha, Eric Slade and Dawn Logsdon) tells the story of an influential beatnik poet and filmmaker, who was a friend and colleague of Pauline Kael, Stan Brakhage and Alan Watts.

There are also a couple of rockumentaries in the festival. Steven Kochoches’ “Who Shot Rock and Roll: The Film” gives us not only every famous rock and roll star, but the photographers who have captured them on film — including Linda McCartney, Edward Colver, Edward Diltz, Jill Furmanovsky, Lynn Goldsmith, Bob Fruen, Norman Seeff, Mark Seliger and Guy Webster. “Mistaken for Strangers” tells the story of an up and coming rock group called The National as they embark on “their biggest tour to date.” The twist is that the film was made by Tom Bernger (the band’s roadie and the lead singer’s brother).

Photo by Nick Romanenko, ©2008 Rutgers/Nick Romanenko “Coach” Vivian Stringer, celebrating her 800th win at Rutgers University.

The visual arts are also well-represented. “Michael H. Profession: Director” is a portrait of Austrian film director Michael Haneke (“Amour” and “Funny Games”) made by French filmmaker Yves Montmayeur. Then there’s “The Director” — which is not about a movie director, but the current creative director of the House of Gucci (Frida Giannini), as she strives to make her mark at the 82-year-old fashion and clothing firm. “The Director” is co-produced by James Franco and directed by Christina Voros. “Herblock: The Black and the White,” directed by Michael Stevens, tells the story of The Washington Post’s longtime political cartoonist Herbert Block.

And there are two films about dance. Hilla Medalia’s “Dancing in Jaffa” chronicles the doings of renowned ballroom dance instructor Pierre Dulaine as he teaches both Israeli and Palestinian young people to find positive ways to express themselves. Closer to home, “Flex is Kings,” directed by Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols, focuses on three Brooklyn flex dancers — a “savvy promoter,” a “local legend” and an “innovator with the talent to take him far from home.”

At least ten of the films in the festival are about athletes and sports figures. Bill Siegel’s “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” talks about the controversial boxer’s troubles with the U.S. government for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War. “The Motivation,” by Adam Bhala Lough, introduces us to “eight of the world’s greatest professional skateboarders.” “McConkey” profiles Shane McConkey, described by some as “the most influential skier ever,” and was directed by no less than five sports documentarians: Steve Winter, Murray Wais, Scott Gaffney, David Zieff and Rob Bruce. “The Diplomat,” directed by Jennifer Arnold and Senain Kheshgi, examines the life of Katerina Witt — described as “one of East Germany’s most famous athletes, winner of six European titles, four world championships and back-to-back Olympic gold.”

“No Limits,” directed by Allison Ellwood, tells the story of Audrey Mestre — who overcame scoliosis to become a world-class free diver. “Bending Steel” is a sensitive study by director Dace Carroll about the efforts of Brooklynite Chris Schoeck to become a professional strong man. “Rider and the Storm,” a short executive produced by actress Olivia Wilde, concerns a surfer who lost his home to Hurricane Sandy.

A total of eight percent of the documentaries in the film festival are about basketball. “Wilt Chamberlain: Borscht Belt Bellhop” is a short by Ian Rosenberg about Wilt the Stilt’s time as a teenager working and playing at Kutsher’s Country Club in the Catskills. “Coach,” directed by Bess Kargman, introduces us to C. Vivian Stringer — coach of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights women’s basketball team at the time of the Don Imus “nappy headed hoes” scandal.  “Pat XO” is a portrait of Pat Summitt (the NCAA’s winningest basketball coach), who was forced to retired due to Alzheimer ’s disease. The film was directed by Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern Winters. “Lenny Cooke,” directed by Bennie and Joshua Safdie, is about a promising high school athlete and his failure to get drafted by the NBA.

Even some of the films that are not about sports are about…sports: “Cutie and the Boxer” (directed by Zachary Heinzerling) is about the painter Ushio Shinohara, who creates art by dipping boxing gloves in pigment and punching a canvas. And though, as mentioned, half the documentary films are not about people with high public profiles or those seeking to achieve them, celebrity still has a way of creeping in. “Out of Print,” about the dying industry of book publishing, is narrated by Meryl Streep and has interviews with Scott Turow, Ray Bradbury and Jeff Bezos.

villtribecaff

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (CCC)
260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.

AMC Loews Village 7 (AV7)
66 Third Ave., at 11th St.

SVA Theatre (SVA)
333 W. 23rd St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.

BMCC Tribeca PAC (BMCC)
199 Chambers St., btw. Greenwich & West Sts.

Tribeca Cinemas (TV)
54 Varick St., at Laight St.

