TRIBECA CINEMAS PRESENTS: DOC SERIES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tribeca Cinemas Announces Summer Line-up of Popular Documentary Series

New York, NY [May 13, 2010]– Tribeca Cinemas today announced the summer line-up for the Tribeca Cinemas Presents: Doc Series. Launched in January by the programming team behind the Tribeca Film Festival, the documentary series aims to include seldom-screened, often overlooked documentary gems that have contributed to the rich non-fiction film landscape.

The new summer line-up runs the gamut from inspiring documentaries to darker films that express social struggles, and everything in between. The slate includes “21 BELOW,” the story of a pregnant woman who, after learning her sister’s 14-month-old daughter has been diagnosed with a rare terminal disease, tries to heal the deep fissures in her family’s foundation before any new cracks appear.  On the other side of the spectrum is “DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY,” a raucous film that chronicles Chappelle’s attempts to throw the ultimate block party, which will also be screened as part of the series.

“Twice a month our Doc Series provides opportunities for New Yorkers to enjoy a wide range of quality independent films that most people do not have the opportunity to see on the big screen,” said Nancy Schafer, Senior Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises.

Before and after each screening, the Tribeca Cinemas bar is open to Doc Series audience members.

Tickets: Admission for each film screening is $10; $8 for students and seniors.  Tickets can be purchased at www.tribecafilm.com/docseries or at the box office immediately before each screening.

Public Information:
Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street (corner of Laight), New York, NY 10013.
The public may call 212/941.2001 for further information.
Visit us on the Web at www.tribecafilm.com/docseries.
Subway:  A, C, E – Canal Street/6 Avenue; 1 – Canal Street/Varick Street

SCREENING SCHEDULE

Monday, May 24, 2010
7:30 pm
Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People StorY (2009, dir. Lee Storey)

Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People StorY explores the clean-cut, smile-drenched singing phenomenon Up With People. Since 1965, this peppy youth group has sung to 20 million people worldwide, performed at four Superbowl halftime shows, and been parodied on The Simpsons and South Park. Talent was not required of its members, just a common enthusiastic vision to change the world one squeaky-clean song at a time. But its cheery façade concealed the more complicated reality of an organization founded on conservative American ideals and cult-like utopian ideology.

Director Lee Storey and Producer Bari Pearlman will both be in attendance.

Monday, June 14, 2010
8:00 pm
21 BELOW (2009, dir. Samantha Buck)

21 BELOW is the story of a young woman going home to face family wounds that she had hoped to escape. Sharon is pregnant with her first child when she learns that the 14-month-old daughter of her younger sister is dying from a rare genetic disease. It's then she realizes that she can't start a family of her own until she tries to help the family she's left behind.

But back in Buffalo, Sharon discovers that the family feuds she hopes to alleviate could just as easily destroy her. Can the family find some common ground before the damage is irreparable and they splinter forever? Can Maya's tragic circumstances bring some perspective to a seemingly hopeless situation? 21 BELOW captures the real "real life" of an American family in crisis. Angry, complex, and at times funny, the story unfolds as a compassionate portrait of a family coming apart and the compromises required for reconciliation.

Director Samantha Buck and Producers Jenny Maguire and Sophia Raab Downs will be in attendance.

Monday, June 28, 2010 – Gay Pride Week Special Programming
7:30 pm
OUT IN THE SILENCE (2009, dirs. Dean Hamer and Joseph Wilson)

When popular 16-year-old jock CJ is brutally attacked for coming out at his small town high school, his mother reaches out for help to the only openly gay man she knows of – native son and filmmaker Joe Wilson, whose same-sex wedding announcement she saw in the local paper. Returning home with camera in hand, Wilson documents the harrowing but ultimately successful battle of CJ and his mom with recalcitrant school authorities, the efforts of a lesbian couple to restore an historic theater over the objections of a local family values activist, and his unexpected friendship with an Evangelical preacher. As the focus widens to include the entire community, OUT IN SILENCEprovides a fascinating and moving commentary on America’s culture war.

Directors Dean Hamer and Joseph Wilson will be in attendance.

Monday, July 12, 2010
7:30 pm
DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY (2005, dir. Michel Gondry)

Celebrate with Dave Chappelle in this uncensored, unforgettable and unbelievably hilarious full-length movie about throwing the ultimate block party. Join Dave as he travels through the heartland and makes a special stop in his hometown to pass out invitations to attend the event of the decade. It's a front-row seat for outrageous laughs with music from today's hottest artists. Be a part of what Dave Chappelle calls "the best single day of my career!"

Monday, July 26, 2010
7:30 pm
DZI CROQUETTES (2009, dirs. Raphael Alvarez and Tatiana Issa)

Dzi Croquettes is a revealing documentary about a Brazilian dance and theater group resembling an all-male, 1970s version of the Ziegfeld Follies. Banned by the ruling military dictatorship, they used their empowering sexuality to revolutionize the gay movement worldwide.

Directors Raphael Alvarez and Tatiana Issa will be in attendance.

Monday, August 9, 2010
7:30 pm
AMERICAN MOVIE (1999, dir. Chris Smith)

It takes a village to make a movie, but when that village is Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin and not Hollywood, CA, the results are at times bizarre, comical and very American. With the help of his mother, his 82 year-old uncle, and a local cast of hilarious and lovable characters, filmmaker Mark Borchardt fights his way through internal and external roadblocks to achieve his goal – to make his movie, his way. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline and spiritual crisis, AMERICAN MOVIE is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess and one man’s quest for the American Dream.

Monday, August 23, 2010
7:30 pm
THE INVENTION OF DR. NAKAMATS (2009, dir. Kaspar Astrup Schroder)

Meet Dr. NakaMats, octogenarian, demi-god in his native Japan, and the world’s most prolific inventor, holding over 3,300 patents. Edison by comparison had only 1,093. Some of his most famous include: the floppy disk, the CD, the DVD, the taxi cab meter, Cinemascope and even Karaoke. Here, in a vivid, often comic tour de force, Danish filmmaker Kaspar Asrtrup Schröeder takes us through the eccentric world of the great man.

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For film stills or images, please visit: www.tribecafilm.com/festival/media

Contacts

Tammie Rosen
Tribeca Enterprises
(212) 941-2003
trosen@tribecaenterprises.com