More Tribeca: All Access Slate Revealed

By S.T. VanAirsdale

Tribeca news continues with the selections for this year's Tribeca All Access program, which arranges outreach and financing opportunities for "filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities." And in the Class of 2007, anyhow, that means:

The 32 narrative and documentary directors and screenwriters selected to participate represent members of the African American, Latino, Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander communities. This year’s TAA projects span a range of topics, from a romantic comedy starring a neurotic lesbian to a documentary that goes inside the world of a professional league of born-again Christian wrestlers.

You'll find plenty of New York ties among the picks, including Buboo Kakati's haunted- apartment flick The Castle, Ben Rekhi's sanitation worker drama Waste and Edwin Pagan's doc Bronx Burning. But nothing on the list has me quite as excited as Tze Chun and Sheila Dvorak's Artificial Dissemination, accompanied by potentially the greatest logline of the year:

Two teenagers with the same sperm donor father and a rare form of dyslexia begin a journey, after receiving a mysterious message from someone claiming to have a cure.

Count. Me. The Fuck. In.

Follow the jump for the full list of this year's All Access participants.

SELECTIONS 2007

NARRATIVE

Amreeka

A Palestinian woman and her son arrive in the suburbs of Chicago to escape a life of oppression, only to face the fallout from America’s war on Iraq.

Writer/Director - Cherien Dabis

Producer - Christina Piovesan

Artificial Dissemination

Two teenagers with the same sperm donor father and a rare form of dyslexia begin a journey, after receiving a mysterious message from someone claiming to have a cure.

Directors - Tze Chun, Sheila Dvorak

Screenwriter - Sheila Dvorak

Beyond the Mat

Two wrestlers put their friendship on the line for the sport they love, setting one of them on a journey to self-discovery that brings him one step closer to manhood.

Director - Van M. Pham

Screenwriter - Erik Martinez

Producer - Kase Chong

The Castle

A couple moves into their new Manhattan apartment only to be haunted by its hidden past, which they soon discover is linked to their future.

Writer/Director - Buboo Kakati

Celamy

A moving tale of friendship between a young girl and her imaginary friend, as told from the point-of-view of the imaginary friend.

Writer/Directors - Joe Turner Lin, Julie Anne Meerschwam

Cougars on Three

One woman battles her own selfishness and her father—the temperamental coach of her pro football team—to win her teammates’ support and a spot on the field.

Screenwriter - Tanisha White

The Flicker’s Dance

Confined to his house because of his illness, a boy refuses to give up his love of the outdoors and unexpectedly changes the lives of those around him.

Writer/Director - Priyanka Kumar

Cast: Joe Mantegna, William Mapother, Ione Skye

Four

As the rest of America celebrates Fourth of July, two couples discover the limits of desire and the possibilities of transcendence. Based on the play by Christopher Shinn.

Writer/Director - Joshua Sanchez

Producer - Gill Holland

Fruit of the Tree

The inspiring true story of Dr. James Cameron, who survived a lynching and turned his anger into a force for forgiveness, remembrance and healing.

Screenwriters - Aaron Greer, Fran Kaplan

Producers – Fran Kaplan, Tony Ferraro, Brad Pruitt

Hannah Henri

A neurotic lesbian committed to playing the field has a change of heart when she meets Hannah Henri, a woman who embodies everything she ever wanted.

Writer/Director - Akiva Penaloza

Hyung’s Overture

The eldest son of a Korean immigrant family gives up his career to manage the family’s convenience store, so that his brother may fulfill his potential as a world-class violinist.

Screenwriter - Young Il Kim

Producers - Teddy Zee and Jonathan Kim

Last Road Home

When a dying man flees his suburban home to live out his final days in paradise, his estranged son is charged with the task of bringing him home before time runs out.

Screenwriter - Roberto Marinas

Money Matters

A troubled inner city teen struggles to come to terms with her mother’s difficult past while carving out an identity of her own.

