America the beautiful Darryl Robert

12 years old,, Gerren Taylor became a leading model and then a year later was cast aside .


America the Beautiful(2008)

Director: Darryl Robert
Writer Darryl Robert




In capturing Garren's story, Director Darryl Robert brings to our attention the miriad ways in which women's bodies and minds have become the rightful property of the corporate world where money reigns supreme and men dominate the decision making process that determines women's clothes, make up, plastic surgery, perfumes, and the fashion industry where beauty pageants came into popularity right after women won the right to vote.

Women's response to the societal mandate to be "beautiful" is to copy the bodies of the thinnest woman in the world, the "ultra thin" models. These models of note must be unhealthily thin to fit into the designer;s clothes. This all reduces down to money.

The bigger the model the more money it costs to drape her in costly material . One shot of Garrren wearing the skimpiest short shorts must have been super cheap for the designer rather than a full length dress, or a pants suit. We are talking in the tens of thousands of dollars,, just for the material of designer's choice.


Peer pressure is at odds with this skeletal image. The twelve year old girl has been taught to embrace and love Barbie dolls, the stick thin doll with "boob". Girls who feel driven to be "grown up" want boobs. This contradiction is highlighted in America the Beautiful. It is not just the cost to life and pocketbook that informs on what women think will make them beautiful but the peer pressure is intense particularly for the adolescent. These same forces inform on the plastic surgery, depicted in all its grueling moments but also the source of the modern day anorexic or bulimic teenagers and adult who think thin is good, when in fact for them it is deadly.

Garren's mother's solution to this problem of beauty in the eyes of the world(no boobs, curves , bumps) versus beauty in the eyes of her peers, was to remove Garren from peer pressure.. She took Garren out of school and provided home schooling.

Garrren's mother is one person in the Documentary that I felt Mr. Robert did not depict with an even understated tone that he used with everyone else. .Garren;'s mother is a single mom. She is Black and a likely candidate for welfare as is Garren. financial security is what this is all about. Not education that might or might not lead to future well being, but money: a cushion for those times when Garren will be an adult and on her own.

Money is what drives Garren's mother And that is what the White educated Principal in Garren's school failed to understand. There is a definite culture gap that being Black in America, being female without a man to support and help in rearing of children Darryl brings to the screen as a silent undercurrent that will ring loud and clear to those who identify with this courageous, driven single mom who stepped into the world of the rich and famous without a road map in hand nor a supporting arm to lean on.

One of the most delightful moments was watching Garren wash the dishes after dinner. She was excellent super competent at this chore. Her actions were so real and natural I felt hypnotized like I was there with Darryl, having finished a lovely dinner provided by this child/girl and now getting down to the business of the day, (or was it night) having her talk to me , to you, to the camera as she washed the dishes.

What a wonderful person, what a delightful girl. At the end of the film when she was so unhappy I wanted to reach into the screen and give her a warm loving hug.

Why didn't Darryl do that for me? It would have been the right, the perfect ending to an almost perfect film

There is so much to learn, to discuss, to think about and talk about and to feel in America the Beautiful. Don't let it escape without seeing it. America the Beautiful 2008. See it. at the theater or rent it for home viewing with family.


Linda Z
Rotten-tomatoes Vine Witches Brew

Commentary on film: Jim Morrison and Hunter s. Thompson

The destruction of a nation,:


When the main character in a film commits suicide this is not an incidental event. Suicide informs on the nature of the subject as well as the state of the society in which the person lives.

One should not dismiss the action of self annihilation with a simply, well, he was sick or it was inevitable, without going back into the history of the victim to learn the origins of this deadly act. What in the person's life would lead to their premature demise done with a sane mind and a willing body?


The original sociological explanation advanced by the Father of Sociology, Emile Durkheim, was that suicide is a violent act against the self. But upon closer examination, it is clear this explanation is self serving. It blames the act on the victim and gives the motive of violence as well. But is suicide a violent act against the self or is it more to the point to say that the survivors of the act, the close friends and family members are the ones who feel violence towards the actor, the person who has deserted the ship of life, leaving the rest of us poor souls to carry on.

This is an important question for the film director,and producer to answer before making a film that focuses world attention on the personality of a suicidal victim. If the act is done with a weak mind, a mind that is living in a drug filled or psychotic state where reality, reason and meaning no longer apply to the person's judgement, then the suicidal act has a different meaning than it has when the person who does the deed is of sound mental capacity.

Jim Morrison of the Rolling Stone fame, is the most frequented grave site in all of France. He was an extraordinary hero and the film on his life was a testament to his life and death. While i watched it I couldn't wait for the agony of living to be over, finished: a tortured existence extinguished. In taking his own life, Jim Morrison did not effect a violent act of self destruction. To the contrary, he saved his sense of self, that was doomed to further torment by ending lis life.

