Claus Mueller

The Tribeca Film Festival 2017 offered an expanded version with more documentaries, greater emphasis on current political issues, and the addition of several new program elements.  It retained its eclectic nature but has grown into a veritable market of diversified and well received products, reflecting the ecosystem of media and leaving in its programs no relevant approaches, technologies, and communication platforms untouched. Certainly, films remain a cornerstone and the attraction of the festival is reflected by the large number of productions submitted to the fest. Close to 8,000 were submitted this year including 3,372 features.  A team of 40 programmers and screeners selected 97 features of which 45 were documentaries.

Overall the film content of Tribeca’s increasingly diversified program encompassing many non-film fields declined by 20% compared to last year. More virtual reality products were shown this year. Tribeca presented 30 VR projects, premiering most of them. There is a widely shared conviction that Tribeca is an outstanding venue for first class documentaries, a view cemented by this year’s selection of mostly issue or problem oriented productions. Few set objectives guided the selection, though environmental issue and activism were emphasized topics fitting nicely the thematic range of currently produced documentaries. The impact of Netflix, Amazon, and HBO as well as the rise of other video on demand services has established a growing market for independent non-fiction productions. It seems that the festival has become more international since more foreign productions were included in the program as well as a growing number of co-productions.  Whereas in the early days of the festival questions were raised about the disposition of films shown at the fest, it seems clear that a market function of Tribeca has emerged. 60 film productions from last year’s festival have found distributors.  As in past years, most public screenings were sold out, maintaining the box office as an important revenue stream for the fest.  On April 29 Tribeca programmed for its closing night screening The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II in Radio City Music Hall followed by a panel with prominent members of the cast of both productions including luminaries like Francis F. Coppola, Al Pacino, Robert Duval, Robert de Niro and Diane Keaton. The venue, with its 6,000 seats, was sold out and the panel transmitted on the internet had 977, 876 hits.  Whether there were important shifts in the private and corporate or public sector funding for the fest could not be ascertained, though a new initiative by AT&T, the principle sponsor of the festival stands out. Established in 2010 and still unique in the film festival field is the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award which rewards individuals and institutions for ground breaking achievements. Among the  awardees this year were IBM for its Watson cognitive computer system that is instrumental in the artificial intelligence sector,  the GIF search engine GIPHY  serving more than 100 thousand daily users from popular culture and arts and Mike Ebeling who developed with other inventors a 3D printing system for producing a prosthetic limbs,  as well as Vivian D. Nixon who facilitates access to higher education for women with criminal records and is an activist in the criminal justice reform field.  

            Numerous programs run by Tribeca and its film institute support young film makers. AT&T provided funding for AT&T Presents: Untold Stories, a new program for underrepresented minorities. The Tribeca Film Institute curates the project selecting through a greenlight committee one film maker to receive $1 million and $10,000 each for four finalist filmmakers to achieve their career goals. The finished film will premiere at the 2018 film festival and be shown on AT&T’s video platforms. This new initiative between AT&T and the non-profit Tribeca Film Institute is a multi-year cooperative venture.  The partnership synchs with a competition for young filmmakers, The America I Am (TAIA) which was held for the second time spotlighting the next generation of diverse story tellers selected this year from 200 applicants. The five finalists were matched with a professional filmmaker and the grand prize winner will receive $10,000. Another new partnership has been formed by Tribeca Games and Kill Screen which launched the Tribeca Games Festival. It shares insights into the most fascinating games of the past year as well as interactions with industry leaders and game insiders. In 2011 Tribeca was the first major film festival to include gaming in its regular program. 

The festival screened some television productions last year but this year’s edition presented a considerable expansion of television programs made for traditional and digital distribution. In the Tribeca TV group many of these productions were season and new series world premieres including a sneak preview and TV pilots.  Tribeca opened this year for the first time submissions of independently produced TV pilots. Among the channels or companies providing these programs were Comedy Central, Showtime, National Geographic, Hulu, Hulu/MGM, Spike TV, Universal Cable Productions, CNN, SEESO/NBC, Netflix and PBS.  The Handmaid’s Tale, produced by Hulu/MGM was probably the most discussed series and received more press coverage than other Tribeca programs.

As noted, Tribeca presented 45 documentaries this year. The number of submission was higher than last year.  This growth may respond to the Netflix effect noted by Indiewire. More VOD streaming services acquire for the domestic and international markets. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu have an expanding global presence as do subscription cable giants like HBO and Showtime as well as the remaining  theatrical buyers. Their acquisition budgets are growing steadily and these companies have been among the biggest documentary buyers at major film festivals. On the other side there are a growing number of filmmakers who produced documentaries using relatively low cost digital media compared to traditional film making. For the home audience the bigger screens provide much improved images and sound. In the United States theatrical box office revenue has remained stagnant over the last years as has been the number of screens. At home viewing is becoming more popular.

The presence of many issue oriented documentaries was noteworthy. Among the compelling and mostly premiering productions were The Third Industrial Revolution, Eddy Moretti, USA 2017. This groundbreaking documentary presents Jeremy Rifkin and his updated cogent and compelling interpretation of the global economic crisis we are facing as first enunciated in his 2011 book with the same title. Mostly presented in the lecture format Rifkin reviews current issues such as rapidly growing social disparities, the exhaustion of natural resources, the destruction of the environment, and declining economic growth and productivity. These require fast action to achieve sustainable development. The third industrial revolution merges new communication technologies, the progressive development of alternative energy sources and new modes of transportation.    

