Tribeca film fest kicks off in New York

23/04/2008 14:23

By Steven Zeitchik and Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The Tribeca Film Festival, which kicks off Wednesday with the Tina Fey comedy "Baby Mama," is traditionally not a major market for movie deals.

Its documentary-heavy slate, abundance of new filmmakers, and proximity to the Cannes Film Festival usually conspire to keep buyers’ checkbooks in their pockets.

Still, a number of factors and titles offer reasons to believe that this year could yield a breakthrough.

The 2008 edition will see a number of buzzed-about scripted features make their debut, including James Mottern’s family drama "Trucker," the William H. Macy comedy-drama "Bart Got a Room," the Mariah Carey road-trip drama "Tennessee," the corporate thriller "The Caller," and "Eden," a relationship drama from the producer of the Irish romance "Once."

A number of un-Tribeca-like genre entries also have piqued buyers. Daniel Myrick, the director of "The Blair Witch Project," unspools his Middle East-set spookfest "The Objective," and noted cinematographer Phedon Papamichael ("3:10 to Yuma") will unveil his directorial debut, the teen-horror film "From Within," which comes into the festival riding a considerable wave of buzz and expectation.

And while Melvin Van Peebles’ postmodern .....continued below

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hybrid "Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFootedMutha" hasn’t registered high on some buyers’ lists, its pedigree -- and title -- should at least help it attract attention.

Big theatrical sales would be something of a switch at Tribeca, which was co-founded by Robert De Niro in a bid to revitalize downtown Manhattan in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The great majority of scripted movies get small theatrical releases or go straight to video.

Still some of the biggest sales in Tribeca’s six-year history have come from the scripted side. Three years ago, IFC and the Weinstein Co. bought the edgy transsexual drama "Transamerica," starring Felicity Huffman, which went on to earn $13 million and Oscar nominations.

In 2002, Dylan Kidd’s drama "Roger Dodger," starring Campbell Scott, helped establish the event as a sales market when it became a media sensation at the festival.

Documentaries still will be in abundance this year, and buyers will hope to capitalize on the success of the Oscar-nominated "Taxi to the Dark Side," which ThinkFilm acquired last year.

Among those catching buyers’ attention this year are "Hotel Gramercy Park," about the landmark hotel’s sale to Ian Schrager; the art-world documentary "The Universe of Keith Haring"; and "Gotta Dance," a look at geriatric hip-hop dancers in the apparently burgeoning subgenre of elderly people practicing youth-oriented performing arts.

A number of Iraq documentaries also will try to fare better at the box office than their predecessors, with the woman-in-combat examination "Lioness" and teen verite effort "Baghdad High" debuting at the festival.

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