The same is true of Dr.Hunter S Thompson who could not tolerate a simple life. There was nothing that informed on his capacity to go into a quiet space to recover and be replenished through self contemplation. To the contrary , The thought of being without constant stimulation, without a public to confuse and stimulate every moment was intolerable for Hunter. So much so, that he chose to end his life in the wake of just such a peaceful family moment, When, for someone else, all seemed right in the world. for Hunter to be calm, loved, and appreciated by his personal fold was deadly.

If the actor of the suicidal act is actually saving his soul, preserving his ego and sense of self, how can we fault or punish him for this act. It is a moment when we can see with a clarity not otherwise obvious who the person was and how it came to be that the only course, the way of the future, was no future at all.

With this in mind i urge movie makers and audience to appreciate the icons who could not continue to live beyond a specified moment. With their act of annihilation they offer insight into who they were and where we are and that is a gift we should use to understand, who we are and what the world in which we live is all about.

When a discharged solder kills himself, that is a moment to pause, to reflect, to cry and to know, why. War does more than destroy and maim the body, It reeks havoc on the mind and makes the men and women who go off to serve their country, inoperative citizens. One step away from suicide.

What film past or present takes on this delicate subject: the destruction of a nation, one person at a time.


Linda Zises

Sex in the City 2008

Sex in the City is not just for women It s for women and men who have a sense of humor and are not afraid to let this emotion triumph even in these dismal, almost terrifying times of economic, political and military unrest.

The unrealistic plot, the flamboyant customs, the ultra high heels that destroy the legs they are designed to show off to their best advantage and the frivolous nature of the interaction of these famous women known to many from their half hour television program of the same name, is worth seeing but only if you take with you a sense of the absurd and the understanding that no one knows better than the creators of this film that what they are seeking and what you are buying is pure fun.

Why not laugh and enjoy this two hour film? I say see it, smile, and then walk home how ever far that might be. That’s the best recipe I can offer to savor the moment precious fun filled experience of Sex in the City without having to contend with another hike in the price of gas, or bread.


Linda Zises
WBAI Women’s Collective
Criticalwomen @blogspot.com

top films of June 2008

There is a disproportionate number of horror films being serve up to the willing public this June

Film often reflects what is not covered in the News, The documentaries bring us current events or past events worth contemplating today. Fantasy films that rise to the top reflect the emotional state, the private emotional lives that beg to be addressed.

Film is a healing source, a pleasurable one, done to a public, to be enjoyed privately

With that in mind, this trend towards horror films, is alarming. I have not personally seen any of them and hope that I continue to successfully avoid this experience of adult viewing however the trend, not the quality of production is what concerns me.

These films serve the same function as "rides' at Coney Island or disney world or whatever "amusement park' is in your vicinity.

The rides are precursors of emotional experiences yet to happen or a reflection on the emotional experience that is currently dominate in your life. Specifically fear.

We are living in a time of free floating anxiety stimulated by the radical change in weather that is uprooting the lives and domiciles of formerly secured abodes and ways of life. And the perpetual War without cause or an invisible undefinable cause begging for limit by definition. the menacing "terrorist" is always on our minds. it is a War against an enigmatic enemy located not just in Iraq but throughout the world. And the remedy of Collective punishment prevails.We are all in the line of fire.

We are living in terrifying times and how to we continue to live as if we are on the same ordianry course of existance that has been know for year upon year and assumed to be ever lasting?

Children love to be afraid., They start with hide and seek and go on to the Rides, the Cyclone, the mini bumper cars. All these rides allow the terrifying experiences in life and our responsive fear to get experienced in a controlled setting.

Personally, I'd rather go on a ride then see the Hulk or the Panda attacked or the Happening.

But maybe that's because I'm a woman and these big men protrayed in all their glory never resonated with me. It's the real man I fear but i have spent a life time living with that fear. Have you?


This is an interactive blog.

your response is welcomed.


Linda Zises
criticalwomen@blogspot.com
ROTTEN TOMATOES:The Vine: WITCHES BREW

HBO Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski


Mini biography

Roman Polanski's parents returned to Poland from France just two years before the World War II began: both were taken later to concentration camps where his mother eventually died. Young Roman managed to escape the ghetto and learned to survive wandering through the Polish countryside and living with the different Catholic families. Though local people usually ignored cinemas where mostly German films were shown, Polanski seemed not very much concerned about patriotism and frequently went to the movies. In 1945, he reunited with his father who sent him to technical school, but young Polanski seemed to have already made his choice._In the 1950s, he took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda's Pokolenie (1955) before studying at the Lodz Film School. His early shorts such as Dwaj ludzie z szafa (1958), Gros et le maigre, Le (1961), and Ssaki (1963) showed his taste for black humor and interest in bizarre human relationships. His feature debut, Nóz w wodzie (1962), was the first Polish post-war film not associated with the war theme. Though being already a major Polish filmmaker, Polanski yet chose to leave the country and headed to France. Being down-and-out in Paris, he befriended young scriptwriter, Gérard Brach, who eventually became his long-time collaborator. The next two films, Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de-sac (1966), made in England and co-written by Brach, won respectively Silver and Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festivals.__In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made the psychological thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968). However, after the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the infamous Manson gang in 1969, the director decided to return to Europe. In 1974, he again appeared with a US release of Chinatown (1974). It seemed the beginning of the promising Hollywood career, but after his conviction for the statutory rape of a 13-year old girl, Polanski fled from America to avoid prison.__After Tess (1979), which was awarded several Oscars and Cesars, his work became intermittent and rarely approached the level of his better known films. The director also stretched his talents to include occasional work in theatre. He still likes to act in the films of other directors, sometimes with interesting results as it was in Pura formalità, Una (1994). IMDb Mini Biography By: Yuri German
Commentary:
Roman Polanski, writer, producer, actor, director of the most famous, most watched films of the century. A giant in the film industry for whom one feels the ravages of the assault on his character by the law enforcement agencies. The disgust, the condemnation of an intellectual/artistic genius trickles down into the minds and gossip mongrels par excellent.
And where do we stand on this issue:
It came before us with Woody Allen another giant in the film industry who married his seemingly too young lover. For Roman Polanski his sexual interaction with a minor is still an issue all these many years later.