Apple Store, SoHo
103 Prince St., btw. Greene & Mercer Sts.

Chanel Art Awards Gallery at NYAA
111 Franklin St., btw. W. Broadway & Church St.

Barnes & Noble Union Square
33 E. 17th St., btw. Broadway & Park Ave.

Tribeca Film Center (TFC)
375 Greenwich St., 2nd floor, btw. N. Moore & Franklin Sts.

Tribeca Drive-In
Brookfield Place/World Financial Center Plaza;
West St., btw. Vesesy & Liberty Sts.

92YTribeca
200 Hudson St., south of Canal St.

The Bombay Sapphire House of Imagination
121 Varick St., entrance on Dominick St.

SINGLE TICKETS
Evening/Weekend screenings are $16 (after 6pm, Mon.-Fri. & Sat./Sun., prior to 11pm). Matinee/Late Night screenings (prior to 6pm, Mon.-Fri. or after 11pm daily) are $8. Tribeca Talks are $25.

RUSH TICKETS
Screenings and events that have no more advance tickets available will be listed as Rush Tickets. Lines will form approximately 45 minutes prior to scheduled event times at the venue. Admission will begin approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled event times, based on availability (limit, one Rush Ticket per person). Tickets are priced as single tickets (as noted above), except at the BMCC Tribeca PAC Theater, where Rush Tickets for screenings will be $8 and Rush Tickets for Tribeca Talks will be $15. Admission is not guaranteed.

SAME DAY TICKETS
Tickets are available at venue box offices during the festival, about one hour before the venue’s first screening/event of the day.

DISCOUNTS
Discounts are available at Ticket Outlets for students (with valid ID), seniors (age 62+) and select Downtown Manhattan residents (with proof of residency). Service charges and fulfillment fees may apply.

Photo by Kaitlyn Meade The “Kids Access” correspondents will be reporting on all aspects of the festival.

Reporters from 10 to 14 to cover 20 events

 BY KAITLYN MEADE | Every year, the Tribeca Film Festival rolls out brand new family programming to bring even the littlest filmmaker into its fold. The tried-and-true favorites of ESPN Sports Day and the Family Festival are back this year with new activities and guests.

The Drive-In will be back too, showing three films — two old favorites and a premier from the festival — in one weekend. Throughout the festival, check out exclusive family screenings and a budding partnership with MoMa PS1.

TFF is also bringing back its Kids Access program with expert guides in the area of kid-friendly programming.

THE YOUTH VOTE
Reporters from the festival’s Kids Access program will be on the scene, asking the tough questions and giving you the kid-friendly scoop. These young correspondents, between the ages of 10 and 14, come from local schools Downtown and cover over 20 events, from interviewing stars on the red carpet (like Emily Blunt and Jason Segel last year) to attending screenings, panels with filmmakers and community activities.

On Monday, April 15, the kids toured some filming locations in Tribeca and brought along camera crews to shoot a neighborhood report. They started off in front of Tribeca Cinemas on Laight Street and then scattered throughout the surrounding streets to do individual takes of each reporter.

“I’ve never tried to be a press before. I’m having fun, so I might want to be a press when I grow up,” said Fanta, a fifth grader at P.S. 1 and the youngest of the student reporters, who says her favorite movie is “Dreamgirls.”

She said she has learned about interviewing people and is looking forward to talking to the celebrities. “On the red carpet, they’re gonna be busy with older person stuff, so we have to get their attention. We have to stand out but not be rude.”

“On the red carpet, we’ve found they are a secret weapon,” said Peter Downing, creative director and producer of the Tribeca Family Festival, in a phone interview. Celebrities are inundated by reporters, he said, so when they see two very bright-eyed and interested young people ready to ask questions, they tend to gravitate to the Kids Access corner.

“It’s a fun gig. Every year, I tell them how jealous I am of them, in a good way,” said Downing. But, he added, “This is a job. It’s fun, but it’s a lot of work. When they go to an event, they’re given a list of people who are expected to attend and then they have to research them.”

The kids have had two training sessions so far that include everything from tongue twisters to interview questions.

Alice, a fifth grader at P.S. 150 and Harris, a fifth grader at P.S. 234 said they practiced mic techniques, “like hold the mic in the hand that is closest to the person. But not too close.” said Alice.

“So that they’re eating the mic!” Harris chimed in.

The program is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year after beginning in 2003 in partnership with Scholastic, which was already running a kids press core program. About five years ago, the Kids Access program took shape. The Art Institute of New York City provides their student filmmakers as crew as well as editing equipment and facilities.

