Gerald Wright's Coverage of the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage

Tribeca Film Festival Coverage 2009
APRIL 22 - MAY 3

"CLOSING DAY AWARDS at TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2009"

The eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival handed out more than $150,000 in cash prizes. Co-founder Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff presented its best narrative feature prize to Asghar Farhadi's Iranian drama About Elly (Darbareye Elly). This is a heart wrenching yet riveting film about a group of friends on an outing to the Caspian Sea who weave a web of deceit that when exposed of one of their party's disappearance, causes a host of very poor responses.

The Best Documentary Feature was handed to Racing Dreams by Marshall Curry. He is a returning filmmaker to Tribeca Film Festival who won the audience award in 2005.

LIST OF 2009 FESTIVAL WINNERS

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE ($25,000)
"ABOUT ELLY"

BEST NEW NARRATIVE FILMMAKER ($25,000)
Rune Rune Denstad Langlo for "NORTH" (Nord) from Norway

BEST ACTOR IN A NARRATIVE FEATURE
Claran Hinds for "THE ECLIPSE"

BEST ACTRESS IN A NARRATIVE FEATURE
Zoe Kazan for "THE EXPLODING GIRL"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE ($25,000)
"RACING DREAMS"

DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL JURY MENTION
"DEFAMATION" (Hashmatsa)

BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER ($25,000)
Ian Olds for "FIXER: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi from U.S.

BEST NEW YORK NARRATIVE ($25,000)
"HERE AND THERE" (Tama I Ovde)

BEST NEW YORK DOCUMENTARY ($5,000)
"PARTLY PRIVATE"

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT ($5,000)
"THE NORTH ROAD (La Route Du Nord)

FOR MORE AWARD WINNERS GO TO www.Tribecafilm.com/festival/media

OPENING DAY COVERAGE

Tribeca Film Festival co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal kicked off the eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival today at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan. The co-founders were joined by Uma Thurman, who will serve as a juror and who announced one of her fellow 2009 Festival juror Spike Lee. Of the thirty two jurors of this year's film festival it will include Meg Ryan, Morgan Spurlock, James Franco, Todd Haynes, Bradley Cooper, Melissa Leo, Parker Posey, Adrien Brody and Rachel Maddow.

The festival will show 85 features and 46 shorts representing 36 countries. In addition to the film line-up, there will also be an array of panel discussions, valuable networking opportunities for filmmakers and the industry, gala premieres of highly anticipated new studio releases - including Sony Pictures Classics' Whatever Works and Fox Searchlight Pictures' My Life in Ruins.

There will be movie previews, reviews and interviews posted from the festival by film critic Gerald Wright.

For a schedule of the films and other information go to www.tribecafilmfestival.org.