tribeca film festival 2009

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One of my favorite things to do in NYC is attend the Tribeca Film Festival. Founded in 2002 by Robert DiNiro and Jane Rosenthal in an attempt to revive the Tribeca economy after 9/11, the film festival showcases a wide variety of films from throughout the world. I usually end up catching at least 2 or 3 movies each year, and this year I was lucky enough to attend 5 great shows in late April.

The red carpet at the BMCC Performing Arts Center.

The first movie that Nick and I caught was Outrage, which was directed by Kirby Dick (best known for This Film is Not Yet Rated).

The basic purpose of the documentary is to out a number of U.S. politicians who actively work against the LGBT community that they secretly belong to. The film mostly consists of interviews with people who either provide information regarding the secret lives of the targeted politicians or else document how the politicians have worked to harm the LGBT community. Featured interviewees include Barney Frank, Jim McGreevey and Tammy Baldwin. I attended the premiere, so many of the people featured in the film were present, including McGreevey. Made for an interesting Q&A.

Later that week, Nick and I had the pleasure of attending the world premiere of Wonderful World, starring Matthew Broderick, Sanaa Lathan, Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire!) and Philip Baker Hall.

Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker on the red carpet before the movie premiere.

The film festival's official synopsis of the movie states: Matthew Broderick is Ben Singer, the world's most negative man. When his roommate, Ibou (Michael K. Williams), falls ill, Ben is forced to host his Senegalese sister, Khadi (Sanaa Lathan). What starts as an awkward living arrangement soon turns into something more, and Ben's usual self-destructive nature gives way as he begins to find inspiration in the most unlikely of places.

My girl Sanaa on the red carpet before the show.

The bottom line for me? I'll see anything that stars Sanaa Lathan. I've loved her from late high school until now (hello, Blade, Love and Basketball, Brown Sugar, Something New?! -- AKA the only rom-coms I actually enjoy!), and it was a delight to catch her in another film. Overall, the film was a decent indie movie. I wouldn't necessarily shell out the money to see it in a theater, but would definitely add it to your Netflix list.

There was a Q&A with Matthew Broderick and the movie's director (Joshua Goldin) after the screening, which was entertaining (Matthew Broderick is pretty dang hilarious!). We were also sitting in the fourth row, so we got extra up-close and personal.

We also saw Departures, which was my favorite movie out of all of the TFF movies I saw this year. The screening we caught was the U.S. premiere for the film. You may have heard of this movie out of Japan -- it won the Oscar this year for Best Foreign Language Film. Departures is about a cellist who goes back to his rural hometown with his wife after his Tokyo orchestra dissolves. He ends up answering a cryptic ad in a newspaper seeking an assistant in the field of "departures," which he soon finds out involves him becoming an undertaker.

Extremely talented director Yojiro Takida and lead actor Masahira Motoki were present at the screening we attended. I loved Mr. Motoki's performace so much, I even broke my "don't bother the actors" rule and spoke to him after the show to tell him how great he was. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture -- I cannot figure how to take pics in a dark room with my digital camera for the life of me!

The premise of the film sounds a bit strange, but trust me: It is most definitely worth your time and money. I thought the movie was beautifully done -- funny and charming at times, but equally moving and tearjerking. Loved it. Please see this movie as soon as you can!

Nick and I also caught the world premiere of Soundtrack for a Revolution. The movie was a documentary about the American civil rights movement, but was done in a unique way. The movie centered on the freedom songs of the movement, as performed by numerous current artists (The Roots, Anthony Hamilton, John Legend, Richie Havens and The Blind Boys of Alabama were among my favorites), and also intersperced archival footage and interviews with leaders and participants in the civil rights movement. I didn't learn a ton of new stuff about the civil rights movement (thank you, college education), but I really enjoyed the new approach taken by the filmmakers.
At the screening, I had my favorite celebrity spotting of the festival: Harry Belafonte! Yes, he's not a "celeb" in the traditional sense, but I have admired this man since learning about his work in the civil rights movement while I was in college. I didn't want to bother him at the screening, but will confess to sneaking lots of looks at him since he was sitting just one row away from me!

The last TFF movie I saw was Rudo y Cursi, which I saw with my buddy Kevin. The movie reunited the stars of Y Tu Mama Tambien, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. I admittedly have a bit of a crush on these two guys! : )
In this movie, Gael García Bernal (Tato, aka Cursi) and Diego Luna (Beto, aka Rudo) are stepbrothers who work on their family's banana ranch and play on a local soccer team on the side. They eventually get recruited by a big city soccer recruiter, and their on-going rivalry becomes explosive from that moment forward.

If you're a fan of the lead actors, I definitely recommend catching this movie. It should be playing nationwide pretty soon, I believe. The movie was an entertaining, fun popcorn flick.

