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Australians to Hit Tribeca
Australian filmmakers will feature prominently at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
Australian filmmakers will be featuring en masse at the Tribeca Film Festival this April. Both documentary and feature filmmakers have been invited to screen their films as part of the illustrious festival, founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2003.
Cathy Henkel's documentary The Burning Season is one of the films selected and will be part of the competitive aspect of the festival. The film is about the effect of climate change and one man, Dorjee Sun and his work in setting up a carbon credits trading company in Indonesia. The film, inspired by Henkel's response to the plight of the orangutans in Borneo, was shot over one year, following Dorjee's quest for a solution from Indonesia to as far as California to meet with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger about selling carbon credits.
"This film is an anthem to optimism and a call to action. It reflects my profound belief in the mantra of "Yes We Can"." - The Burning Season director Cathy Henkel.
This will be the second time that Henkel has attended the prestigious festival, with her previous film The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face winning the award for Best Documentary in 2004. For Henkel, screening The Burning Season at the festival will hopefully bring the issues raised in it to a wider audience. "For me, the widest possible audience for this film is a matter of urgency. My hope is that it will help people understand why forests need to be saved, and remind us that change is possible and we mustn't give up. This film is an anthem to optimism and a call to action. It reflects my profound belief in the mantra of "Yes We Can".
Other Australian documentaries that will feature in the festival include Eric Bana's Love the Beast, about man's lasting bond with their cars, and the documentary Skin, which is part of Big and Little Film's three part triptych Anatomy.
The feature film Accidents Happen, about a dysfunctional family starring Geena Davis (A League of Their Own, The Long Kiss Goodnight) and Harrison Gilbertson (Australian Rules) will have its international premiere at the festival where it will screen in competition. This first film from award winning short filmmaker and musician Andrew Lancaster was shot entirely in Sydney in 2008.