Here we are watching his story unfold on the Home Box Office documentary that brings those times and those issues into clear view. Roman was so attractive with such intense sexuality that the thought of doing something wrong just because there for this master of the chase after women (always more women to conquer) is not the personification of his illness but of the sickness that reigns in our country.

Yes, it is the rare man who hasn’t sought a woman for her body, knowing full well that she would never be his sustained love relationship/interest in life. This is applauded in our society and yet the woman who gives into the man, who is overcome by his cunning, his effort to seduce is considered “undesirable”.

How far have we come from this restrictive and prejudicial stance the double standard. As one watches the film is there a feeling of disgust for Roman Polanski or horror at how he is being treated.? Does success too often bread contempt and assault for couses unbeknownst to the genius. How far astry from the norm is a genius and how do they fare in this restrictive country. Not well, I fear. Not well.


I recommend everyone see this film, embrace our individual feelings about his alleged Pedophilia and the ills of our society. This is a chance to see life through the behavior of a not too hungry man but a man so separated from the humble pie we all eat that he didn’t imagine the consequences of yet another conquest.

The victim was a thirteen year old girl physically going on twenty-one and where were her parents, her protective shields. Did they not know her maturity was a problem? Did they not work with her, give her the fundamental knowledge to adjust normally to her premature physical development?

This is not a defense of Roman Polanski but a review of the documentary now being shown on HBO. But since the two seem so forcefully linked, the review of the production and the subject matter, my stance, my reaction to the subject becomes a testimony to the strength of the documentary.

A must see moment from the past that informs forcefully on the present.

See it, if you can.


Linda Zises

The Year of the Fish:

The Year of The Fish:( A lost generation captured, devoured, preserved)

David Kaplan
Director, Editor, Writer

Plot: A Cinderella story set in New York City's Chinatown, Year of the Fish is a classic tale retold through the eyes of a young woman struggling to find a new life in the United States.

With many films it isn’t clear where the inspiration for the film came from But with The Year of the Fish, the subject is so disturbing that we know where the need to make this film originates. It is the uncomfortable reality of a part of New York City where the Chinese live their lives so separate from the Americans that it is uncomfortable to walk the streets, partake of their food, their services while subliminally aware of how different they are from us, their American customers.

David Kaplan responds to this tangible experience by mixing up fantasy and reality and doing it not just with content but by his method of interspersing cartoon figures and scenes with the real , the familiar scenes and real actors.

The identifiable image of the Fish,( and it was just the Chinese year of the Fish), reflected in the visual look of the people’s faces is clever but somewhat distracting. It seems that David Kaplan’s intent is to use the Cinderella tale to tell us all that we are fish swimming in a fish tank that we are outgrowing (because of our obesity) and soon we will be swimming in an ocean, a captive humanity waiting to be devoured and rescued, our cleaned bones to be placed in some God awful museum for preservation of a lost species.

The over riding technique of this film, the juxtaposing of cartoon figures with real live people and scenes doesn’t encourage the emotional impact the film might otherwise have. This is a very serious, scary film when one contemplates the world according to David Kaplan’s recreation of today and of tomorrow, if there is one.


I recommend this film because it is unique, and because it has something important to say even though the actors, the characters are one dimensional good and bad and Cinderella is a fantasy I never truly embraced. For women Cinderella in rags or richness is not someone I aspire to be.



Linda Z

Beauty in Trouble: A second assessment

Films are immediate emotional experiences and often, only in hindsight, does the plot slowly deteriorate into something other than the fulfilling experience of the moment.

That is what happened with this 2006 film. Beauty in Trouble. While I watched the fairy tale of the poor financially devastated mother of two prepubescent children struggle when the flood forced her to return to her maternal home where her mother and step father lived in a somewhat less than tranquil abode, I was emotionally drawn into the seemingly fairy tale plot of a wealthy man who entered the sceen, superfluity of money in hand and a determination to help remedy the wrongs she has to endure.