Nick and I in the red carpet staging area at the Wonderful World premiere. Another bonus of the festival: the weather was great on most of the days, which gave me an excuse to get gussied up with my new purchases from the Mayle sample sale + pull out my favorite MJ Dash bag! : )

At the end of the week, I was exhausted from all of the films (plus I also caught two non-TFF films, Goodbye Solo and Treeless Mountain -- another two great movies!). All of the time was worth it though. This year's festival was the best experience I've had with TFF so far. I'm already looking forward to next year . . . .

my first movie premiere: the international

Nick and I were lucky to be invited to Monday's U.S. premiere (and after-party) for The International, a thriller-action movie starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. We are huge movie junkies, and although we've had the opportunity to attend a number of fun events, this marked our first movie premiere!
After our civilian arrival at the Lincoln Square AMC via the 2 train, we arrived to pandemonium outside. Clive Owen had just walked on to the first (of three) red carpets. There were piles of camera folks + regular folks huddled around the red carpet to catch a glimpse of the celebrities.
Yes, friends and family, Clive Owen is even better looking in person. It is actually possible. Even while we observed him munching on popcorn while waiting for his own movie to start.
Naomi Watts also looked lovely last night. Seeing her reminded me that I'm dying to get a form-fitting menswear inspired suit to wear to nice evening events. If only some vintage YSL could find its way to my closet! Also -- I had a funny run-in with one of her bodyguards inside the theater -- but that's a story for another day.

Other notables on the red carpet include Spike Lee, Salman Rushdie (for you Top Chef fans, he's the ex-Mr. Padma Lakshmi), Michael Stipe, a couple of folks from Law & Order, Olivia Palermo (of The City) and Nicole Miller. There were many models there + other actors too. Quite a crowd! Also, Katrina Bowden (of 30 Rock --- btw, last week's episode was hilarious!) was there -- we had a short conversation that night. I think Nick was most excited about seeing some ESPN anchorperson. I was really pumped about seeing Mr. Rushdie in person (although I still don't think I'll ever fully comprehend The Satanic Verses).
Nick and I couldn't resist and also got our pictures taken. We are clearly amateurs because we didn't bother to take off our heavy winter coats (it was super cold outside!). Yes, Mr. Owen and Ms. Watts are admittedly better at working the carpet than we are. But it's because they have lots of extra practice! : )
At least Spike Lee and Tanya Lewis Lee also wore their coats. Makes me feel less like an amateur. : )

My favorite part was the after-party at the Guggenheim. The best scene of the movie takes place in the museum (albeit a re-created one), and it was fitting to open the place to a private party afterward. There was another red carpet set-up outside of the event, where there were lots of photographers and other folks again. Once we walked inside, we saw piles of goody bags from Thierry Mugler (Naomi Watts is the spokesmodel for one of the house's fragrances), previews of the movie and commercials for the perfume projected on the walls, a great open bar, and many servers with the *best* hors d'oeuvres ever.
The coolest part was the museum itself. The only people in the entire facility were there for the after-party, and they let us all wander freely around the museum.
Nick and I wandered all the way to the top and walked our way down, checking out the art on display. To be honest, I usually don't like much of what I see at the Guggenheim (I'm not much of a modern art gal), but the facility itself is worth the trip.
I did sneak in one picture of a piece (sans flash, of course), largely for Stacey, since she's such a tree-lover! : ) The piece was actually pretty neat. In addition to the pictures above, there was a display of samples taken from the forest in rows of small glass bottles.

Nick and I unintentionally placed ourselves in the area where the director of the movie (Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run acclaim), as well as the movie's stars were hanging out (honestly, it was only because we had no pretenses of being half as fabulous as others there, so we parked it near where all of the food was exiting the kitchen!). Even though we were close enough that we could hear bits and pieces of their conversations, I wasn't comfortable with approaching them or taking their picture. There were people falling all over themselves to get a picture or somehow catch their attention, and I found all of their efforts really aggressive and annoying. It's one thing to take a picture where folks are on a red carpet, or to do so without getting in someone's face --- it's another thing to push people around and invade someone else's personal space. Made me really think about what famous folks have to deal with 24/7. I know it comes with their territory, but it still makes me feel for them.

We had such a wonderful time. I hope we're invited to attend another one of these things again.

The International opens nationwide this Friday, February 13. It's worth checking out if you like action/thriller type movies. Just spend your money on anything other than that "He's Just Not That Into You" crap!

Update: A friend just called me to tell me to check out these cute interviews that Clive Owen and Naomi Watts did yesterday prior to the premiere. They both focus on family and parenting and are pretty charming! Click on their names to see.