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.)

James Mottern, director of Trucker

1 Why should someone watch your movie, in 100 words or less? (Don't just paste in your marketing blurb. Persuade our readers.)
Michelle Monaghan. If you've ever seen Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, you'll get just a peppering of the greatness of this actress; but if you watch Trucker you'll get a three course meal, dessert and a back rub—maybe more. I had watched her work in other films and had seen her in North Country; there's this one shot in that film where, when I saw it, my heart fell into my boots. Her expression, the subtlety of the performance, and brilliance in just those few frames confirmed my desperate need to cast her. And she just absolutely owns it in this film. There is always so much going on in that exquisite face that you just cannot get it all in one viewing. She's seriously awesome! Yeah, if you want to see this generation's Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands, Sally Field, Sophia Lauren and Jack Nicholson all rolled up into one, then I would suggest you try to make a screening because she's a hell of a lot of fun to watch. [Ed's note: Monaghan was so amazing, she forced Mottern to blow past his word limit by 71 words.]

2 Without spoiling your plot, describe a scene in your film that audiences will love.
Here are a couple (there are so many). There's a great scene at the beginning of the film where Michelle has an interlude with a stranger. It's pretty sexy and also visually awesome. Any of the scenes where Michelle is behind the wheel of the truck are great, because she is actually driving the truck! That's the kind of actress she is. She learned to drive a big rig! Also, near the end of the movie there is a scene between Michelle and Nathan that is so incredibly poignant and yet, also, knee-shakingly sexy. And there is one line that Nathan delivers that, I am not making this up, has caused gasps among the audience. The scene is touching, even sweet, and gets gasps.

3 If your protagonist were an animal, what would he/she be and why?
She would be one of those wild mustangs the government rounds up every now and then in the high desert to sell off. They're these gorgeous, sort of mad creatures—wiry and powerful—and they are nearly impossible to catch. When I shot a documentary on these horses once I watched as three seasoned cowboys on horseback fought a mare for half an hour just to bring this lithe, sort of skinny animal to a temporary standstill. And it really didn't even work. They just had to sort of drag her to the trailer. That's Diane Ford in Trucker, and that's Michelle Monaghan, too.

4 What will surprise me about this movie?
What I notice in this movie is that when you first start watching it, you might think you know what it's about, but somewhere in there (and I think it's because of Michelle's performance) the movie kind of gets you in the gut. It's got this slow burn quality that builds and builds and by the end of it the movie kind of grabs you by the heart. I am not saying it will do this to everyone but in several screenings we've had people needing to leave the theater to get it together.

5 How would describe your filmmaking style or philosophy? How is that reflected in this project?
My overriding philosophy is to serve the story—to tell it in the most true and organic way. And one way I do that is really by treating the process of making the film as an end unto itself. It is very important for me that the actors, the DP, the production designer and everyone else have a voice in the approach we take. I read a biography on John Huston once and he always operated under the philosophy that everyone had a good idea and that he would be a fool not to hear them; his job was just to sift through to the ones he responded to most.

With actors, too, I don't really like to hand them an emotion to imitate or a line reading and all that; I really love actors and think they are generally very intuitive and smart when it comes to their character. So my approach is to trust them first of all, and when I make adjustments it's mostly clarifying where the character might be at that point in the story and—both factually and in the subtext. After all, we're all serving the story. I think that this openness and freedom is reflected in both the visual style of the film and in what I consider to be outstanding performances.

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