But all is not right in this story line.

Does this wealthy much older man "buy" the woman and her children?

There is reference to an abortion but who was the father of the almost terminated birth is not explicitly stated.

There is reference to sexual assault by the step father that seems to slide into and out of the film without any real emotional impact: a shower scene with the naked step father and the young girl trapped in the room where he lets go of his protective towel.

What is paramount (emotionally accented) is the garbage that the step father throws onto the bed while the children sleep or the cookies the children ate that he claimed were for him only. But cookies and garbage do not hold the intellectual place in our lives that the sexual molestation of children rightly earns.

I still hold the opinion that the Beauty in Trouble is worth viewing, if only to see how emotions of the moment can triumph over intellegent understanding.


Linda Zises

Beauty in Trouble: A fantasy film with substance

BEAUTY IN TROUBLE
2006 English subtitles
Jan Hrebejk_

Czech Republic 110 minutes_
Director: Jan Hrebejk_
Producer: Ondrej Trojan_is
Screenplay: Petr Jarchovsky_
Photography: Jan Malír

Cast:
Anna Geislerová
Marcela

Roman Luknár
Jarda (Marcela's Husband)

Jana Brejchová
Marcela's Mother

Jirí Schmitzer
Uncle Richie


Josef Abrhám
Evzen Benes (knight in shining armor)

Beauty in Trouble is:
“a smart situation comedy that contrasts old and new Czecho-no-Slovakias... The title comes from a Robert Graves poem and the soundtrack from Once’s busker-songwriter Glen Hansard.”_— Harlan Jacobson. The story line is a woman Marcela ( A_a Geislerová ) who is –forced to chose between two men, one whom she loves with her intellect, the other, her husband (A_a Geislerová) –who stimulates and fulfills her sexual strivings.


Beauty in Trouble is a delightful film with characters vividly drawn who come from a world very similar in class and kind as the people found in a Coen brother films. such as in Fargo 1996.

The characters who represent the old republic speak crudely but honestly and their love is often expressed in terms with little endearment. They are funny, pathetic, and yet…. .

This film is about character, ethics, the true and honest way people can and should act towards one another. What is paramount is not sex, as stated in the promotional material. It is love and the conflict between the passion that the body craves and the love that is not passionate but full, rich and nurturing for the mind and soul. It is the conflict delineated in William Somerset Maugham's book Of Human Bondage, where, for those who read the book or saw the movie, Mildred, the waitress with whom the intellectual author is obsessed, is the essence of love and hate, while intellectual women are simply there for stimulation of the mind. Nothing passionate about that!

Beauty in Trouble has clear readable subtitles with only one blatant error “there “ was put on the screen when it should have read “they’re”.
But I could read it all, plenty of time afforded the slow reader and the film’s shots were effected without undo prolongation of a facial image.. I never got tired of looking at one actor or another and there were bodies to be seen, all the way from head to foot, not truncated at the shoulders or waist.

It has great dialogue and enjoyable images of an old lady and a sleazy older man and even the “knight in shinning armor “ who comes to save the day, is overdrawn to the point of almost ridiculous but stops right at the moment when he is believable and enviable for his solid integrity; a quality so rarely put on the screen for us to imitate and absorb as a goal of our own. Simply stated, just because you are a good person does not mean you are weak or easily manipulated.

The music is all the rave. If you see the film for nothing more than the music, you will not be disappointed.

Do see, Beauty in Trouble. Not for the sex particularly but for the plot, the resolution of conflicts we have all experienced in one form or another, and for the multimedia approach of great music, a wonderful poem as its theme, suburb acting, wonderufly drawn characters and dialogue that flows so naturally.



Linda Zises

the festival that takes over the City: 2008 Tribeca Film Festival:

: April 16th – May 4th.

Venues

Tishman Auditorium at The New School
AMC 19th St. East Theater
AMC Village VII Theater
BMCC Tribeca PAC
Directors Guild Theater
Kellen Auditorium at The New School
Pace University
Tribeca Cinemas
Village East Cinema

Signature Sponsors (most of them)

Verizon
American express
Bloomberg
Snapple
IShares
Life’s Good
Chock full O’Nuts
Delta
Cadillac
Vanity fair
The new School
AMC entertainment
Mont Blanc
Alfred P Sloan foundation
IFC always.uncut
T47Telemondo
RR Donnelly
Brookfield Properties
BMCC
4New York
Jameson
Yahoo
Apple

