Representing documentaries at the Tribeca Festival this year from June 8 – 19. TFF 2022 Press screenings are for festival-accredited press only.
Chelsea Hotel resident Bettina Grossman, as seen in Dreaming Walls, directed by Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
DREAMING WALLS, Dir. Amélie van Elmbt & Maya Duverdier
Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese
Viewpoints (North American Premiere)
The legendary Chelsea Hotel, an icon of 1960s counterculture and a haven for famous artists and intellectuals including Patti Smith, Janis Joplin and the superstars of Warhol’s Factory, has recently reopened after extensive renovations, which are now almost complete. Dozens of long-term residents, many in their later years, have lived amidst the scaffolding and constant construction for close to a decade.
Against this chaotic backdrop, DREAMING WALLS takes us through the hotel’s storied halls, exploring its living body and the bohemian origins that contributed to its mythical stature. Its residents and the walls themselves now face a turning point in their common history. (80 min. Magnolia Pictures – Opens July 8)
Screenings:
Press: Thurs, June 9, 10:30 am – Village East Cinema 5
Fri, June 17, 5:30 pm – SVA Theater 2
(Q&A to follow with dirs. Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier and Chelsea Hotel residents)
Sat, June 18, 2:30 pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 4
Sun, June 19, 8:15 pm -Tribeca Film Center
LIFT, Dir. David Petersen
Viewpoints (World Premiere)
Filmed over ten years, LIFT shines a spotlight on the invisible story of homelessness in America through the eyes of a group of young home-insecure ballet dancers in New York City. After performing all over the world, ballet dancer Steven Melendez returns to the Bronx shelter where he grew up to give back to his community, offering a ballet workshop to children.
As young dance students, Victor, Yolanssie and Sharia face the same chasm of home insecurity that long separated Steven from his audience and makes the arts inaccessible to so many children who share his background. The children he mentors offer him insight into turning a hidden trauma into dance, and together they make an aristocratic art form into an expression all their own. (87 min. Acquisition title)
Screenings:
Sun, June 12, 2:00 pm – Village East Cinema 2
(Q&A to follow with dir. David Petersen, Steven Melendez and special guests TBC)
Press: Tues, June 14, 10:15 am – Village East Cinema 4
Wed, June 15, 5:15 pm – Village East Cinema 5
Press: Thurs, June 16, 9:15 am – Village East Cinema 6
Sat, June 18, 11:30 am – Cinépolis Chelsea 4
Virtual: Tues, June 14, 6:00 pm (on Tribeca At Home platform till 6/19)
MY NAME IS ANDREA, Dir. Pratibha Parmar
Executive Produced by Gloria Steinem and more
Documentary Competition (World Premiere)
MY NAME IS ANDREA is a hybrid documentary about controversial feminist writer and public intellectual Andrea Dworkin, who offered a revolutionary analysis of male supremacy with an iconoclastic flair. Decades before #MeToo, Dworkin called out the pervasiveness of sexism and rape culture, and the ways it impacts every woman’s daily existence.
The film focuses on key moments in the life of this fearless fighter who, shaped by the values of justice and equality learned in the civil rights movement, demanded that women be seen as fully human.
Woven in with rare, electrifying archival footage of Dworkin are performances by Ashley Judd, Soko, Amandla Stenberg, Andrea Riseborough, and Christine Lahti, who bring Dworkin’s powerful words to life. (91 min. Acquisition title)
Screenings:
Fri, June 10, 8:00 pm – Village East Cinema 2
(Q&A to follow with dir. Prathiba Parmar, prod. Shaheen Haq, EP Gloria Steinem and cast members Amandla Stenberg, Christine Lahti and Soko)
Press: Sun, June 12, 9:00 am – Village East Cinema 6
Sat, June 11, 2:45 pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 5
Sat, June 18, 11:45 am – Cinépolis Chelsea 5
SANSÓN AND ME, Dir. Rodrigo Reyes
Viewpoints (World Premiere)
During his day job as a Spanish criminal interpreter in a small town in California, filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes met a young man named Sansón, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who was sentenced to life in prison without parole. With no permission to interview him, Sansón and Reyes worked together over a decade, using hundreds of letters as inspiration for recreations of Sansón’s childhood—featuring members of Sansón’s own family.