Writer/Director - Ryan Richmond

Producer - Sam Pollard

The Papaya Factory

Fourteen-year-old Lucy Alvarez faces an unexpected challenge when a class rival decides to go head-to-head with her Quinceanera party, by throwing an all-out Sweet Sixteen party.

Writer/Director - Anna Margarita Albelo

Producer - Jamin O’Brien

Rain for Kabul

The lives of a celebrated journalist working on a story of detainee prison abuse and an American aid worker in Kabul collide when one of them goes missing.

Screenwriter - Soo Hugh

Relocation

A young gay man navigates cultural conflicts when his family visits the city from the reservation for his college graduation.

Writer/Director - Bennie Klain

The Sisterhood of Night

When a twelve-year-old girl exposes a secret society of junior high school girls a small New Jersey town is plunged into controversy.

Director - Caryn Waechter

Screenwriter - Marilyn Fu

Speedy

The unauthorized biography of a corpse: based on a true story of a dead man who became famous after having been kept in a closet for sixty years.

Writer/Director - Natacha Feola

Supermacho

A geeky drummer struggles to hold his band together after a new job arresting shoplifters awakens his inner machismo.

Writer/Director - Aldo Velasco

Producer - Jasmine Jaisinghani

The Vitruvian Man

When a worldwide blackout causes panic and chaos, a young couple finds themselves deeply entrenched in the heart of the mystery that triggered the situation.

Writer/Director - Rooth Tang

Producer - Emily Wang

Waste

A widowed NYC sanitation worker must negotiate his relationship with his son after he becomes a key figure in a Sanitation strike.

Director - Ben Rehki

Screenwriters - John Campo, Ben Rekhi

DOCUMENTARY

Adopted: The New American Family

An intimate look at the evolving notion of “family” in America, through the stories of two families coping with the complexities of trans-racial adoption.

Director/Producer – Barb Lee

Producers – Molly Fowler, Nancy Parsons

Bronx Burning

A look at the tragic events and misguided policies that led to the destruction of a borough, and the residents who chose to stay and re-claim their neighborhoods.

Director - Edwin Pagan

Producer - Bienvenida Matias

Eventual Salvation

After almost 40 years of civil ward and turmoil, an 80-year-old grandmother returns to Monrovia, Liberia to rebuild her life and community.

Director/Producer - Dee Rees

Producer - Nekisa Cooper

Fanaticos

An up-close-and-personal look at the die-hard fans behind Chivas USA, the Los Angeles-based offshoot of the wildly popular professional Mexican soccer team.

Director/Producer - Mylène Moreno

The Foolishness of God: Desmond Tutu and Forgiveness

An in depth examination of Desmond Tutu’s life and work with a focus on his controversial message of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Director - Karen Hayes

Producer - Darin Kuhlmann

Living in Silence: Toraichi Kono

The untold story of the man who was personal valet and confidant to Charlie Chaplin, before facing charges of espionage on the eve of World War II.

Director - Philip Chung

Producers - Clyde Kusatsu, Timothy Lounibuos, Nancy Yuen

The Making of The Boys in the Band

An in-depth look at the creation of the ground breaking play and film that dramatized the complex experience of being a gay man in the 1950s, long before the Stonewall riots and gay pride parades.

Director/Producer - Crayton Robey

Executive Producer - John Hadity

Monica & David

Two adults with Down Syndrome embark on a new life as a married couple amidst much love and some trepidation from their friends and family.

Director/Producer - Ali Codina

Producer – Paola Gutierrez-Ortiz

Parachute Kids

A personal perspective on this controversial immigration practice where Taiwanese teenagers are sent to American to pursue a coveted education.

Producer/Director - S. Leo Chang

Samba

For a group of young dancers and drummers, preparing for the carnaval is the only escape from the violence and crime that dominate the gritty streets of the favelas.

Director - Jessica Sanders

Executive Producer – Lawrence Bender

Ultimate Christian Wrestling

A group of disenchanted former pro-wrestlers find a new way to combine their passion with ministry.

Directors/Producers - Jae-Ho Chang, Tara Autovino

# # #

Posted at March 22, 2007 1:23 PM