And powered by clickability




Film list
200000 Phantoms France, 2007, 10 min [Short Documentary]
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968, 216 min [Feature Narrative]
2007 Before the Tracks Are Lost On the Wind Germany, 2007, 15 min [Short Documentary]
The 27 Club USA, 2008, 85 min [Feature Narrative]
57,000 Kilometers Between Us France, 2007, 82 min [Feature Narrative]
7 Cities Turkey, 2008, 15 min [Short Narrative]
90 Miles The Documentary USA, 2007, 66 min [Feature Documentary]
About Face Canada, 2008, 6 min [Short Narrative]
Algeria, Unspoken Stories 2007, 160 min [Feature Documentary]
All Saints Day USA, 2007, 15 min [Short Narrative]
American Express Insider Center USA,
American Express Premium Access Screening Package A
American Express Premium Access Screening Package B
American Express Premium Access Screening Package C
Ana's Way Spain, 2007, 9 min [Short Narrative]
Angels Die in the Soil Iran, 2007, 30 min [Short Narrative]
The Aquarium 2008, 111 min [Feature Narrative]
At Day's End Egypt, 2008, 15 min [Short Narrative]
The Auteur USA, 2008, 80 min [Feature Narrative]
The Aviatrix USA, 2007, 10 min [Short Narrative]
Baby Mama USA, 2008, 105 min [Feature Narrative]
Baghdad High 2008, 82 min [Feature Documentary]
Baghdad Twist Canada, 2007, 33 min [Short Documentary]
Baghead USA, 2008, 81 min [Feature Narrative]
Ball Don't Lie USA, 2008, 102 min [Feature Narrative]
Bart Got a Room USA, 2008, 80 min [Feature Narrative]
Before The Rains USA, 2007, 98 min [Feature Narrative]
Beginning Filmmaking 2008, 23 min [Short Documentary]
Being Human Canada, 2008, 7 min [Short Narrative]
Bigger, Stronger, Faster USA, 2008, 106 min [Feature Documentary]
Bitter & Twisted Australia, 2008, 88 min [Feature Narrative]
Boy A U.K., 2007, 100 min [Feature Narrative]
2008 Breaking The Band USA,
Butterfly U.K., 2007, 12 min [Short Documentary]
The Cadillac Award Audience Choice Winner USA, 120 min [Short Narrative]
The Caller USA, 2008, 95 min [Feature Narrative]
Cargo New Zealand, 2007, 12 min [Short Narrative]
Celia the Queen USA, 2008, 84 min [Feature Documentary]
Charly France, 2007, 95 min [Feature Narrative]
Chevolution USA, 2008, 90 min [Feature Documentary]
The Chicken, the Fish and the King Crab Spain, 2007, 86 min [Feature Documentary]
Coffee Break Denmark, 2007, 10 min [Short Narrative]
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha USA, 2008, 99 min [Feature Narrative]
The Cottage U.K., 2007, 90 min [Feature Narrative]
Cupcake USA, 2008, 9 min [Short Narrative]
The Dalai Lama: Peace and Prosperity USA, 2008, 102 min [Feature Documentary]
Days in Sintra 2007, 90 min [Feature Documentary]
Deconfliction USA, 2007, 13 min [Short Documentary]
Documentary Emerging Filmmaker Award Winner 120 min [Feature Documentary]
Donkey in Lahore Australia, 2007, 117 min [Feature Documentary]
Dusk Mexico, 2008, 9 min [Short Narrative]
Dying Breed Australia, 2008, 92 min [Feature Narrative]
Eau Boy 2007, 5 min [Short Narrative]
Eclipse India, 2007, 10 min [Short Documentary]
Eden Ireland, 2008, 84 min [Feature Narrative]
The Elephant Garden USA, 2008, 19 min [Short Narrative]
Elite Squad Brazil, 2007, 101 min [Feature Narrative]
Empire II USA, 2007, 182 min [Feature Documentary]
Everywhere at Once France, 2007, 73 min [Feature Narrative]
Fans' Favorite Football Flick USA, 120 min [Feature Documentary]
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans USA, 2008, 68 min [Feature Documentary]
Feathers To The Sky 2007, 18 min [Short Narrative]
Fermat's Room Spain, 2007, 88 min [Feature Narrative]
Fighter Denmark, 2007, 100 min [Feature Narrative]
Finding Amanda USA, 2008, 100 min [Feature Narrative]
Fire Under the Snow USA, 2008, 75 min [Feature Documentary]
Football Under Cover Germany, 2007, 86 min [Feature Documentary]
For Tomorrow: The First Step of the Revolution USA, 2008, 30 min [Short Documentary]
From Within USA, 2008, 90 min [Feature Narrative]
GIFT OF FIRE Nineteen (Obscure) Frames That Changed The World USA, 2008, 30 min [Short Documentary]
God Only Knows Philippines, 2007, 17 min [Short Narrative]
God's Beach USA, 2007, 16 min [Short Narrative]
Going on 13 USA, 2008, 86 min [Feature Documentary]
Goldfish USA, 2007, 13 min [Short Narrative]
Good Boy 2008, 12 min [Short Narrative]
Gotta Dance USA, 2008, 95 min [Feature Documentary]
Great Genius and Profound Stupidity USA, 2008, 27 min [Short Documentary]
