Eric Kohn

  • ‘Sita’ Singing the Distribution Blues

    When Nina Paley's playfully cosmic feature "Sita Sings the Blues" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, its crowd-pleasing potential became immediately obvious. Paley, a New York-based cartoonist, toiled over the Flash-animated movie for years on her personal laptop, and the results of her painstaking effort showed in its deeply personal, handcrafted spirit. By combining the story of her divorce…

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  • Werner Herzog Takes ‘Bad Lieutenant’ for a Southern-Fried Spin

    When the trailer for Werner Herzog's upcoming Nicolas Cage vehicle, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," showed up on YouTube last Thursday, movie buffs were baffled. Ostensibly a remake of Abel Ferrara's harrowing 1992 cop drama with Harvey Keitel in the lead role, the new version appears to spin the source material into the…

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  • Barry Levinson’s Next Satire Target: Celeb Activists

    Barry Levinson knows the beast that is mass media. The director explored the impact of television on family life with his 1990 drama "Avalon," and he revealed the ways politicians use the news to manipulate the public in his clever satire "Wag the Dog." Now he's turned the camera on himself and his peers with…

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  • The Festival Wraps It Up

    Announcing the award for Best New Narrative Filmmaker at the Tribeca Film Festival's awards party, Uma Thurman had to use her stage voice when the microphone suddenly cut out. Later, Robert De Niro lost the envelope with the final winner of the night and wound up reading it off a press release.In short, the ceremony…

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  • When Tribeca Was Like a Hollywood Backlot …

    To understand the Tribeca Film Festival within the larger context of New York's film community, it helps to understand the perspective of the 2009 festival's most active participant with long-standing ties to the city's history. Filmmaker Bette Gordon's triple presence at Tribeca this year includes her new feature "Handsome Harry," a restored version of her…

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  • Think, Before You Twitter-Review

    Film festivals often require viewers to blurt out immediate reactions without allowing much time for contemplation before rushing off to the next screening. I had this experience yesterday, when my instincts told me to reach the verdict that a certain movie was "great" before — upon deeper reflection aided by the insight of a colleague…

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  • Who Needs Distributors Anymore?

    Film festival panel discussions are always repetitive. Listening to a handful of experts analyze the state of the industry or its future can start to feel like watching reruns of Charlie Rose. However, the conversation that took place today at the Tribeca Film Festival about "Tools of the Trade" was a welcome exception. The subtitle said…

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  • The Fest Gets Its Breakout Star

    "Tribeca should be more like South by Southwest," a publicist friend told me the other day. He meant that the festival could benefit from more discoveries and breakout stories. It's a natural direction for the New York gathering, which definitely seems like it has a stronger program this year, if only because trimmed-down look. I…

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  • Life in — and Out — of the Hypocritical GOP ‘Closet’

    A documentary driven by activism always risks alienating audiences opposed to its intentions. The success of Kirby Dick's "Outrage," an engrossing survey of closeted conservatives in Washington, D.C.'s, inner circle, became immediately clear after the world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last night for one reason: Audience complaints about certain omissions from the movie…

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  • Day 1: The Farrelly Brothers’ ‘Something About Cuba’

    The first full day of the Tribeca Film Festival was the embodiment of diversity: In the morning, it hosted press and industry screenings of obscure movies like the Asian dramas "Fish Eyes" and "Still Walking." In the evening, Larry David and the Farrelly brothers walked the red carpet alongside baseball legend Luis Tiant. Yet there…

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  • Classic Vibe Opens Fest

    In the opening trailer for the Tribeca Film Festival, a flasher approaches two women in New York's Central Park. Rather than flee in terror, they begin to assess their assailant. "He's not wearing a ring," one of them observes. She proceeds to set up a date with him. Cue the tagline: "Think you've seen it…

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  • Opening Press Conference Becomes a True Tribeca Moment

    If there was a key moment in Tuesday morning's opening press conference for the Tribeca Film Festival, it did not emerge as a handful of celebrities and festival sponsors blandly read prepared statements and stiffly gathered onstage like wooden robots of the publicity machine. Instead, an irresistible image appeared when two prominent members of the…

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  • It’s No Sundance — and Doesn’t Want to Be

    Nobody said it was easy to run a big event. But the Tribeca Film Festival, which begins its eighth sixth year next week, had a rough time by any standards. Literally built on shaky ground, Tribeca came together in 2003 when Robert De Niro and producing partner Jane Rosenthal created it as a venture to bring…

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