There will also be a strong writing component as the kids will be expected to contribute to a blog. “This year, we wanted to put a particular emphasis on the writing,” said Downing, who said it was incorporated into the selection process.

“They took six people from our school to interview, and you had to read things and talk about yourself,” said Mia, a seventh grader at Lower Manhattan Middle School. This was no problem for the outgoing seventh-grader, who wants to be either a singer or a writer.

“I just heard it from my teacher,” said Nortee, a seventh grader at P.S. 289, who said he had never done anything like this before. “You don’t really get to do this a lot in your life. Even just trying something out is a good experience.”

For more information on Kids Access, visit tribecafilm.com/tka.

Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival The Family Festival is back again this year, with some fresh new activities.

BIRDS, FELINES AND “BEETLEJUICE” AT THE DRIVE-IN
The Tribeca Drive-In movie series at Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center Plaza) will be back this year with two beloved classics and one new film on offer at the Festival. The free screenings are open to the stars (and to the public), from April 18-20. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 6pm. The programs will also begin at 6pm, with screenings starting at dusk, approximately 8:15pm.

The series will take flight on Thursday, April 18 with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” about a San Francisco socialite whose sojourn to a small town in California in pursuit of a boy takes a dive when it becomes the setting for unexplained bird attacks. The classic thriller is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year.

Tim Burton’s hilariously creepy “Beetlejuice” is the next film on the docket (on Friday, April 19). The ghostly couple Adam and Barbara have hired Beetlejuice to perform a reverse exorcism to scare away the humans that have moved into their house. A ghoulish costume contest will take place before the film, so break out last year’s Halloween costumes — or cut eyeholes in Mom’s best sheets.

A new film, “Lil Bub & Friendz,” will be inspiring “awwwws” on Saturday, April 20. Featuring “the Internet’s cutest cat” and her friends of viral video fame, Lil Bub is making her debut at TFF this year. The film is directed and produced by Andy Capper and Juliette Eisner and features a stellar soundtrack including Vernon Elliott and Mort Garson.

FAMILY FESTIVAL KEEPS IT FRESH
Every year, this free annual street fair attracts families from all over the city to its wide array of programs. This year, there are several exciting additions for young filmmakers and movie lovers. The fair takes place Saturday, April 27, 10am to 6pm, on Greenwich Street between Chambers and Hubert Streets, and at venues throughout Tribeca.

“This year we are introducing special subject areas, like the Tribeca Back Lot and the Food Feast,” said Downing, as well as bringing back popular elements from previous years.

The Tribeca Studios Backlot will bring elements of a real movie set to one Downtown street. Families will learn how to pitch an original movie, use a green screen, animate their stories and take workshops on stunts, make-up and editing. Demonstrations of high-tech filming and special effects will be given by Chicago’s Tribeca Flashpoint Academy and the Tribeca Film Institute will be holding movie hacking sessions where you can flip the script and take the lead role in a familiar movie.

Also new this year, the Tribeca Food Feast will be a delectable section of the fair featuring city chefs who will provide entertainment, culinary secrets and, of course, tastings from food vendors from select local restaurants and food trucks from around NYC. Hands-on activities will be cake-icing, meatball-baking and taste-testing.

Broadway will also be jazz-stepping its way Downtown this year with performances from the casts of “Annie,” “Wicked,” “Cinderella,” “Kinky Boots,” “Motown: The Musical” and “Hands On A Hardbody.”

An exclusive sneak preview of “The Smurfs 2” (along with a free screening of “The Smurfs”) will be taking place at 11am at Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Tribeca Performing Arts Center, at 199 Chambers Street (between Greenwich and West Streets). There may also be a special appearance by cast member Christina Ricci. Hosted by Time Out Kids, admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis. The line will form thirty minutes prior to showtime.

A number of booths offer unique arts and crafts for kids of all ages. Kids can make a “VIP Pass” which will then be stamped at each area of the festival they visit, with prizes awarded for filling up a pass completely. Learn about recycling by creating creatures from recycled materials at the ScrapKins booth, along with chalk art and face painting.

Masters of the art of kiting will be at The Kite Place to teach kids how to make and fly their own kite designs. The Gazillion Bubble Garden, similarly, is a haven for bubbles (with wands of all shapes and sizes).

Puppet shows and workshops will be offered by Puppetworks, Inc. and Noel MacNeal, whose book “10 Minute Puppets” teaches parents and kids how to make to make entertaining puppet partners anywhere, in ten minutes or less, using everyday materials.

Other participants include CHESS NYC, the Young Storytellers Foundation, Victorian Gardens at Wollman Rink in Central Park and the New York Philharmonic’s Credit Suisse Very Young Composers.