Green Porno USA, 15 min [Short Narrative]
Guest of Cindy Sherman USA, 2008, 88 min [Feature Documentary]
Gunnin' for That #1 Spot USA, 2007, 90 min [Feature Documentary]
Harvest 3000 Years Ethiopia, 1975, 137 min [Feature Narrative]
Have You Ever Heard About Vukovar? USA, 2007, 16 min [Short Narrative]
Head Wind Iran, 2007, 65 min [Feature Documentary]
Heartbeats Belgium, 2007, 13 min [Short Narrative]
Heaven on Earth Germany, 2007, 29 min [Short Documentary]
Hesitation 2007, 16 min [Short Narrative]
Hidden in Plain Sight USA, 2008, 62 min [Feature Documentary]
Hotel Gramercy Park USA, 2008, 80 min [Feature Documentary]
I Am Because We Are U.K., 2008, 85 min [Feature Documentary]
I Think I Thought USA, 2007, 7 min [Short Narrative]
Icebergs Switzerland, 2007, 14 min [Short Narrative]
Idiots and Angels USA, 2008, 78 min [Feature Narrative]
Irish Twins USA, 2008, 20 min [Short Narrative]
John and Karen U.K., 2007, 4 min [Short Narrative]
Kassim The Dream USA, 2008, 86 min [Feature Documentary]
Katyn Poland, 2007, 118 min [Feature Narrative]
Kicking It USA, 2008, 98 min [Feature Documentary]
Kid USA, 2007, 13 min [Short Narrative]
Killer Movie USA, 2008, 91 min [Feature Narrative]
Kirksdale USA, 2007, 22 min [Short Narrative]
Lake City USA, 2008, 92 min [Feature Narrative]
Last Time in Clerkenwell USA, 2008, 4 min [Short Narrative]
Launch USA, 2007, 24 min [Short Documentary]
Let the Right One In Sweden, 2008, 114 min [Feature Narrative]
Life For a Child USA, 2008, 16 min [Short Documentary]
Life in Flight USA, 2008, 78 min [Feature Narrative]
Lioness USA, 2008, 82 min [Feature Documentary]
Little Minx Exquisite Corpse: Rope a Dope USA, 2008, 6 min [Short Narrative]
Lost Girl Iraq, 2008, 5 min [Short Documentary]
Lost·Indulgence China, 2008, 96 min [Feature Narrative]
Lou Reed's Berlin USA, 2007, 81 min [Feature Documentary]
Love Live Long 2008, 76 minutes min [Feature Narrative]
Love, Pain & Vice Versa 2008, 86 min [Feature Narrative]
"Made in NY" Narrative Competition Award Winner 120 min [Feature Narrative]
Made in Slovenia Slovenia, 2007, 19 min [Short Narrative]
Mamitas USA, 2007, 24 min [Short Narrative]
Man On Wire U.K., 2007, 89 min [Feature Documentary]
Mandatory Service 2007, 19 min [Short Documentary]
Marina Of The Zabbaleen USA, 2008, 70 min [Feature Documentary]
Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins USA, 2008, 73 min [Feature Documentary]
The Milky Way France, 2007, 13 min [Short Narrative]
Milky Way Liberation Front South Korea, 2007, 100 min [Feature Narrative]
Milosevic on Trial Denmark, 2007, 70 min [Feature Documentary]
Mister Lonely 2007, 113 min [Feature Narrative]
The Money Shot USA, 2008, 11 min [Short Narrative]
Moon Mermaid Belgium, 2007, 16 min [Short Narrative]
My Life Inside Mexico, 2007, 122 min [Feature Documentary]
My Marlon and Brando 2008, 92 min [Feature Narrative]
My Mother Said USA, 2007, 5 min [Short Documentary]
My Winnipeg Canada, 2007, 80 min [Feature Narrative]
"NY Loves Film" Documentary Competition Winner 120 min [Feature Documentary]
Narrative Emerging Filmmaker Award Winner 120 min [Feature Narrative]
New Boy Ireland, 2007, 11 min [Short Narrative]
The New Yorkist USA, 2008, 7 min [Short Narrative]
Newcastle Australia, 2007, 107 min [Feature Narrative]
Night Light USA, 2008, 7 min [Short Narrative]
Night Tide USA, 1961, 85 min [Feature Narrative]
Not Sacks U.K., 2007, 9 min [Short Documentary]
Number One USA, 2007, 10 min [Short Documentary]
The Objective USA, 2008, 90 min [Feature Narrative]
Old Man Bebo Spain, 2007, 111 min [Feature Documentary]
An Omar Broadway Film USA, 2007, 93 min [Feature Documentary]
Once Upon a Time in the West 1968, 165 min [Feature Narrative]
Paraiso Travel USA, 2008, 116 min [Feature Narrative]
Picnic 1948, 22 min [Short Narrative]
Playing Brazil, 2007, 104 min [Feature Documentary]
Playing for Change: Peace Through Music USA, 2007, 76 min [Feature Documentary]
Polar USA, 2007, 2 min [Short Narrative]
A Portrait of Diego: The Revolutionary Gaze Mexico, 2007, 79 min [Feature Documentary]
A Powerful Noise USA, 2008, 90 min [Feature Documentary]
Pray the Devil Back to Hell USA, 2008, 72 min [Feature Documentary]
A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy USA, 2008, 85 min [Feature Documentary]
Profit motive and the whispering wind USA, 2007, 58 min [Feature Documentary]
Progressive Landscapes 120 min [Program]
Quiet Chaos Italy, 2008, 112 min [Feature Narrative]
