The run-up to Tribeca.

The Tribeca Film Festival opens a week from today (to run on through May 4), so previews and such will land here until next Wednesday.

And we can begin with the L Magazine's cover package. Besides the preview ("Not Quite Every Single Film Worth Seeing - or at Least Pretending You've Seen") and a general guide, there's Benjamin Strong offering a bit of context for this year's edition:

Updated through 4/22.

Quality films have not yet gone out of fashion, as many of the best selections at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival demonstrate. But with informed critics who have the time and resources to champion little seen gems disappearing, and with small festivals that feature genuinely independent releases struggling to survive in the shadow of corporate-sponsored events - or, for that matter, with a film like Profit motive and the whispering wind vying for attention at a festival where Universal's new Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vehicle, Baby Mama, is the opening night selection - it is clear that the movies, once our national popular art form, are no longer for everyone.

In New York, Sara Cardace, Bilge Ebiri and Logan Hill preview "Nine to Watch."

Updates, 4/18: In the New York Times, Stephen Holden argues that "he festival is finally settling into its own identity and establishing itself as a major international showcase.... A sign of the festival's confidence is its willingness to shrink. No longer does it project the panicky sense of an event grabbing too many things offered to it in a mad scramble to demonstrate its size and importance. This year it has 120 features, about 40 fewer than last year, selected from 2,300 submissions from 41 countries. Fewer movies mean more discriminating programming, and that is all to the good." And there's an accompanying audio slide show in which Holden picks out a few highlights from the lineup.

"While the usual bounty of nonfiction films yielded a glut of artist biographies and foreign policy statements in 2007, this year's batch revisits political figures and events from prior generations, and the films are often not shy about tweaking history accordingly," writes Nicolas Rapold. "Appropriately for the current Democratic presidential primary, a strain of nostalgia for progressive and liberal heroes of all stripes is on display at Tribeca."

Also in the New York Sun: "Just as entertainment executives have struggled to come to grips with work stoppages, erratic ticket sales, and the steady decline of film critics who once championed art-house products, so is there now widespread debate as to the broader value of film festivals," argues S James Snyder. "Theatrical buyers are increasingly hedging their bets, looking more skeptically at smaller titles that are getting lost in a glutted marketplace. Similarly, more and more directors are making deals to get their films seen not just in theaters, but primarily on DVD and cable."

And Bruce Bennett has an overview of the highlights.

Update, 4/19: The IFC opens its special section; Matt Singer previews Man on Wire.

Updates, 4/21: In the New York Sun, S James Snyder presents "some of our early picks for the best films of the opening week."

New York's got a Tribeca special section going; Logan Hill talks with Madonna, who's "produced and narrated the documentary I Am Because We Are, about Malawi and its AIDS orphans, which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival."

Also: "Closing the Tribeca festival, the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer puts more than a fresh coat of paint on the old anime series - thanks to effects gurus John Gaeta and Dan Glass. Gaeta pioneered The Matrix's 'bullet time' effect; together they staged Reloaded's chase scenes. They call their new approach 'poptimistic photo-anime'; we asked them to dissect their influences and techniques."

Carl Swanson profiles Harmony Korine, whose Mister Lonely will be on hand.

And Sara Cardace recommends four NYC documentaries.

Online listening tip. For Cinematical, James Rocchi talks about the festival with David Fear of Time Out New York.

Melvin Van Peebles has handmade a bildungsroman that isn't merely energetic enough to be called "spry" work for a 75-year-old independent filmmaking legend; Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha is downright effervescent." Bill Weber at Slant.

Updates, 4/22: "[O]bservers say that while Tribeca lacks the cachet or industry drawing power of other festivals, it does continue to make inroads as a film market." Paul Brownfield reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Steve Dollar talks with Korine for the New York Sun. Also, a few more previews from S James Snyder.

Slant's Ed Gonzalez on Elite Squad.

Sharon Swart and Anthony Kaufman in Variety: "10 films generating interest among execs."

At the SpoutBlog, Karina Longworth offers "a look at some of the films and events that I'm looking forward to covering over the next couple of weeks."

Lauren Wissot at the House Next Door on Man on Wire.

Posted by dwhudson at April 16, 2008 10:00 AM