The eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival debuts on Wednesday, April 22 and runs through Sunday, May 3. Although staged in Lower Manhattan, the 2009 festival represents a coming of age for Queens inasmuch as a number of dazzling features and daring documentaries have been filmed in the borough. Queens is no extra in this festival; it is credited with “player” status.
To get cameras rolling for the very first time all New Yorkers and visitors to the city will have a signature opportunity to purchase discount festival tickets on-site at the free Tribeca Community Kick-Off Party on Monday, April 20, at Barnes & Noble, 97 Warren Street at Greenwich Street, from 4 through 7 p.m.
Representing Queens will be:
“TRANSCENDENT MAN” salutes Ray Kurzweil, a Queens native and famed inventor/futurist. Kurzweil forecasts his futuristic ideas on the fusion of humans and super intelligent machines, invoking the next phases of evolution. “TRANSCENDENT MAN” will screen at the SVA Theatre on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 p.m. Immediately eafter will be a panel, including a Q&A with Kurzweil himself, who confirms this appearance is very much in his near future and yours.
Additional screenings are scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. at the SVA Theatre; on Sunday, April 26 at 4:45 p.m at the AMC Village II Theatre; and on Friday, May 1 at 5 p.m. at AMC Village VII Theatre.
If a movie with musical memory in its DNA is your preference, then “Burning Down the House: The Story of CBGB” is your ticket down the Lower East Side’s Memory Lane. On Thursday, April 30 immediately following a 7 p.m. screening, legendary music producer Tommy Ramone, an original member of The Ramones, along with Ice-T, Fab Five Freddy, Chris Franz, Legs McNeil, Dr. Know and many others will discuss the legacy of the famed and infamous rock emporium.
Although Tommy Ramone was reared in Queens – along with his very talented sibling, the late Johnny Ramone – Tommy, the band’s only survivor, was born in Budapest, Hungary.
Additional “Burning Down the House” screenings are slated for Friday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. at the AMC Village VII; and on Monday, April 27 at 3:30 p.m. at the AMC Village VII.
Punk rock struts a big-time come back in “Blank City” recreating the late 70s downtown New York experience in a wave of “Do It Yourself” independent filmmaking.
A so-called music nerd based in Queens, Dan Selzer is the film’s music supervisor. “Blank City” has a soundtrack to which you can mosh with The Contortions, Teenage Jesus, Sonic Youth and many more.
“Blank City” blasts on Saturday, April 25 at 6:45 p.m. at the AMC Village VII; on Monday, April 27 at 1:30 p.m. at the AMC Village VII; and on Friday, May 1 at 6 p.m. at the AMC Village VII.
Of course, in New York City location is everything. And in great films, destiny is location. “Entre Nos” fits that bill as we journey with Mariana from Bogotá, Colombia to a highly anticipated reunion with her husband in the U.S. When her expectations are rudely dashed, Mariana ultimately finds redemption in Jackson Heights.
Co-Directors Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte expressed the following perspective: “When writing the film, we wanted to get the story in a place that represented a gateway to the American dream and Queens fulfilled that essential element. As Mariana, our lead character, moves forward driven by hope and hard work, we found this reality reflected in the faces of the multi-cultural residents that live, work and dream in Queens.”
So if you believe that art is life and life mirrors art then enjoy “Entre Nos” on Saturday, April 25 at 6PM at the AMC Village II; on Wednesday, April 29 at 4:45 p.m. at the AMC Village II; and on Saturday, May 2 at 3:30 p.m. at the AMC Village II.
Finally, if the after-shock associated with eviction from an apartment transformed into a “hi-jacked” marriage intrigues you, then “Here and There” (with scenes filmed in Queens) is where you want to be on Thursday, April 23 at 9:15 p.m.
Additional screenings will take place at the AMC Village II; on Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m. at the AMC Village VII; on Friday, May 1 at noon at the AMC Village II; and on Saturday, May 2 at 8:45 p.m. at AMC II.
