Tribeca Film Festival 2008 - World Documentary Feature Competition

Tribeca Film Festival 2008 presents twelve premieres in its World Documentary Competition. Films from seven countries (some credited as co-productions with several countries), vying for Best Documentary and Best New Documentary Filmmaker recognition, take audiences to a variety of interesting locations--a Baghdad high school, a New Jersey prison, behind-the-scenes as The Public Theater prepares for an important production of a Bertold Brecht play, and other hard-to-access places--and they present compelling personal stories, enlightening investigations of important global events and issues, and new perspectives on perennial subjects of interest.

The List of Films

Baghdad High, directed by Ivan O'Mahoney and Laura Winter. (UK; International Premiere). In a Baghdad high school, four classmates (a Kurd, a Christian, a Shiite, and a Sunni/Shiite) are given cameras to document their senior year. The result is a rare insider view of what teenage life is like when sectarian violence is a constant and immediate threat. In Arabic with English subtitles.
Donkey in Lahore, directed by Faramarz K-Rahber. (Australia; North American Premiere). While traveling in Pakistan, Australian-born Brian, an ex-goth puppeteer, meets Amber, a traditional Muslim girl, and they fall in love. We follow the couple as they try to guide their relationship through enormous cultural challenges. In English and Urdu, Arabic, Punjabi with English subtitles.
Guest of Cindy Sherman, directed by Paul H-O and Tom Donahue. (USA; World Premiere). A personal film in which videographer Paul H-O reflects on his ego and identity as he analyzes his relationship with Cindy Sherman, the reclusive artist. The film features unique access to Sherman and gives a real insiders glimpse of New York‘s art world.

Kassim the Dream, directed by Kief Davidson. (USA; World Premiere]. In this inspiring tale of survival and determination, we see Kassim "The Dream" Ouma transformed from a Ugandan child soldier to a world champion boxer.
Milosevic on Trial (Slobodan Milosevic - Præsident under anklage), directed by Michael Christoffersen. (Denmark; North American Premiere). Under prosecution at the Hague, Serbia's former president has been frustratingly difficult to convict, as this gripping study of Milosevic and the chief prosecuting attorney shows. In English and Albanian, Serbian with English subtitles.
My Life Inside (Mi vida dentro), directed by Lucía Gajá. (Mexico; International Premiere). This film tells the story of seventeen-year-old Rosa Jiménez came to the United States to provide a better life for her family who stayed behind in Mexico, but landed in a Texas courtroom, accused of murder. English and Spanish with English subtitles.
Old Man Bebo, directed by Carlos Carcas. (Spain; North American Premiere). This exuberant documentary celebrates and tells the story of Bebo Valdes who, at age 90, is one of Cuba’s greatest living musicians. Spanish with English subtitles.
An Omar Broadway Film, directed by Omar Broadway and Douglas Tirola. (USA; World Premiere). New Jersey prison inmate Omar Broadway, a Bloods member, chronicles systemic corruption and brutality in this film made with a contraband video camera.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker. (USA; World Premiere). The first female head of state in Africa enforces peace in Liberia which has been devastated by more than a decade of civil wars.
Theater of War , directed by John Walter. (USA; World Premiere). Documenting the Public Theater’s staging of Bertold Brecht’s Mother Courage, the film offers insight into the playwright’s life and theories and shows Meryl Streep, Tony Kushner, Kevin Kline and George C. Wolfe at work.
Two Mothers (Meine Mütter), directed by Rosa von Praunheim. (Germany; North American Premiere). When award-winning filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, at age 58, discovered he was adopted, he embarked on a search for his biological mother and wound up on a journey into the dark world of prison hospitals, the SS, and Nazi occupation of Europe. English and German, Latvian with English subtitles.
War, Love, God & Madness, directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji. (UK, Iraq, Netherlands, Palestine and Sweden; International Premiere). Documents the making a feature film in Iraq in 2003, and the ordeal the director and crew of Ahlaam endured to get the film finished. Arabic with English subtitles.