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Never mind splashy screenings for the likes of Baby Mama and Speed Racer. Tribeca '08 will largely be a forum for the Little Films That Can. And many won't. Some projects may have the money for a reasonably slick marketing push; some won't have enough coin to fly the director's family out for the premiere. Regardless of the camp into which they fall, we thought it only fair to allow the people in charge of these films, the directors, to appeal to our readers themselves.
We posed the same five questions to every filmmaker accepted into the festival and offered them the chance to reply. Below are the responses we've received, virtually unedited. (We've made a few snips for clarity; that's it.)
Jonathan Levine, director of The Wackness
1 Why should someone watch your movie, in 100 words or less? (Don't just paste in your marketing blurb. Persuade our readers.)
The Wackness is for New Yorkers, by New Yorkers. It takes place in Manhattan in the Summer of 1994, and the city is the star of the film (along with Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, and Mary Kate Olson, among others). It's for anyone who remembers those long, hot New Yorksummers, anyone who ever tried to use Central Park as an aphrodisiac, anyone who ever watched Channel J, anyone who ever bitched about Giuliani. This film's got NYC coursing through its veins, and I feel it will have special resonance at this festival, both for myself andfor an audience.
2 Without spoiling your plot, describe a scene in your film that audiences will love.
There's a scene where Dr. Squires (Kingsley) and Luke (Josh Peck) get thrown into the Tombs for tagging a subway station wall. Oh, and a sex scene in an outdoor shower in Fire Island that features a deer (no, not like that).
3 If your protagonist were an animal, what would he/she be and why?
A dog, because they smoke the most weed of any beast in the animal kingdom (look it up).
4 What will surprise me about this movie?
That the early '90s were the last great era of American music.
5 How would describe your filmmaking style or philosophy? How is that reflected in this project?
My philosophy is, first and foremost, to treat colleagues and collaborators with respect—and to foster a free and creative environment on set. Beyond that, it's to try as hard as you possibly can: both intellectually and, like, physically or whatever. Push your mind harder on set, in the cutting room. Eschew intellectual laziness. Try to do something a little bit different, to push the envelope, to provoke and to question. And don't shoot in Times Square on a Friday night, because a drunk person will inevitably approach Ben Kingsley and call him Gandhi.
