Recommended Films at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, April 13 – 24, 2016

The Tribeca Film Festival, founded in 2001, an annual celebration of film, music and culture, will be held this year on April 13-24 in New York. This year’s themes reflect the diversity of the film program including Hispanic, Asian American, Jewish among others. The Tribeca Film Festival helps filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enabling the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. It is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors. For more information visit: www.tribecafilm.com.

Here are our recommendations by the editors of Multicultural Entertainment News by theme:

Jewish Heritage

• The Tenth Man – directed by Daniel Burman (All In, TFF 2012), THE TENTH MAN tells the story of Ariel, a man who returns to his childhood neighborhood in Buenos Aires, a Jewish district named El Once, after a long stay in New York City. In the process of trying to meet his father Usher, and getting entangled in his charitable commitments, Ariel also reconnects with his own Jewish roots. But Usher appears to be staving off a meeting with his son; instead he keeps roping him into a number of small assignments during the course of which Ariel meets Eva who volunteers for Usher’s charity. Eva’s radiant inner strength and independent spirit inspires Ariel to come to grips with the religious customs of his Jewish community as well as the traditions that once divided him and his father and rethink his own identity.

• Keep Quiet – directed by Joseph Martin and Sam Blair. (U.K., Hungary) – World Premiere, Documentary. Passionate in his anti-Semitic beliefs, Csanád Szegedi was the rising star of Hungary’s far-right party until he discovers his family’s secret—his maternal grandparents were Jewish. The revelation prompts an improbable but seemingly heartfelt conversion from anti-Semite to Orthodox Jew. This captivating and confrontational film explores the complex and contradictory character of Szegedi, prompting deep questions about Szegedi’s supposed epiphany. In English, Hungarian with subtitles.

Hispanic / Latin American

• EL Charro de Toluquilla – directed by José Villalobos Romero. Jaime García appears to be the quintessential macho Mariachi. With a life full of women, alcohol and music, his evenings are spent as a charming, talented troubadour at local watering holes and his days on the ranch, blissfully caring for his beloved horses. But despite his wild tales and bawdy persona, a sense of weariness slowly surfaces in the mundane in-between moments of Jaime’s everyday existence. Beneath the persuasive, magnetic confidence lies a man who struggles to maintain a relationship with his frequently estranged young daughter and her stringent, religious mother and most imperatively, to live a healthy life as an HIV-positive man. In Jose Villalobos’ remarkable debut film, he profiles Jaime over the course of five years. Through vivid tableaux and stylized perspectives of the two very different sides of Jaime’s existence, Villalobos paints a beautifully unique and emotional portrait of a man divided.

• Icaros: A Vision – directed by Leonor Caraballo and Matteo Norzi, written by Leonor Caraballo, Matteo Norzi, and About Farman. (Peru, USA) – World Premiere. An American woman in search of a miracle embarks on an adventure in the Peruvian Amazon. At a healing center, she finds hope in the form of an ancient psychedelic plant known as ayahuasca. With her perception forever altered, she bonds with a young indigenous shaman who is treating a group of psychonauts seeking transcendence, companionship, and the secrets of life and death. With Ana Cecilia Stieglitz, Arturo Izquierdo, Filippo Timi. In English, Spanish with subtitles.

• Madly – directed and written by Gael García Bernal, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Silva, Anurag Kashyap, Sion Sono, and Natasha Khan. (Argentina, Australia, USA, India, Japan, UK) – World Premiere. Madlyis an international anthology of short films exploring love in all its permutations. Directed by some of the most vibrant filmmakers working today, the six stories in Madly portray contemporary love in all its glorious, sad, ecstatic, empowering, and erotic manifestations. With Radhika Apte, Satyadeep Misra, Adarsh Gourav, Kathryn Beck, Lex Santos, Mariko Tsutsui, Yuki Sakurai, Ami Tomite, Justina Bustos, Pablo Seijo, Tamsin Topolski. In English, Hindi, Japanese, Spanish with subtitles.

Black/African-American/African Diaspora

• Kicks – directed by Justin Tipping, written by Justin Tipping and Josh Beirne-Golden. (USA) – World Premiere. When his hard-earned kicks get snatched by a local hood, fifteen-year old Brandon and his two best friends go on an ill-advised mission across the Bay Area to retrieve the stolen sneakers. Featuring a soundtrack packed with hip-hop classics, Justin Tipping’s debut feature is an urban coming-of-age tale told with grit, humor, and surprising lyricism. With Jahking Guillory, Mahershala Ali, Kofi Siriboe, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer. A Focus World release.

• Little Boxes – directed by Rob Meyer, written by Annie J Howell. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. It’s the summer before 6th grade, and Clark is the new-in-town biracial kid in a sea of white. Discovering that to be cool he needs to act ‘more black,’ he fumbles to meet expectations as rifts are exposed in his tight-knit family, his parents also striving to adjust. This poignant comedy about understanding identity is the second feature from TFF alumnus Rob Meyer. Executive Produced by Cary Fukunaga. With Melanie Lynskey, Nelsan Ellis, Armani Jackson, Oona Laurence, Janeane Garofalo, and Christine Taylor.

Female Directors

• Always Shine – directed by Sophia Takal, written by Lawrence Michael Levine. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. This twisty psychological drama about obsession, fame, and femininity follows two friends, both actresses (Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald), who take a trip together to Big Sur, to reconnect. Once alone, the women’s suppressed jealousies and deep-seated resentments begin to rise, causing them to lose their grasp on not only the true nature of their relationship, but also their identities.With Lawrence Michael Levine, Alex Koch, Jane Adams

• Califórnia – directed by Marina Person, written by Marina Person, Mariana Veríssimo, and Francisco Guarnieri. (Brazil) – North American Premiere, Narrative. Nostalgic, sweet, and at moments poignantly funny, Califórnia is a coming-of-age tale about a high school student, Estela, growing up in São Paulo in the 1980s. Estela is doing all she can to get to California to visit her glamorous and cultured uncle. While focused on keeping her grades up, her life is complicated by romance, sex, and social pressures. With Clara Gallo, Caio Blat, and Caio Horowicz. In Portuguese with subtitles.

• Elvis & Nixon – directed by Liza Johnson. (USA) – World Premiere, Gala. In 1970, a few days before Christmas, Elvis Presley showed up on the White House lawn seeking to be deputized into the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs by the President himself. Elvis & Nixon, starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey respectively, imagines the comical details of this outlandish historical encounter. Featuring supporting performances from Alex Pettyfer, Johnny Knoxville, Colin Hanks, Evan Peters, and Sky Ferreira.

• The Meddler – directed and written by Lorene Scafaria. (USA) – US Premiere, Narrative. Susan Sarandon delivers a magnetic performance as the doting, mother supreme Marnie Minervini, who crosses coasts to drop into the life of her screenwriter daughter Lori (Rose Byrne). Loosely autobiographical, Lorene Scafaria’s heartfelt comedy offers a wryly scripted defense of a woman struggling to cope with familial loss. Co-starring J.K. Simmons, Cecily Strong, Jerrod Carmichael, and Jason Ritter. A Sony Pictures Classic release.

LGBTQ

• Strike a Pose – directed and written by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan. (Netherlands, Belgium) – North American Premiere, Documentary. To the fans, they were the unforgettably talented men who supported the career of one of the world’s most beloved and controversial music artists: Madonna. Behind the scenes they were an impressionable group of young dancers whose lives were forever changed by her influence.