Tribeca Film Festival Theme: New York Stories – National Lampoon, James Franco, Christopher Walken & More!

Stephen Elliott (James Franco) and Neil Elliott (Ed Harris)Anna Kooris

Stephen Elliott (James Franco) and Neil Elliott (Ed Harris)Anna Kooris

The Adderall Diaries – Stay tuned for Liz’s Review & Interview!

Directed and written by Pamela Romanowsky. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
Elliott (James Franco), a once-successful novelist inflicted with writer’s block and an Adderall addiction strives to escape his problems by delving into the world of a high-profile murder case. Amber Heard, Ed Harris, and Cynthia Nixon co-star in this adaptation of Elliott’s best-selling memoir.


ANESTHESIA_Press_2 Tribeca

Anesthesia – Stay tuned for Melissa’s Review

Directed and written by Tim Blake Nelson. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
On a snowy night in New York City, a Columbia professor is brutally mugged on the doorsteps of an apartment building. Director Tim Blake Nelson’s haunting meditation of city life traces the chain of events that precipitate the attack, examining the inextricable and unforeseen forces that bring a group of disparate individuals together. Featuring a star-studded ensemble including Sam Waterston, Kristen Stewart, Glenn Close, and Cory Stoll.


APPLESAUCE_Press_1 Tribeca

Applesauce – Stay tuned for Liz’s Review

Directed and written by Onur Tukel. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
TFF alumnus Onur Tukel plays a husband who innocently reveals on talk radio the worst thing he’s ever done. Though his gaffe never makes it on air, it sets off a chain of hilariously uncontrollable events that draw his wife and another couple into an uneasy mixture of infidelities, confessions, and severed body parts.


Drunk Stoned_Press_3 Tribeca

DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: The Story of the National Lampoon – Stay tuned for Liz’s Review

Directed and written by Douglas Tirola, co-written by Mark Monroe. (USA) – New York Premiere, Documentary.
Using rare, never-before-seen archival footage and in-depth interviews with fans and founders, Douglas Tirola traces National Lampoon’s evolution from underground countercultural movement to mainstream household brand. Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead is a riotous and revealing chronicle of a trailblazing comedic institution and a celebration of creative expression at its radical, envelope- pushing finest.


 

Indian_POint_Press_3 TribecaIndian Point – Stay tuned for Liz’s Review

Directed and written by Ivy Meeropol. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant looms just 35 miles from Times Square. With over 50 million people living in close proximity to the aging facility, its continued operation has generated controversy for the surrounding community. In the brewing fight for clean energy and the catastrophic possibilities of complacency, director Ivy Meeropol weaves a startling portrait of our uncertain nuclear future.


Live from New York-SNL6 Tribeca

Live From New York!

Directed by Bao Nguyen. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
A New York institution and comedy powerhouse, Saturday Night Live has been churning out hilarious sketches and launching top comedy talent for 40 years. In honor of the occasion, director Bao Nguyen looks back at the show’s history, influence, and most memorable moments.


Character: Asad Ali Photographer: Mobeen Ansari

Character: Asad Ali Photographer: Mobeen Ansari

Song of Lahore – Stay tuned for Melissa’s Review

Directed by Andy Schocken and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. (USA, Pakistan) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Until the late 1970s, the Pakistani city of Lahore was world-renowned for its music. Following the Islamization of Pakistan, many artists struggled to continue their life’s work. Song of Lahore turns the spotlight on a group of stalwart musicians that kept playing and ultimately attracted listeners from around the world. In English, Punjabi, and Urdu with subtitles.


Speedy

Directed by Ted Wilde. (USA) – Newly restored print from the Criterion Collection, Narrative. Silent comedy legend Harold Lloyd stars as a die-hard Yankees fan who can’t keep a job, but is determined to save the last horse-drawn trolley in New York. This lighthearted slapstick classic features visits to Coney Island and Yankee Stadium, an incredible cameo by Babe Ruth, and hair- raising cab rides through the city streets.


TransFatty_Press_1 Tribeca

TransFatty Lives

Directed by Patrick O’Brien, co-written by Patrick O’Brien, Scott Crowningshield, Lasse Jarvi, Doug Pray. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Director Patrick O’Brien is TransFatty, the onetime NYC deejay and Internet meme-making superstar. In 2005, O’Brien began to document his life after being diagnosed with ALS and given only two to five years to live. TransFatty Lives is a brazen and illustrative account of what it’s like to live when you find out you are going to die.


Bob Mankoff, Farley KatzPhotographer: Kirsten Johnson

Bob Mankoff, Farley KatzPhotographer: Kirsten Johnson

Very Semi-Serious

Directed by Leah Wolchok. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
The New Yorker is the benchmark for the single-panel cartoon. This light-hearted and sometimes poignant look at the art and humor of the iconic drawings shows why they have inspired and even baffled us for decades. Very Semi-Serious is a window into the minds of cartooning legends and hopefuls, including editor Bob Mankoff, shedding light onto their how their humor evolves.


The Wannabe_PatriciaAndVincent

The Wannabe

Directed and written by Nick Sandow. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
Gotti-obsessed and hopelessly in love, Thomas (Boardwalk Empire’s Vincent Piazza) and Rose (Academy Award®–winner Patricia Arquette) are looking to fit in to a neighborhood where mob- ties equal social currency. Amidst events surrounding the 1992 trial of John Gotti, Thomas and Rose attempt to make their mark. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese.


