by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
The TriBeCa Film Festival has reached its 13th edition, ever since it was launched in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, to revitalise Lower Manhattan after 9/11. From April 16th until the 27th over a hundred filmmakers from 32 countries will present their works; and the documentary on rapper Nas ‘Time Is Illmatic,’ will screen on opening night.

Let’s Take a Peek at the Must See Movies:

NARRATIVES

GABRIEL by Lou Howe

A troubled young man, is convinced that reuniting with his first love will bring him the stability and happiness he craves. Against his family’s better judgment, he sets out to find her, but as the obstacles mount on his search, his grip on reality begins to slip and his behaviour becomes more erratic. In the end, he risks everything in an increasingly obsessive and desperate pursuit.

PALO ALTO by Gia Coppola

Four college freshman who have returned home for Thanksgiving break find that the old adage about absence making the heart grow fonder rings true in director Brad Leong’s nostalgic comedy drama. Back home for the first time since they set out for college, a small group of lifelong friends realise just how much their small hometown really means to them as they reminisce about the days gone by, and make a few more memories before heading back to school.

HUMAN CAPITAL by Paolo Virzì

Based on Stephen Amidon’s novel set in moneyed Connecticut, Human Capital smoothly relocates to Italy’s wealthy North in an engrossing anxiety-provoking tale about two families whose destinies are tied together by a road accident.

VENUS IN FUR by Roman Polanski

Thomas Novachek is the writer-director of a new play opening in New York City, an adaptation of the 1870 novel ‘Venus In Fur’ by Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, which inspired the term Masochism. He is on the telephone lamenting the inadequacies of all the actresses who showed up that day to audition for the lead character, Wanda von Dunayev. Suddenly, at the last minute, a new actress, Vanda Jordan, bursts in, the exemplar of every fault he has decried: needy, crude, compliant, desperate. She convinces him to read through his play, she as Wanda and he as Severin von Kushemski. During this reading, Vanda shows astonishing insights into the novel and her character and the balance of power shifts as the actress establishes total dominance over the director, exactly as in the novel.

BRIGHT DAYS AHEAD by Marion Vernoux

The retired dentist Caroline attends a class for computer users. Although she is married, she falls in love with her significantly younger lecturer. It turns out he used to visit her surgery because primarily in order to enjoy her view. Her husband finds out about her affair with this admirer.

STARRED UP by David Mackenzie

A troubled and explosively violent teenager is transferred to adult prison where he finally meets his match – a man who also happens to be his father.

NIGHT MOVES by Kelly Reichardt

Three radical environmentalists who come together to execute the most spectacular direct action event of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam.

CHEF by Jon Favreau

An out-of-work L.A. chef opens a food truck in a bid to realise his culinary potential and reconnect with his estranged family in this indie ensemble comedy.

DOCUMENTARIES

BALLET 422 by Jody Lee Lipes

From first rehearsal to world premiere, Ballet 422 takes us backstage at New York City Ballet as emerging choreographer Justin Peck crafts a new work.

ART AND CRAFT by Sam Cullman

When one of the most prolific art forgers in US history, Mark Landis, is finally exposed, he must confront the legacy of his 30-year con.

SUPER DOOPER ALICE COOPER by Sam Dunn, Reginald Harkema, Scot McFadyen

Super Duper Alice Cooper is the twisted tale of a teenage Dr Jekyll whose rock n roll Mr Hyde almost kills him. It is the story of Vincent Furnier, preacher’s son, who struck fear into the hearts of parents as Alice Cooper, the ultimate rock star of the bizarre. From the advent of Alice as front man for a group of Phoenix freaks in the 60s to the hazy decadence of celebrity in the 70s to his triumphant comeback as 80s glam metal godfather, we will watch as Alice and Vincent battle for each others’ souls. The is the first ever ‘doc opera’ – a dizzying blend of documentary archive footage, animation and rock opera that will cement forever the legend of Alice Cooper.

BJORK: BIOPHILIA LIVE by Nick Fenton and Peter Stickland

From a mind unlike any other, this movie chronicles the multidimensional concert centred on the eighth studio album of avant-garde Icelandic artist, Björk

THE SEARCH OF GENERAL TSO by Ian Cheney

The film follows a lighthearted journey, grounded in cultural and culinary history, through restaurants, Chinatowns, tracing the origins of Chinese American food through what is arguably America’s most popular takeout meal––General Tso’s Chicken.

OF MANY by Linda G. Mills, with Chelsea Clinton as its Executive Producer

With 9/11 and Arab-Israeli conflict as a backdrop, the film documents the lives of Imam Khalid Latif and Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, the Muslim and Jewish Chaplains at New York University, and the development of their interfaith commitment to each another and to the communities they represent.

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