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Trbeca 2018 - WOMEN’S ISSUES

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Daughter of Mine


This year’s Tribeca Film Festival will boast 44 films directed by women – 46% of the 96 titles – the highest percentage in the Festival’s history. This has been championed by two executives from the Festival -- Jane Rosenthal, Co-Founder & CEO and Paula Weinstein, EVP of Tribeca Enterprises.

Both opening night and closing night events are directed by women.
  • Opening Night: World Premiere of Love, Gilda, directed by Lisa D’Apolito, is about the SNL trailblazer Gilda Radner staring Chevy Chase, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Cecily Strong.
  • Closing Night: World Premiere of The Fourth Estate from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus, follows The New York Times’ coverage of the Trump administration’s first year.

The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival will take place April 18-29 in New York City. The lineup includes feature films, short films, TV, virtual reality, indie episodic creators working online, and even gaming as well as highly-anticipated reunions, musical performances, and its celebrated Talks program.

Here is a look at some of the films directed by women at this year's festival

Daughter of Mine

Spotlight Narrative
Directed by: Laura Bispuri

Synopsis:
Vittoria, a shy 10-year-old girl, spends the summer on the windswept Sardinian coast with her loving-but-overprotective mother Tina (Valeria Golino). Vittoria begins to suspect that the local party girl Angelica (Alba Rohrwacher) is her actual birth mother, a revelation that upsets her innocent childhood existence. When financial difficulties force Angelica to leave town, she asks Tina if she can spend some time with Vittoria before she goes. Tina reluctantly agrees, setting off a dramatic summer during which the young Vittoria finds herself torn between two imperfect mothers.

All About Nina
U.S. Narrative Competition 
Directed and written by Eva Vives 
World Premiere

Synopsis:
Nina Geld’s passion and talent have made her a rising star in the comedy scene, but she’s an emotional mess offstage. When a new professional opportunity coincides with a romantic one, she is forced to reckon with the intersection of her life and her art. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Common, Chace Crawford, Clea DuVall, Kate del Castillo, Beau Bridges. 

Blowin' Up
Documentary Competition 
Directed and written by Stephanie Wang-Breal 
World Premiere

Synopsis:
In a courtroom in Queens, women facing prostitution charges may earn a chance at redemption thanks to an experimental program established by a team of rebel heroines working to change the system

Egg 
Spotlight Narrative 
Directed by Marianna Palka, 
Written by Risa Mickenberg. 
World Premiere 

Synopsis:
In provocateur Marianna Palka’s sharp and unflinching satire, two couples and a surrogate lay bare the complications, contradictions, heartbreak, and absurdities implicit in how we think about motherhood. With Christina Hendricks, Anna Camp, Alysia Reiner, David Alan Basche, Gbenga Akinnagbe

Little Woods 
U.S. Narrative Competition 
Directed and written by Nia DaCosta
World Premiere

Synopsis:
In this dramatic thriller set in the fracking boomtown of Little Woods, North Dakota, two estranged sisters are driven to extremes when their mother dies, leaving them with one week to pay back her mortgage. With Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale, Lance Reddick. 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Spotlight Narrative 
Directed by Desiree Akhavan, 
Written by Desiree Akhavan and Cecilia Frugiuele
New York Premiere

Synopsis:
After Cameron is caught having sex with another girl on prom night, her conservative guardians send her to gay conversion therapy. There, she forges an unlikely community with her fellow teens in this Sundance-winning coming of age story. With Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle. 

Netizens

Viewpoints 
Directed, written, and produced by Cynthia Lowen
World Premiere

Synopsis:
In the midst of a watershed moment for gender equality, three very different women whose lives were torn apart by online harassment devote themselves to fighting back against the internet’s Wild West of unpoliced misogyny, cyberstalking, and nonconsensual pornography.With Carrie Goldberg, Anita Sarkeesian, Tina Reine, Soraya Chemaly, Jamia Wilson, Mary Anne Franks

The Party's Just Beginning 

International Narrative Competition 
Directed and written by Karen Gillan
International Premiere

Synopsis:
Liusaidh is a sharp-witted, foul-mouthed, heavy-drinking twenty-something who is still reeling from a recent loss. This surreal coming-of-age tale is a love letter to Gillan’s hometown in the Scottish Highlands. With Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Matthew Beard, Paul Higgins, Siobhan Redmond, Jamie Quinn, Rachel Jackson. 

Roll Red Roll

Spotlight Documentary 
Directed by Nancy Schwartzman
World Premiere

Synopsis:
At a 2012 pre-season high-school football party in Steubenville, Ohio, a young woman was sexually assaulted. The aftermath exposed an entire culture of complicity—and Roll Red Roll maps out the roles that peer pressure, denial, sports machismo, and social media each played in the tragedy. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival

Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland

Spotlight Documentary 
Directed by Kate Davis, David Heilbroner. 
World Premiere

Synopsis:
Sandra Bland was a bright, energetic activist whose life was cut short when a traffic stop resulted in a mysterious jail cell death just three days later. Say Her Name follows the two-year battle to uncover the truth. An HBO Documentary Film

Slut in a Good Way

Viewpoints 
Directed by Sophie Lorain 
Written by Catherine Léger 
International Premiere. 

Synopsis:
Three 17-year-old girlfriends get a job at the Toy Depot for the holiday season and become smitten with the guys who work alongside them in this charming teen sex comedy. With Marguerite Bouchard, Rose Adam, Romane Denis, Alex Godbout, Anthony Therrien, Vassili Schneider.

Time for Ilhan

Spotlight Documentary 
Directed by Norah Shapiro. 
World Premiere

Synopsis:
In November 2016, Ilhan Omar made history as the first Somali-American Muslim woman to be elected for state office in America. Time for Ilhan offers an inspiring look at her campaign and the changing face of American politics.

Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie

Spotlight Documentary 
Directed and written by Andrea Nevins
World Premiere

Synopsis:
Since her debut nearly 60 years ago, Barbie has been at turns a fashion idol and a cultural lightning rod. Tiny Shoulders steps behind the scenes as the icon undergoes her greatest reinvention yet. With Kim Culmone, Michelle Chidoni, Gloria Steinem, Roxane Gay, Peggy Orenstein. A Hulu release. 
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