 

When I Live My Life Over Again-00002 TribecaWhen I Live My Life Over Again – Stay tuned for Melissa’s Review

Directed and written by Robert Edwards. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
Jude (Amber Heard) is a would-be singer-songwriter still struggling to make her mark. Cash- strapped and homeless, she begrudgingly returns to the Hamptons home of her father (Christopher Walken), an over-the-hill crooner desperately charting his musical comeback, in this spunky, soulful dramedy about the personal costs of artistic ambition and the bonds that carry us through.


Wolfpack_Press_1 Tribeca

The Wolfpack – Stay tuned for Melissa’s Review

Directed by Crystal Moselle. (USA) – New York Premiere, Documentary.
Everything the Angulo brothers know about the outside world they learned from obsessively watching movies. Shut away from bustling New York City by their overprotective father, they cope with their isolation by diligently re-enacting their favorite films. When one of the brothers escapes, the world as they know it will be transformed. A Magnolia Release.


 

Short Films

Aphasia

Directed by Luke LoCurcio, written by Robin Rose Singer. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. Emily is your average 26-year old who texts her friends, chats on Facebook, orders online, and uses GPS to get where she’s going in Aphasia, until one day she suddenly comes face-to-face with the consequences of living a digital life.


 

The Artist Is Absent: A Short Film on Martin Margiela

Directed and written by Alison Chernick. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
The Artist Is Absent profiles the influential Margiela, who has been a major force in fashion for over 20 years, yet the man himself remains elusive, maintaining his anonymity in an age of celebrity.


 

Best Man Wins

Directed by Stéphane Dumonceau, written by Frederick Waterman, Stéphane Dumonceau. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
When a celebrated New York chef discovers an affair between his super-model wife and his best man in Best Man Wins, he devises a plan to deal with each of them.


 

Better to Live

Directed by Linda G. Mills. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Drama majors tackle anxiety, cutting, and suicide, in the unscripted and raw Better to Live, as they build a “reality” show for 5,000 college freshmen.


 

Blitz

Directed and written by Faraday Okoro, written by Faraday Okoro. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
In Blitz a father and son agree to a “winner takes all” chess blitz in order to settle a bet.


 

Every Day

Directed by Gabe Spitzer. (USA) – New York Premiere, Documentary.
At 86, Joy Johnson was the oldest woman to run the 2013 New York City Marathon. This is the story of an inspiring athlete with an uncommon passion for her sport, and for life.


 

Last Call

Directed and written by Stefan Nadelman. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
In 1972 Sheldon Nadelman began working as a day-shift bartender at the Terminal bar in midtown Manhattan. Over the next decade he shot over 1500 black-and-white photographs of his customers, who ranged from the working class to the downtrodden. Twenty-five years after the bar closed for good, Sheldon recollects their stories.


 

Man Under

Directed by Paul Stone. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Since 2010, over 250 people have been killed by New York City subway trains. Man Under is the personal journey of one MTA motorman’s struggle to get his life back on track after a desperate woman turns his train into her suicide weapon, shedding light on one of NYC’s darkest secrets.


 

We Live This

Directed and written by James Burns. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
We Live This is the story of four boys from the projects who have come together to pursue their dreams. Most new Yorkers who ride the MTA have opinions about them, but what lies beneath these young performers is more than what meets the eye.

SNL Documentary to Open the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

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Connect with Live From New York! at www.livefromnewyorkmovie.com. Like the Facebook page at facebook.com/Livefromnewyorkmovie. Follow the film on Twitter at @lfnymovie and on Instagram @lfnymovie

Tickets for the opening will go on sale on March 23 for American Express Card Members at www.tribecafilm.com. General Public can buy tickets starting March 28. In the meantime, keep checking back for more TFF 2015 announcements.

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, announced today that the world premiere of the documentary Live From New York!, will open the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, April 15. “Saturday Night Live” has been reflecting and influencing the American story for 40 years. Live From New York! explores the show’s early years, an experimentthat began with a young Lorne Michaels and his cast of unknowns, and follows its evolution into a comedy institution. Archival footage is interwoven with stolen moments and exclusive commentary from “SNL” legends, journalists, hosts, crew and others influenced by the comedy giant. Live From New York! captures what has enabled “SNL” to continually refresh itself over nearly 800 episodes and keep America laughing for 40 years.  Live From New York! is directed by Tribeca alum Bao Nguyen and produced by JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker. Tickets for the TFF 2015 Opening Night Gala go on sale on March 23 at tribecafilm.com/festival. The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 15 to April 26.

“’SNL’s’ contribution to the arts and to pop culture has been—and continues to be—groundbreaking, and Live From New York! offers an inside look at the show’s inimitable ability to both reflect and impact American news, history and culture,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. “This is the story of a creative journey from pilot to institution and a tribute to the moments that kept us laughing and talking long after the episodes aired. We are excited to welcome Bao Nguyen back to Tribeca to open our 14thFestival with the world premiere of Live From New York!.”

“After 40 years, the timing just felt right,” said Lorne Michaels.

“The selection of Live from New York! to open the 14th Tribeca Film Festival is personally gratifying to me on several levels. Having hosted SNL three times, and guested on several occasions, I speak from a first-hand experience about “SNL’s” rightful place in our culture as well as a welcome addition to our Festival,” said Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.

“’Saturday Night Live’ is such a revered institution and we really wanted to make a film that reflected its significance not just to the American comedic tradition but also to American culture and society,” said director Bao Nguyen. “I want to thank Lorne Michaels for allowing us to film in the storied halls of Studio 8H.   I’d also like to thank JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker for trusting me with their creative vision. Finally, I can’t thank Tribeca enough for all their support. We couldn’t dream of a better place to world premiere Live From New York! than at New York City’s own Tribeca Film Festival.”