SONS OF PERDITION

It can be argued that what separates A list film festivals from their colleagues are the number of World Premieres that grace their theaters. No matter what the ultimate reception is for these films, the wanna-see anticipation of films in their first public and industry showings provide a sizzle. At the Tribeca Film Festival, which is entering its first weekend, there are an impressive number of World Premieres that are grabbing attention from the public and industryites alike.

The Festival began on Wednesday with a World Premiere....being the first festival on the planet to present the Dreamworks Animation film SHREK FOREVER AFTER, the fourth and possibly final film in the wildly successful SHREK pantheon. The other Festival Galas are also World Premieres, including STRAIGHT OUT OF L.A., rapper/actor Ice he Cube's look at the relationship between rap and football; LETTERS TO JULIET, a romantic drama starrig Vanessa Redgrave and Amanda Seyfreid (the daughter in MAMA MIA!) in a film by indie stalwart Gary Winick; and the Festival closer, FREAKONOMICS, an exose of corruption in sports, politics and social status, with contributions from esteemed documentarians Alex Gibney, Morgan Spurlock, Eugene Jarecki and Seth Gordon.

FEATHERED COCAINE 

Documentaries making their World Premiere bows seem to be Tribeca's unexpected coup this year (here they are in alphabetic order). In AMERICAN MYSTIC, director Alex Mar weaves together the stories of three young American exploring alternative religion. In THE ARBOR, documentary and narrative filmmaking collide in a fascinating true story of British playwright Andrea Dunbar and her troubled relationship with her daughter. In the film EARTH MADE OF GLASS by Deborah Scranton, the secrets of the 1994 Rwandan genocide unite the country's president and a survivor. In the Icelandic doc FEATHERED COCAINE, filmmakers Thorkell Hardarson and Orn Marino Amarson explore the use of falcons as couriers of illegal drugs in the Persian Gulf. GERRYMANDERING looks at the sharp political fight for redistricting that can control electoral outcomes.

Director Sebastian Copeland takes his audiences to the forbidding landscape of the North Pole in the shockingly beautiful INTO THE COLD. The collision course between outrageous Muslim American stand up comics on a concert tour to Dubai, Beirut and Riyadh is at the center of comedian Ahmed Ahmed's directorial debut JUST LIKE US. A New York City landmark, the old Shea Stadium, provides a backdrop for the ups and downs of New York baseball in LAST PLAY AT SHEA. Oscar winning documentarian Alex Gibney adapts a one-man stage play about the rise of fundamentalist Islam in MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA. Model-turned-director Christi Turlington focuses on the powerful studies of childbirth in the third world in her debut NO WOMAN, NO CRY. Violence, disease and despair in the shadow of the US Capitol is the story behind Tribeca alum Susan Koch's eye-opening THE OTHER CITY.

THE TWO ESCOBARS 

The legendary Canadian band Rush is profiled in the compelling music doc RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE by fellow Canucks Scot McFayden and Sam Dunn. In SONS OF PERDITION, directors Tyler Measom and Jennifer Mertyn look at the notorious polygamous community headed by Warren Jeffs and a group of teenager boys woh are banished because of their rebellious attitudes. In the Israeli doc, THIEVES BY LAW, director Alexander Gentelev offers a first-hand look at the sinister world of the Russian Mafia. In THE TWO ESCOBARS, the contrast between Colombian soccer star Andres Escobar and Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar reveals the schisms in their native country.

The works of artists, one a "hair magician", the others innovative experimental filmmakers are explored in the films VIDAL SASSOON: THE MOVIE and VISIONARIES, by Oscar winner Chuck Workman. In THE WOODSMANS, director C. Scott Willis offers a shattering portrait of acclaimed photographer Francesca Woodman and her troubling relationship with her family.

 UNTITLED ELIOT SPITZER FILM

Also qualifying as world premieres are two buzzed works in progress that get their first views at the Festival. In UNTITLED ELIOT SPITZER FILM, Oscar winning documentarian Alex Gibney offers an in depth look at the disgraced former New York governor (brought down because of his use of public funds to pay for trysts with prostitutes) and his long road bak to recovery and reconciliation. In THE WESTERN FRONT, director Zachary Iscol draws on his personal experience as a US Marine in Iraq as he revisits Anbar Province, site of some of the bloodiest battles of the war.

OK, so you are thinking.....so many films, so little time. Well, that is known as Festival paranoia. But these films, all making their World Premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival between now and May 2nd, are worth your attention and your perusal. Check them out at: www.tribecafilm.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor