Tribeca Film Festival review

Ilona Cheshire brings us news of Peter Greenaway, Don Letts, Claire Denis and Jacques Audiard's new films.

May 11 2005

April 19 saw the kick-off of the 4th annual Tribeca Film Festival and Time Out was in New York to cover it.

Located in the downtown financial district, the festival was established by 'Bob' DeNiro and others in response to 9/11 to raise the spirits of the local community and give a lift to the Lower Manhattan economy.

This year's festival screened 250 films over 13 days. There were six competition categories with five jurors on each panel (each receiving a goody bag worth an estimated $3,000) including such notable names as Darren Aronofsky, Tom Wolfe, Alan Berliner and...Sheryl Crow.

Tribeca opened with a premiere of 'The Interpreter' and offered first viewings of 'The Tulse Luper Suitcases Trilogy' (the 386-minute multimedia epic from Peter Greenaway) in its entirety, Claire Denis' 'Towards Mathilde' (which documents one of France's most prolific choreographers, Mathilde Monnier, to a soundtrack that includes PJ Harvey), and Jacques Audiard's 'The Beat My Heart Skipped' (an update of James Toback's debut 'Fingers', proving that remakes can be good).

The quasi-documentary 'The F-Word' was a favourite of mine. Jed Weintraub – recalling Haskell Wexler and 'Medium Cool' – follows a DJ whose radio station is forced to shut down. For his final show he takes to the streets of Manhattan to discover thousands of Americans demonstrating against the Republican rally last August. The NYPD did not look favourably upon the crowds and the media chose to ignore the rebellion.

And, in the true spirit of anti-establishment, Don Letts' brilliant 'Punk: Attitude' is one of the most informative documentaries on the punk ethos. Charting the US and UK rise of the genre, it features interviews and footage that would impress the most hardened of musos. Sticking to his roots, Don was spotted hurrying away from the bourgeois closing party to catch a New York Dolls gig.

On the subject of parties, locations such as the Apple store offered staff the chance to make further sales to guests such as Paris Hilton, Michel Gondry and Eddie Izzard. Julian Schnabel got most ticks for attendance along with fellow juror Damon Dash.

Winning titles included the moving 'Rikers High', documenting one of America's largest correctional facilities for men and boys. Asian offering 'Stolen Life' deserves a UK release after winning Best Narrative Feature, and Felicity Huffman (of 'Desperate Housewives' fame) won Best Actress for her performance in 'Transamerican'.

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