Manifesto, Julian Rosefelt, Germany 2017 is a feature length hybrid documentary of an installation presented by Rosefelt in Germany and the New York Armory. In a series of film vignettes Cate Blachett plays different characters which question through quotes from the manifestos of eminent writers from Karl Marx  to Lars von Trier’s Dogme 95 the nature of art, the role of communication, and the impact of science. Blanchett’s spellbinding performance, morphing through widely different characters and their contexts, celebrates storytelling and its power to undermine our preconceptions. This is similar to Rifkin’s assault on our socio economic background assumptions. 

The Family I Had, Katie Green & Carlyle Rubin, USA 2017, introduces the viewer to a character study of the members of a boundary breaking pathological family. The portrayal relies solely on the testimony of its members spanning three generations. No outside experts or the filmmakers shape your perception of the story. Charity is a single mother and former drug addict whose 13 year old son, Paris, kills his 4 year old sister Ella. He now spends his life in prison and will not qualifies for a parole hearing until 2033. Charity’s mother Kyla had several dysfunctional marriages, fought  a drug and liquor problem and spent some time in jail before she was acquitted from the charge of murdering her husband. Both daughter and mother agree that they were involved with problematic male figures and that they have been manipulating each other. Charity still suspects that Kyla killed her father and says she was not close to Paris, an assessment Kyla also makes about her own relationship with her daughter. Kyla admits that she is not normal and that mental illness runs in the family. Paris, who is more articulate than his mother and grandmother emphasizes his detachment from them but claims to be very close to Phoenix his sibling which Charity had after Paris was imprisoned. Charity thinks that Ella was killed because Paris wanted to have her by him.  At one point Charity is told by an expert that Paris is a sociopath and three months before Ella was killed Kyla learned from a psychiatrist that Paris had homicidal tendencies.  The Family I had is an outstanding and disturbing documentary that offers superb insights into the psychopathology of a family. The filmmakers show an amazing ability to extract from the family members information about their interpersonal relations and the issues they have confronted, information that most people would hide.  

A Gray State, Erik Nelson, USA, 2017.   Exec produced by Werner Herzog this production reconstructs the life of David Crowly, who served in Iraq and crowdfunded a trailer for a planned film.  As planned, the film would depict a future US society where governmental agencies have taken over, civil liberties have disappeared and the population forced to live under an oppressive government. The trailer and controversial film project was widely acclaimed by conservative and libertarian communities. His five years of  work on Gray State seemed bound for success given his cinematic expertise and military service background. Yet in early  January 2015 David Crowley, his wife, and their young daughter were found dead in their home.  Given the perspective of his project many argued that a shadow US agency had killed him to prevent disclosures.  Nelson and Herzog reviewed Crowley’s vast archives of photos, home videos as well as footage of his work in progress to investigate the alleged government interference. It turns out that he and his family isolated themselves during the last year of their life, withdrawing from social interaction and that there was no evidence of an outside interference. 

The Handmaid’s Tale premiered at Tribeca as a new series produced for HULU/MGM by Bruce Miller.  Based on Margaret Atwood’s book about a modern society the series envisions a dystopian future. The adapted film version reminds us of the present. As Elisabeth Moss who plays Offred in the series observed, Atwood provided revelations similar to messages of 1984 and Brave New World. We encounter in the handmaid’s world the United States transformed into Gilead, a society characterized by a strict Christian fundamentalist ideology where men dominate and women are relegated to the role of servants and if found fertile surrogate tombs. Gilead has been impoverished by past wars and environmental disasters which led to general infertility. Now a strict class structure prevails with gender as a determining factor. The ability to bear children is of great importance. Homosexuality and transgender sex changes are therefore crimes severely punished and power is maintained through torture and death penalties.  The secret service, rather than uniformed police, ensures law and order.  Offred, the principal character had been kidnapped and indoctrinated for her role as a surrogate womb. Her training emphasized the evils of sex and prostitution and the merits of religion which created Gilead. Like the other handmaids she is attached to a senior government functionary of Gilead to bear his children which his wife cannot deliver. She shares the fate of other handmaids who are restricted to shopping and the institutionalized rape performed once a month. Called celebration, the act is performed with brief prayers from the husband while Offred sits in the lap of his wife. Minor infractions are penalized. Handmaids are not allowed to read or engage in communication. But she overcomes her programming and recalls her past life in an open democratic society. Her flashbacks and self-reflection reveal her changes and the degradation of the society she lived in and its transformation into a patriarchal dictatorship. All women were fired from their work and deprived of access to money thus made dependent on men. The series received widespread praise because of the intelligence permeating its presentation and the apparent links to trends in our society. 

Tribeca included in its program some outstanding features. The selection showcased November and Tom of Finland which were acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories and Kino Lorber.  November is an Estonian film, shot in black and white and directed by Rainer Sarnet. Co-produced with the Netherlands and set in the 19^th century Estonia it is a fairy tale love story narrated with imagery derived from ancient Estonian folktales and myths. Impoverished people were trading their souls for power, miracles and protection in a village beset by poverty, the plague, wolves and ghosts.  Kratts are objects the villagers construct to acquire their souls.  What makes November most appealing is the superb cinematography. Tom of Finland, Dome Karukoski, Finland, 2017 (co-produced by Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany) is a superbly executed biopic of Touko Laaksonen, who came to be known as Tom of Finland. Touko expressed his gay phantasies in many drawings of daring male sexual encounters embodied in muscular bodies. Touko’s had to hide his homosexuality and homoerotic drawings because of the moral climate of Finland in the forties and fifties. He was subjected to police crackdowns and harassment when he engaged in hidden affairs.  His art was published in the United States and he visited the West Coast leaving his secret life. 

Claus Mueller,  filmexchange@gmail.com