OUT OF THE CINEMA, IN THE
BALL GAME
Also on April 27, from 10am to 6pm, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day will return to Tribeca for its seventh year. The beloved Downtown event has brought in sports heroes from across the city and encouraged kids and parents alike to get up, get out and play ball. This year, it will take place on North Moore Street, between Greenwich and West Streets.

ESPN will give fans the chance to take home memorabilia and get their picture taken behind the ESPN New York desk. The NFL’s PLAY 60 campaign, designed to encourage kids to lead an active lifestyle, will be running football agility drills and doing periodic giveaways. Life-size cutouts of well-known professional athletes will be walking (well, standing) on the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival red carpet for fans to pose with.

Highlights include contests, interactive games and giveaways by the New York Rangers and New York Mets. It’s also an invaluable opportunity for kids to try out new activities. There is something for everyone, from inflatable lacrosse or Ultimate Frisbee to skateboarding or Double Dutch jump roping. Activities will be provided by the Downtown Giants Youth Football and New York Women’s Baseball. Olympians and elite athletes will teach kids the basics of safe fencing at the Fencing Club. The Staten Island Yankees mascot Scooter the Holy Cow will be around and most likely invite you to try your luck on the Baby Bombers skeeball inflatable. The up-and-coming Tribeca Sailing NYC, soon to launch from Pier 25, will have sailing games, knot-tying and prizes.

There also will be demonstrations of everything from cricket, newly reintroduced to TFF, and the award winning Myachi Original Hand Sack.

SHORT FILMS ON LARGE SILVER SCREENS
The TFF program “Downtown Youth Behind The Camera” is putting filmmaking tools in the hands of elementary and middle school students for its tenth consecutive year. These young Downtown filmmakers produce their very own short films, which will be shown at a special screening at noon on Sunday, April 21 at the SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues). The Film Fellows with Tribeca Film Institute is also screening a series of short films created by Downtown student filmmakers (ages 16-18). The program, recommended for those ages 12 and up, plays Saturday, April 27 at 11am at the Tribeca Film Center (375 Greenwich Street, at Franklin Street).

‘Robin Hood of electrical wiring’ sheds light on the rich/poor divide

BY SAM SPOKONY | Those extended power outages that followed Hurricane Sandy gave us a small taste of the struggle faced every day by millions of people in developing countries. With that shock still fresh in our minds, “Powerless” will give English speakers everywhere an extraordinarily intense, yet well-balanced look at how an insufficient supply of electricity continues to devastate the impoverished Indian city of Kanpur — and it should force us in the West to acknowledge our own position of material privilege, while also confronting our preconceived notions about when it is or isn’t right to stop following the law.

With around three million people living within its borders, Kanpur is about twice as populous as Manhattan — but well over 10 percent of its residents live without regular electricity. The film thus begins by following Loha Singh, a diminutive, crafty and mostly penniless character who’s known throughout the city as a kind of Robin Hood of electrical wiring. Whether it’s a household that needs to power a water pump for a family’s survival or a local factory that will be doomed if the machinery fails, Singh and others like him use katiyas (illegal, makeshift power lines that tap into the government supply grid) to divert the flow of electricity to those who either can’t afford to pay for it, or simply can’t access it. But, for all its benefits, we later learn that not everyone in town is proud of Singh or his line of work.

To capture the other half of the issue, the directors shift their focus to Ritu Maheshwari, the new managing director of KESCO (Kanpur’s equivalent of ConEd), as she attempts to crack down harder than ever on “katiyabaaz” like Singh. In board meetings, press conferences and extensive interviews, Maheshwari tries to explain that her perceived lack of mercy for the hundreds of thousands of “powerless” residents of Kanpur is part of her wish to create better conditions for everyone. If KESCO cuts off the thieves, it can actually make money via bill-paying consumers — and if it makes money, it can build new power generators to more effectively serve the city’s population.

But, to use a power pun, there’s just no stable connection between KESCO and the poor everyman of Kanpur. The two factions, who sit on opposite sides of socioeconomic privilege, can’t overcome the deep-seated resentment and the sheer lack of understanding that pervades this entire issue. The only sparks here are those that lead to explosions of anger — protests, insults and riots. Finally, we get glimpses of the politicians who say they’re going to make an impact on behalf of Kanpur’s struggling residents, as well as many others throughout India who live without electricity. But their words seem just as hollow as those we often hear in New York, when elected officials tell us they’re going to save us from the evils of the establishment.

This is a beautifully executed documentary that captures the tension of a thought-provoking issue without creating one-dimensional heroes or villains. The story of power in Kanpur, told in its honest entirety, will provide a truly valuable learning experience to Western audiences.