Before Spielberg, Scorsese and Coppola, there was Sidney Lumet. The six-time Oscar-nominated director brought us the best films in almost every genre including mystery (“Murder on the Orient Express”), courtroom drama (“The Verdict”), crime (“Dog Day Afternoon”), political thriller (“Fail-Safe”) and even musical (“The Wiz”). He’s also perhaps the only director whose career is bookended by two great films

Writer/Director Diane Bell’s sophomore film BLEEDING HEARTS, a selection at the last Tribeca Film Festival, was a very personal journey that combined her own experiences with the challenge of making a film with strong female characters. In this case sisters played by Jessica Biel and Zosia Mamet. Biel’s May is a yoga instructor (a vocation once held by Bell in real life) living a clean, somewhat boring life

One of the great things about smaller independent films is that the freedom they explore in not getting pigeon-holed into one specific genre. As the recently-passed Tribeca Festival caters to the independents it follows that they reap the benefits of this formula. Case in point is one of the festival’s better selections this year ASHBY which combines drama, comedy (or dark comedy) sprinkled with a bit of teen angst, romance, action and even neo-noir.

This year’s last Tribeca Film Festival featured some great offerings in the entertaining-yet-underrated short film category, films by female filmmakers particularly. Filmmaker Heather Jack presented her directorial debut LET’S NOT PANIC, an apocalyptic comedy about love and neuroses in fest's NY: Double Expresso program. Jack, a recent N.Y.U. graduate who also wrote the script, tells the story of a woman

For some time I’ve been highlighting the great and underrated work of female directors in cinema. Kim Rocco Shields, who I recently got a chance to sit and talk to, is not just a female director: she’s a director, pure and simple, and for my money Rocco is capable of pushing the envelope further than many male directors. Proof of this is her recent short film “Love is All You Need,” which (at present) has not only garnered over thirty million

In “Joe,” which stars Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan, I saw one Oscar winner, one up-and-coming actor who just worked with an Oscar winner, and one great character actor, Ronnie Gene Blevins, who’s worth more than any Oscar. Blevins was the last actor to appear on-screen with the late Peter Falk. According to Blevins, whom I recently spoke to, he learned a lot from the experience. In “Joe” Blevins plays Willie Russell

The other film produced by Gabe Cowan this year and shown at Tribeca (see our REVIEW of “just before I go”) is the clever and relatable “Loitering with Intent.”

The cast includes Ivan Martin and Michael Godere, who are the screenwriters of this film in real life, as two starving-artist screenwriters, named Raphael and Dominic, who after being offered the chance to sell a screenplay repair to the countryside to write it. Only, they’re met with anything but the hoped-for peace and quiet at their new address.