Ramchand Pakistani Pakistan, 2008, 105 min [Feature Narrative]
Rattlesnakes Iceland, 2007, 23 min [Short Narrative]
Redbelt USA, 2008, 99 min [Feature Narrative]
Roads Israel, 2007, 22 min [Short Narrative]
Run for Your Life USA, 2008, 90 min [Feature Documentary]
Savage Grace 2007, 97 min [Feature Narrative]
The Second Life of the Sugar Bowl France, 2007, 13 min [Short Narrative]
The Second Line USA, 2007, 20 min [Short Narrative]
Secrecy USA, 2008, 86 min [Feature Documentary]
The Secret of the Grain France, 2007, 151 min [Feature Narrative]
Self-Portrait with Cows Going Home and Other Works - A Portrait of Sylvia Plachy USA, 2007, 10 min [Short Documentary]
Seven Days Sunday Germany, 2007, 80 min [Feature Narrative]
Shift Germany, 2007, 18 min [Short Narrative]
Shorts: All Truisms 102 min [Program]
Shorts: Cold Feet 97 min [Program]
Shorts: Deal With It 105 min [Program]
Shorts: Environmental Rupture 61 min [Program]
Shorts: Eye Opener 109 min [Program]
Shorts: Identity Crisis 106 min [Program]
Shorts: Nuthouse 84 min [Program]
Shorts: Off the Beaten Path 91 min [Program]
Shorts: Sparks of Brilliance 63 min [Program]
Shorts: Split Second 101 min [Program]
Shorts: Window Seat 99 min [Program]
Sikumi USA, 2008, 15 min [Short Narrative]
Simple Things Russia, 2007, 108 min [Feature Narrative]
Sita Sings the Blues USA, 2008, 82 min [Feature Narrative]
Skeletons in the Closet Sweden, 2008, 10 min [Short Narrative]
So Beautiful Netherlands, 2007, 15 min [Short Narrative]
Somers Town U.K., 2008, 70 min [Feature Narrative]
Song of Slomon Canada, 2007, 16 min [Short Narrative]
Speed Racer USA, 2008, 120 min [Feature Narrative]
SqueezeBox! USA, 2008, 92 min [Feature Documentary]
St. Claire Bourne tribute 15 min [Short Documentary]
Standard Operating Procedure USA, 2008, 193 min [Feature Documentary]
A Story of the Red Hills India, 2007, 117 min [Feature Narrative]
Strangers Israel, 2007, 81 min [Feature Narrative]
Supply and Demand France, 2007, 18 min [Short Narrative]
Suspended Iran, 2008, 7 min [Short Narrative]
Takoma Park USA, 2008, 10 min [Short Narrative]
Tale of Two Bondage Models USA, 2007, 9 min [Short Documentary]
Telling a Bronx Tale 180 min
Tennessee USA, 2008, 95 min [Feature Narrative]
Terra USA, 2007, 80 min [Feature Narrative]
Teslamania USA, 2006, 6 min [Short Documentary]
Theater of War USA, 2008, 95 min [Feature Documentary]
This Is Not A Robbery USA, 2008, 75 min [Feature Documentary]
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon 2008, 101 min [Feature Narrative]
Thriller Night 120 min
Toby Dammit Italy, 1968, 37 min [Feature Narrative]
The Tournament Italy, 2008, 14 min [Short Narrative]
Tribeca Talks Industry: Click to View: The Future of New Media 90 min [Panel]
Tribeca Talks Industry: Reuse, Remix & Renew 90 min [Panel]
Tribeca Talks Industry: Shane Meadows 90 min [Panel]
Tribeca Talks Industry: What You See Is What You Get USA, 90 min [Panel]
Tribeca Talks: Injecting the American Dream 90 min [Panel]
Tribeca Talks: Mike Figgis USA, 90 min [Panel]
Tribeca Talks: Pangea Day, TED & Tribeca 90 min [Panel]
Trucker USA, 2008, 90 min [Feature Narrative]
Two Mothers Germany, 2007, 87 min [Feature Documentary]
Two Timid Souls France, 1929, 76 min [Feature Narrative]
Under Our Skin USA, 2008, 103 min [Feature Documentary]
The Universe of Keith Haring 2007, 90 min [Feature Documentary]
The Wackness USA, 2008, 110 min [Feature Narrative]
Waiting For Hockney USA, 2008, 78 min [Feature Documentary]
War Child USA, 2008, 93 min [Feature Documentary]
War, Inc. USA, 2006, 106 min [Feature Narrative]
War, Love, God & Madness 2008, 72 min [Feature Documentary]
Whatever Lola Wants 2007, 115 min [Feature Narrative]
When I Become Silent Japan, 2008, 18 min [Short Narrative]
The Wild Man of the Navidad USA, 2008, 85 min [Feature Narrative]
Willingly Israel, 2007, 22 min [Short Narrative]
World Documentary Competition Award Winner 120 min [Feature Documentary]
World Narrative Competition Award Winner 120 min [Feature Narrative]
Worlds Apart Denmark, 2008, 108 min [Feature Narrative]
The Year of the Pig 2007, 10 min [Short Narrative]
Yellow Sticky Notes Canada, 2007, 6 min [Short Documentary]
Yonkers Joe USA, 2008, 100 min [Feature Narrative]
The Zen of Bobby V USA, 2008, 93 min [Feature Documentary]
Zombie Gets a Date USA, 2008, 3 min [Short Narrative]
Zoned In 2008, 90 min [Feature Documentary]





