Many short films tend to be comedy-oriented but not all of them are funny. An exception is “Lemon,” which was shown as part of shorts program at the last Tribeca Festival. In the twelve minutes that make up its length I found myself laughing more often than I do during some feature-length films. Written and directed by Timothy Michael Cooper (“Concierge: The Series”) “Lemon” provide a breath of ... more >
FESTIVALS | TRIBECA
SHORT NOTICE: lots of laughter in very little time in “Lemon”
Written and directed by Timothy Michael Cooper
TRIBECA, brief chat with Mark Grieco of “A River Below”
A Sandarba Films Productions
The footage is muddy, but we see it clearly enough: a pink dolphin—one of many endangered species populating the Brazilian Amazon—is harpooned to death by a group of fishermen, to be used as bait for the pirapitinga, a breed of scavenger catfish. This is just the beginning of Mark Grieco’s wrenching documentary “The River Below,” currently showing at Tribeca. Filmed over two difficult years, it ... more >
RESET | Talking with Benjamin Millepied
"Reset" was screened in the SPOTLIGHT section at this year's Tribeca Festival
The Opéra national de Paris co-produced the film
Co-directed by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai
To most people Benjamin Millepied is both the choreographer for Darren Aronofsky’s Oscar-nominated film "Black Swan" and the husband of Oscar-winner Natalie Portman, for the same film. In the world of ballet, however, Benjamin Millepied has been a trailblazer for young dancers as the Director of the Paris Opera Ballet during a span of two years starting in 2014. Millepied was at the Tribeca ... more >
El Clásico, TRIBECA FEST
That legendary football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona
Wrya Ahmed, Dana Ahmed and Rozhin Sharifi
Directed by Halkawt Mustafa
I fear I might suffer from a certain cultural disconnect reviewing Halkawt Mustafa’s “El Clásico,” the winner of Tribeca’s 2016 award for Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature Film. The film hinges on a presumption that football, or “soccer” as it’s known here in the States, is a powerful enough force that the goodwill of one of its players can literally be enough to dissuade ... more >
TRIBECA FEST, “Children of the mountain”
Appeared in the festival's Viewpoints Section
Rukiyat Masud, Grace Omaboe and Akofa Edjeani
Directed by Priscilla Anany
The pregnant women in the marketplace avoid her foodstand, afraid that whatever twisted her baby in the womb is contagious. Her mother says it came out deformed and dumb because she ate rabbit meat while she was pregnant. Her mother-in-law says it’s because she’s evil. The other villagers just say she has a “dirty womb.” The pediatricians at the nice hospitals use strange English words like “clept ... more >
INTERVIEW | Lydia Tenaglia, director of “Jeremiah Tower: the last magnificent”
Film premiered at this year's Tribeca Festival
Lydia Tenaglia has worked with Anthony Bourdain on several different projects for television
Who is Jeremiah Tower? Does anyone know? Jeremiah Tower is the first American celebrity chef, a culinary pioneer of American cuisine who started rising to fame in the seventies and has been recognized amongst foodies and culinary circles as the genius behind the style of cooking known as California cuisine. A solitary, outrageous and charismatic figure, Jeremiah Tower makes for a fascinating ... more >
“Special Correspondents,” TRIBECA
This is a remake from a 2009 French-made comedy
Ricky Gervais and Eric Bana
Directed by Ricky Gervais
I remember how many people were caught totally off guard by Ricky Gervais’s “The Invention of Lying” (2009), a film with a simple premise about a man who could lie in a world where nobody else could, when it suddenly became a vicious condemnation of religion. Gervais’s character, the liar, invented the concept of a “Man in the Sky” who would take good people to an afterlife if they followed “ten ... more >