Festivals >> Tribeca >> 2009 >> World Documentary Features

The Burning Season (Country: Australia; Director: Cathy Henkel; Writer: Cathy Henkel)
Powerful portrait of three lives affected by deliberately lit fires raging across Indonesia. International Premiere.

Defamation (Hashmatsa) (Country: Israel, Austria; Director: Yoav Shamir)
The filmmaker's personal quest to determine the role that anti-Semitism plays today. North American Premiere.
Full Review

Fixer: The Taking Of Ajmal Naqshbandi (Country: US; Director: Ian Olds)
In 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 24-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi and an Italian journalist. Naqshbandi was one of Afghanistan’s best "fixers" - someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories. This documentary examines the "fixers" role and the threats they face. North American Premiere.

Garapa (Country: Brazil; Director: José Padilha)
José Padilha presents a work that radically addresses the issue of global hunger. North American Premiere.
Full Review See: Berlin Film Festival Diary Day Seven, Tribeca Film Festival film/movie reviews and diary: Outrage, Garapa, Newsmakers

Only When I Dance (Country: Brazil, UK; Director: Beadie Finzi)
Two teenage ballet dancers from the working-class favelas of Rio are determined to dance their way to a better life, but to do so they must grow up against harsh prejudice, doubt, and some of the best dancers in the world. World Premiere.
Full Review

Outrage (The Glass Closet) (Country: US; Director: Kirby Dick; Writer: Kirby Dick)
A searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to. World Premiere.
Full Review See: Tribeca Film Festival film/movie reviews and diary: Outrage, Garapa, Newsmakers, Kirby Dick interview on Outrage Official Site

Partly Private (Country: Canada; Director: Danae Elon)
From New York to London, Istanbul to Israel, Elon travels the world in a n effort to understand the controversial ritual of male circumcision. World Premiere.

Racing Dreams (Country: US; Director: Marshall Curry)
What Little League is to baseball, go-karting is to auto racing. Three adolescents and their families must discover if they have the talent and dedication - and sponsorship dollars - to one day become NASCAR superstars. World Premiere.

Shadow Billionaire (Country: US; Director: Alexis Manya Spraic)
When DHL founder Larry Hillblom disappeared following a 1995 plane crash off his Micronesian island home, dozens of would-be heirs from the Philippines came out of the woodwork to lay claim to his mega fortune. Within the framework of the fantastic legal battle, Spraic’s debut doc slowly uncovers the stranger-than-fiction life of this eccentric billionaire. World Premiere.

Team Qatar (Country: UK; Director: Liz Mermin)
Follows the first Qatari national debate team and their springy English coach as they train in Doha, London, and New York in preparation for the world championship in DC. World Premiere.

Transcendent Man (Country: USA; Director: Robert Barry Ptolemy; Cast: William Shatner, Ed Begley Jr., Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Michael Eisner, Herbie Hancock, Colin Powell, Raymond Kurzweil, Alan M. Dershowitz, Tony Robbins)
Futurist and famed inventor Ray Kurzweil is the preeminent theorist on the pending fusion of humans and super-intelligent machines as the next phase of evolution, a "singularity" he predicts will occur within 30 years. This doc explores the personal ideals behind his controversial ideas. World Premiere.

Yodok Stories (Country: Norway, Poland; Director: Andrzej Fidyk; Writer: Andrzej Fidyk, Torstein Grude; Cast: Jung Sung San)
Chronicles a group of North Korean concentration camp escapees and their contributions to a powerful musical based on their experiences. North American Premiere.

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