In 2002 the Tribeca Film festival was started by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. “The mission of the film festival "to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience." was put forth to the public but underneath this pretty phrase was the real: to bring money, business and people into the devastated vicinity of lower Manhattan.,

The Festival's program line-up offers documentaries, narrative features and shorts, as well as a program of family-friendly films and sports films in collaboration with ESPN.

The Festival also features panel discussions with personalities in the entertainment world and a music lounge produced with ASCAP to showcase up and coming artists. One of the more distinctive components of the Festival is its Artists Awards program where emerging and renowned artists celebrate filmmakers by providing original works of art that are given to the filmmakers competition winners. Past artists of the Artists Awards program have included Chuck Close, Alex Katz, and Julian Schnabel.

How much the festival actually helps filmmakers or the New York independent community remains questionable.

It is humanly impossible in this world of stimulus overkill to see each and every one of the selected films. However, after seeing several of them and assessing the selections as advertised in their circulars, both on the internet and at the theaters, it becomes painfully obvious that if the Tribeca Film Festival is an harbinger of things to come, Film as we once knew it is a rarity.

The industry seems to fill the gap in news and current event coverage that the legitimate news conveyers, newspaper, television, radio, seem to have neglected in favor of some gossip type reporting that interests few if any intelligent consumers.

The films today are basically documentaries/dramatizations that are thrilling, engrossing, informative but what they are not is the creative effort that used to constitute a film. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between and it seems like those exceptions have a formula, cop and robber, or robot, video game animation or some form of inexplicable violence, flamboyant nudity or right wing agenda to push abortion into the furthest reaches of consciousness.

The question posed by this trend is “what is a film”? What does it have that a documentary might not have? Simply putting people into an unusual, non Eurocentric setting does not make a film. There has to be an arch, character development, a plot worth engaging in and yes, the scenery does matter, the photography, the set designs and custom and make up and all of that, But what is so often missing is the struggle, the meaning that runs deeper than the surface of the explicit plot.

The Tribeca festival’s extravaganza in film, in networking, in cast meets and parleying with the shakers and makers is still in progress. It is an event worth seeing, if only to say, I saw it, I was there in 2008.


Linda Zises

Big Easy To Big Empty: Greg Palast

Grag Palast’s work is seldom shown in the united States. His film Big Easy To Big Empty is not even listed on Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB)
He is not a particularly popular writer, filmmaker, political commentator but he is an essential addition to an informed knowledge base for those who want to be informed. Known for his work on Democracy, the Bush debacles and many other issues, he is not know for his latest work, a documentary entitled Big Easy To Big Empty. It is a short documentary on want happened and continues to happen in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina.


It is a worthwhile film not just to inform on the Government’s failure to act before and after the Katrina and Rita disasters but to be able to predict the future because New Orleans will one day explode and the source of that explosion is chronicled in Grag Palast’s work.

The people in New Orleans are angry. They see with intense clarity what is planned for them; their expulsion by the overflowing Mississippi capitalized on by those with the money to continue building their empires to attack those with money to be spent and lost without evidence of its existence. (Donald Trump, Bill Gates but not Magic Mountain, He has already been sent packing with his plans in tow)

Throwing away money is only a small part of the source of rage the former inhabitants are reacting to. They are not stupid, nor naïve and they are being given guns for little money and no evidence of established need required. They are being ostracized from their former homes without legitimate cause and they are being passed over when it comes to who will rebuild the City. Certainly the hands that will do the work will not be those of color, not if the \present administration has its way.,


While the natives of New Orleans don’t like to hear or use the work Government we the onlookers can and must. Because the meeting of the enemy head on is something I never envisioned possible until this weekend when I arrived here in New Orleans and talked to the people and listened to them speak and saw their tears, their pain their humanity crying out to be heard.

Greg Palast gives the viewer an insight into the horror of the broken levees that should have been kept to apple pie order. He presents the escape routes that were up and ready to run prior to the disaster and the insistence of the Government to ignore them. Greg Palast documentary is a must see, an insight into the future, into what youth is being reared on so that whey they strike we know what side they and we are on.



Linda Zises