The result is a vibrant portrait of a friendship navigating immigration and the depths of the criminal justice system, and pushing the boundaries of cinematic imagination to rescue a young migrant’s story from oblivion. (83 min. PBS Independent Lens – April 2023)
Screenings:
Sun, June 12, 5:30 pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 4
(Q&A to follow with dir. Rodrigo Reyes)
Mon, June 13, 4:30 pm – Village East Cinema 5
Press: Tues, June 14, 12:00 pm – Village East Cinema 6
Tues, June 14, 6:00 pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 6
Virtual: Tues, June 14, 6:00 pm (on Tribeca At Home platform till 6/19)
Tribeca Talks: Latinx Voices + The Art of Non-Fiction:
Featuring Rodrigo Reyes, Kristy Guevara-Flanagan (Body Parts) and Rebecca Huntt (Beba); moderated by IDA president Rick Perez
Tues, June 14, 12:30-1:30pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 4
SUBJECT, Dir. Camilla Hall & Jennifer Tiexiera
Documentary Competition (World Premiere)
SUBJECT explores the life-altering experience of sharing one’s life on screen through key participants of acclaimed documentaries The Staircase, Hoop Dreams, The Wolfpack, Capturing the Friedmans, and The Square. These erstwhile documentary “stars” reveal the highs and lows of their experiences as well as the everyday realities of having their lives put under a microscope.
Also featuring commentary from influential names in the doc world, the film unpacks vital issues around the ethics and responsibility inherent in documentary filmmaking. As tens of millions of people consume documentaries in an unprecedented “golden era,” SUBJECT urges audiences to consider the often profound impact on their participants. (93 min. Acquisition title)
Screenings:
Sat, June 11, 4:30 pm – SVA Theater 2
(Q&A to follow with dirs. Camilla Hall and Jennifer Tiexiera, participants Margie Ratliff (The Staircase), Jesse Friedman (Capturing the Friedmans), Arthur Agee (Hoop Dreams), Mukunda Angulo (The Wolfpack), Ahmed Hassan (The Square), and more)
Press: Sun, June 12, 1:00 pm – Village East Cinema 4
Mon, June 13 – 5:30 pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 4
Sat, June 18 – 3:00 pm – Cinépolis Chelsea 6
SUBJECT ‘Town Hall’ Event:
Join SUBJECT’s participants for a lively discussion around the issues and themes of the film; moderated by Sonya Childress
Sun, June 12, 3:15-4:45 pm – Village East Cinema 3
TURN EVERY PAGE – THE ADVENTURES OF ROBERT CARO AND ROBERT GOTTLIEB
Dir. Lizzie Gottlieb
Spotlight (World Premiere)
(L. to R.) Author Robert Caro and editor Robert Gottlieb, TURN EVERY PAGE, directed by Lizzie Gottlieb. Photo credit: Claudia Raschke. Courtesy of Wild Surmise Prods./Topic
TURN EVERY PAGE explores the remarkable fifty-year relationship between two literary legends, writer Robert Caro and his longtime editor Robert Gottlieb. Now 86, Caro is working to complete the final volume of his masterwork, The Years of Lyndon Johnson; Gottlieb, 91, waits to edit it. The task of finishing their life’s work looms before them.
With humor and insight, this unique double portrait reveals the work habits, peculiarities and professional joys of these two ferocious intellects at the culmination of a journey that has consumed both their lives and impacted generations of politicians, activists, writers, and readers. (112 min. Acquisition title)
Screenings:
Sun, June 12, 5:00 pm – SVA Theater 1
(Q&A to follow with dir. Lizzie Gottlieb, Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb)
Press: Mon, June 13, 12:30 pm – Village East Cinema 6
Wed, June 15, 5:00 pm – Village East Cinema 2
Sat, June 18, 8:00 pm – Village East Cinema 2
Gregg W. Morris can be reached at profgreggwmorris@gmail.com, gregghc@comcast.net