Tribeca Cinemas Presents Docs on the Shortlist

If you’re in New York on January 8^th and 9th and you haven’t yet seen any of the feature documentaries on the Academy Award® Shortlist, you will have the chance to see six of them when “Tribeca Cinemas Presents: Docs on the Shortlist” hosted by Tribeca Film Institute’s Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. Of the six films screenings, I have seen “Which Way Home,” a beautiful and heartbreaking film by Rebecca Cammisa that premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Rebecca will be doing a Q&A after the screening. And you may recall A.M. Peters’ notes from the “Under Our Skin” screening and panel discussion during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. It was one of our most popular posts of that year, and is also one of the six films showing in the Shortlist series. Please take the opportunity to go see all of these films if you can. You’ll be in the “know” come Oscar time. For more information on this series, see below press release.

"Which Way Home" - Photo Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.

December 16, 2009 – New York, NY - Tribeca Cinemas announces the return of the two-day series “Tribeca Cinemas Presents: Docs on the Shortlist.” Curated by the Tribeca Film Festival programming team, the series offers filmgoers the opportunity to see a selection of the documentary contenders shortlisted for the nomination for Best Feature Documentary for the 82nd Academy Awards®. Docs on the Shortlist is hosted by the Tribeca Film Institute’s Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, which offers finishing funds to documentaries of social significance.

Launching on Friday, January 8, and continuing Saturday, January 9, the two-day series brings together filmmakers who have been involved with previous editions of the Tribeca Film Festival to screen their new documentary films, which are currently being recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Six of the 15 documentaries under consideration for nomination will be screened; the films in the series are: The Cove, Food, Inc., Living in Emergency, Soundtrack for a Revolution, Under Our Skin, and Which Way Home.

“We are always looking for ways Tribeca can further support our filmmakers and this series highlights our commitment to documentary film,” said Nancy Schafer of Tribeca Enterprises. “We are looking forward to bringing some of the documentaries the Academy has recognized to our neighborhood.”

Submissions for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, offering finishing funds of $100,000 for 2010, close on January 11, 2010. www.tribecafilminstitute.org/documentary

Tickets: Tickets go on sale December 16, 2009. Admission for each film screening is $10 for regular tickets; $8 for members of the Guilds (PGA, DGA, WGA and SAG), members of BAFTA East Coast, DocuClub, IDA, IFP, and/or Shooting People with a valid membership card and full-time students with current I.D.; free for Academy Members.

Public Information:

Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street (corner of Laight), New York, NY 10013

The public may call 212/941.2001 for further information. Visit us on the Web at www.tribecafilm.com/docseries

Subway: A, C, E – Canal Street/6 Avenue; 1 – Canal Street/Varick Street

SCREENING SCHEDULE

Friday January 8

6:30pm

Which Way Home, directed by Rebecca Cammisa

Running time: 82 minutes

Director Rebecca Cammisa will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.

As the United States continues to build a wall between itself and Mexico, Which Way Home shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to make it to the United States.

The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call “The Beast .“ Director Rebecca Cammisa (Sister Helen) tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, nine-year old Hondurans who are desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota, and Jose, a ten-year-old El Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center; and focuses on Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family. These are stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow. They are the ones you never hear about – the invisible ones.

Courtesy of HBO. World Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.

9:00pm

Food, Inc., directed by Robert Kenner

Running time: 93 minutes

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers, and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli – the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising – and often shocking – truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.

Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. World Premiered at Toronto International Film Festival.

Saturday January 9

1:00pm

Living in Emergency, directed by Mark Hopkins

Running time: 93 minutes

Bosnia. Rwanda. Kosovo. Sierra Leone. Pakistan. Just a few of the world’s humanitarian and political crises in the past years. Whether the result of war or nature, these disasters devastate populations and cripple health systems. Despite the immense dangers and difficulties of the work, one organization, Doctors Without Borders, has continuously intervened at these frontlines of overwhelming human need.

Set in war-torn Congo and post-conflict Liberia, Living in Emergency interweaves the stories of four volunteers with Doctors Without Borders as they struggle to provide emergency medical care under the most extreme conditions.

Two volunteers are new recruits: a 26 year-old Australian doctor stranded in a remote bush clinic and an American surgeon struggling to cope under the load of emergency cases in a shattered capital city. Two others are experienced field hands: a dynamic Head of Mission, valiantly trying to keep morale high and tensions under control, and an exhausted veteran, who has seen too much horror and wants out.

Amidst the chaos, each volunteer must confront the severe challenges of the work, the tough choices, and the limits of their own idealism.

World Premiered at Venice Film Festival.

3:30pm

Soundtrack for a Revolution, directed Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman

Running time: 81 minutes

SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music -the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality.

The film features new performances of the freedom songs by top artists, including John Legend, Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean, and The Roots; riveting archival footage; and interviews with civil rights foot soldiers and leaders, including Congressman John Lewis, Harry Belafonte, Julian Bond, and Ambassador Andrew Young.

The freedom songs evolved from slave chants, from the labor movement, and especially from the black church. The music enabled blacks to sing words they could not say, and it was crucial in helping the protesters as they faced down brutal aggression with dignity and non-violence. The infectious energy of the songs swept people up and empowered them to fight for their rights.

SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION celebrates the vitality of this music. Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman (Nanking), and executive produced by Danny Glover, SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION is a vibrant blend of heart-wrenching interviews, dramatic images, and thrilling contemporary performances -- a film of significance, energy, and power.

World Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.

6:00pm

The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos

Running time: 92 minutes

Director Louie Psihoyos will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.

In the 1960's, Richard O'Barry was the world’s leading authority on dolphin training, working on the set of the popular television program Flipper. Day in and day out, O'Barry kept the dolphins working and television audiences smiling. But one day, that all came to an end. The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos, tells the amazing true story of how Psihoyos, O'Barry and an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate a hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The mysteries they uncovered were only the tip of the iceberg.

Courtesy of Roadside Attractions. World Premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

8:30pm

Under Our Skin, directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson

Running time: 103 minutes

A gripping tale of microbes, medicine and money, Under Our Skin exposes the hidden story of Lyme disease, one of the most controversial and fastest growing epidemics of our time.

Each year thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are "all in their head." Following the stories of patients and physicians fighting for their lives and livelihoods, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of the healthcare system and a medical establishment all too willing to put profits ahead of patients.

World Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.