TRIBECA FEMALE DIRECTORS 2009

“It is a great year for women filmmakers at Tribeca”, says Genna Terranova, Senior Film Programmer of the festival.

Get a glimpse of some of the newest indie films out there,
and the strong women who called the shots.

“Le Bal Des Actrices” (All About Actresses)

Director Maïwenn Le Besco, France

Maïwenn Le Besco credits “This is Spinal Tap” for inspiring her mockumentary on the film industry. Le Besco, an actress herself (Haute Tension, The Fifth Element), invited all of her coworkers to join in on the project.

Some humor might be lost on viewers unfamiliar with French film culture, but Le Besco assures us that it still reflects American Hollywood culture. ”Everything is fake,” she declares. “I’ve been famous, and I’ve been forgotten.”

Ironically, that same disillusionment with fame has now relaunched her cinematic career – only this time, she’s in charge.

“Serious Moonlight”

Director Cheryl Hines

“They just went for it,” recalls director Cheryl Hines, referring to her leading ladies, Meg Ryan and Kristen Bell. “Watching two blondes rolling on the floor [in a fight scene] was very fun.”

“Serious Moonlight” is the Curb Your Enthusiasm actress’ directorial debut. This dark romantic comedy revolves around the failing marriage of a couple, played by Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, whose problems only get worse when Kristen Bell and Justin Long enter the picture.

“TiMER”

Director Jac Schaeffer

Director Jac Schaeffer

New technology helps lonely hearts find love in the not-so-distant future. A wrist implant, called the “TiMER” lets people know the exact time they’ll meet their soul mate. It leaves the audience amused and perplexed, begging the question, “would you really want to know?”

Director Jac Schaeffer described her creative process, saying,  ”I wrote TiMER because I couldn’t wait any longer.  I had made this vow to myself that I would direct a feature before I turned 30, and I wanted to stop just saying that I was a filmmaker and actually make a film.”

“Queen to Play”

Director Caroline Bottaro (France)

Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire lead this film about “internal change, empowerment and evolution,” says director Caroline Bottaro. Kline said he took on the film as an excuse to work with “this lady who I admired for years.”

Bonnaire’s character, a woman from humble origins, has ability to master the game and ultimately beat her male teacher. Typically, “chess is associated with men, with the elite,” Bottaro says. So, she set out to challenge that standard and to shape a stronger image of women in her film. Bottaro hopes this film can send a message of empowerment for all women.

“Handsome Harry”

Director Bette Gordon

Director Bette Gordon

Steve Buscemi, on his deathbed, desperately seeks forgiveness from his past Navy crewman. It’s a story of breaking life’s comfortable monotony to finally confront the past.

“El Niño Pez” (The Fish Child)

Director Lucía Puenzo, Argentina

[no English trailer available; for Spanish trailer, click here]

“I was always fascinated by legends; they’re created from a very dark crime, an unsolved story,” says Argentinean director Lucía Puenzo. Such was the starting point for her new film, ”The Fish Child”.

It follows two young lesbian lovers who disregard all social hierarchies or boundaries of class. Puenzo is both brazen and non-judgmental in her directorial aesthetic, and often leaves situations open-ended. She insists, “People should have the freedom in it to see what they want to see.”

“Variety”

Director Bette Gordon

[no official trailer available]

This racy film comments on voyeurism and the porn industry, from a female perspective. A porn theater ticket-taker, played by Sandy McLeod, is infinitely curious about the underbelly of human sexuality, and begins to stalk a male patron.

Gordon made the film in 1983, and the restored film print was re-screened to accompany her newest feature, “Handsome Harry”. The film was provided courtesy of the Women’s Film Preservation Fund of NYWIFT and The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Film.

“Playground”

Director Libby Spears

Director Libby Spears

Libby Spears’ documentary, backed by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh bravely explores the child sex trade right here in America.

The most common trafficking locales are New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, the epidemic is rising rapidly in Oregon, as well.

Spears went to Oregon, searching for one girl in particular: an abused foster child, who “disappeared” years ago into this nationwide network of child prostitution.

“Which Way Home”

Director Rebecca Cammisa

[no official trailer available]

Two Honduran pre-teens go to any lengths to cross the U.S. border through Mexico. Their optimism and perseverence transcends even the most dangerous conditions. In this transient, modern-day underground railroad, it’s not uncommon to come across gangs, gunfire, drugs and murder.

Cammissa said she made the film because, “People are [trying] to get to the U.S. any way they can. And they’re making dangerous, dangerous decisions.” By highlighting the journey from a child’s point of view, she hopes to raise awareness and further American debate on reevaluating border control.

“Entre Nos” (Between Us)

Directors Paola Mendoza & Gloria La Morte, Colombia

Director Paola Mendoza admitted that it wasn’t easy getting Entre Nos made. This intensely dramatic film was based on own mother, and required her to explore the complexities and flaws of her personal hero.

It’s a story of poor immigrants attempting to raise several children in an unwelcoming American culture allowed the audience to “learn about what it is to lead a hard life, … that you don’t always have to be rich to be happy.”