By Drew Grant 4/18 2:54pm

Tribeca Film Festival 2013

Matt Berninger (left) and brother Tom (right) in Mistaken for Strangers.

The Song Is You: The Fantastic Mistaken for Strangers Opens Tribeca Film Festival, Reveals Ultimate Sibling Rivalry Story

We did not expect to love Mistaken for Strangers, the “self-mockumentary” that premiered last night at the opening of the Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by Tom Berninger, whose brother Matt is the lead singer of the band The National, the film explores the trials and tribulations of sibling rivalry after Tom is invited to go on tour as a roadie for his brother’s band. We were expecting a lot of fawning adulation over the indie group, who were slated to perform after the show at the High Line Ballroom.

The film managed to defy every preconception we had, however, and might just be the best documentary we’ve seen all year. Less about the band than the younger Berninger’s frustrations at living in the shadow of a much more beloved and successful older brother, it should be required viewing for every younger sibling or black sheep of the family.

Without giving anything away, however, the film’s viewpoint had one unfortunate side effect: we left the theater kind of hating The National front man for coming off so callous toward his brother’s plight. And we left the movie wondering: would this mean that the audience wouldn’t be psyched to see the band perform at the after-party? And since both brothers shared a writing credit for Strangers, how much stock should we put in the “reality” of the film? Read More

By Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, Special Guest Editors 4/17 9:00am

The Eight-Day Week

Juror Welcome Lunch - 2013 Tribeca Film Festival

The Eight-Day Week: Tribeca Film Festival Edition

As the co-founders of the Tribeca Film Festival, we are thrilled to share our plans and recommendations for the coming week. This year’s TFF will display the enormous creativity of filmmakers, storytellers and artists from around the city and the world. As the late Roger Ebert would have said, we’ll see you at the movies. Read More

By Drew Grant 4/09 5:40pm

Tribeca Film Festival

robots_in_residence_1_cmyk

Tribeca Goes Tech: Crowd-Sourced Insomnia and Robot Seals in Film Festival’s New Transmedia Section

Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002, providing a much-needed boost to the spirit of New York City and to a neighborhood devastated by the terrorist attacks. It worked. The festival has screened more than 1,300 films since its inception and will surpass four million attendees this year.

But after 10 years, the brand finds itself in need of some freshening. As cinematic celebrations go, the Tribeca Film Festival has a reputation for being a bit serious in tone. Although it has generated some $725 million in economic activity for the city and has attracted plenty of elusive boldfaced names in the process, TFF lacks the sheer celebrity wattage of Cannes and Sundance or the hipster DIY ethic of South by Southwest, and it can even feel a bit institutional (an image that’s not helped by the fact that the festival is presented by American Express). Read More

By Drew Grant 3/05 4:33pm

Tribeca Film Festival

Matt Berninger (left) and Tom Berninger in Mistaken For Strangers (TFF)

Tribeca Film Festival Opens With Documentary About Brothers; The National

Tom and Matt Berninger are brothers. Matt B. is the front man of the band The National–you know, with that song about the Fake Empire? And Tom B. is a filmmaker. Tom B. loves horror movies and heavy metal. So he began chronicling his new job as a roadie for his brother’s band (again, The National).

The resulting documentary–Mistaken for Strangers (which is also a song title from The National’s album Boxer)–has been chosen to open the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17th. And so has The National. Read More

By Steve Huff 4/27/12 3:19am

Defections

De Niro.

Film About Cuban Defectors Starring Possible Cuban Defectors Wins Top Awards at Tribeca

Una Noche, directed by New York resident Lucy Molloy, portrays the fictional defection of 3 Cuban youths–”amateur” actors Anailin de la Rua de la Torre, Javier Nunez Florian and Dariel Arrechada–via raft from Havana to Miami. The film has been a big hit at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival, where it won  multiple jury awards Thursday night. Unfortunately two of the actors weren’t at the festival to receive their shared best actor honors–because they may have really defected in Miami earlier this week.

ABC reported the mystery of the actors’ disappearances on  Monday: Read More

By The Editors 4/24/12 8:06pm

Opening Shot

De Niro.

Location, Location, Location

Call it the Tri-Be-Can’t effect: As New Yorkers, we loathe letting go of our venerable institutions. It’s hard to even admit that they’ve changed enough to warrant a new name. The Lincoln Center is referred to as “the tents” during Fashion Week, as if anyone is still fooled into thinking the shows take place in Bryant Park. The most recent egregious case of celebratory misnomers has to be the Tribeca Film Festival, which was founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff. The purpose of hosting the event in Tribeca was to show the world that the neighborhood devastated by the attacks of Sept. 11 still had enough spirit to be snooty about its cinema. With its Cannes-do attitude, the festival premiered international indies in an attempt to show that New Yorkers were still as culturally polyamorous as their European brethren.

But for its 10th-year anniversary, something feels a little … different. Read More

By The Editors 4/04/12 10:31am

Opening Shot

Lin. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Hoops, Sirens and Screens

The Mega Millions jackpot might be over, but we’re still waiting to hear who will take ownership of the golden tickets. There seems to be some dispute over who the winners actually are. The winning numbers were sold in Maryland, Illinois and Kansas, but so far no one has stepped forward to stake claim to their third of the $640 M. jackpot. Someone needs to step up, and soon, as we learned from this weekend’s premiere of HBO’s bloody Game of Thrones. Without a clear winner, all you have is confusion and not nearly enough screen time for Peter Dinklage.

We know who we would give the money to: Jeremy Lin, the poor guy. Linsanity lasted approximately a month, in which the Knicks point-guard was the hottest thing since the Rolling Stones showed up in America and pissed off Don Draper. But after a recent knee injury, his career is being put down faster than one of the horses in Luck. Refusing to give up, the basketball sensation is still tweeting about his recovery from the hospital. He’s not out yet! Read More