So Is a Leaner Tribeca a Better Tribeca?

By Steven Zeitchik

We're a little behind on the film news of the last 24 hours, so we'll start with Tribeca and move on to ShowWest later. The slate of the annual DeNiro fest, as reported everywhere today, basically makes good on the fest's fall promise to cut down its slate. The total number of films will go from about 160 to just over 120.

The slimming down is a welcome development for the industry and even consumers, who it always seemed would embrace more of the movies if they were clearer on what was available.

But the fest still has to get past some perceptual issues. Even with the smaller slate, there's a wide breadth of movies, many from unknown filmmakers. While fans love the chance to make a discovery, they may not know how to seek out what they want.
Most fests have an organizing principle--you know what a prototypical Sundance or Toronto movie. It's still unclear what a Tribeca film is (even docs, which is what the fest has become known for, are being de-emphasized as the fest tries to give features more play).

On the biz side, there's no question the festival has become a place to find and then pick up a solid docu; witness HBO snapping up "Autism: The Musical" last year. This year's challenge will come with creating that level of quality and buzz on the scripted side.

Still, there slate shows plenty of promise, including a doc that offers inside access to Cindy Sherman, a world preem of a feature starring Frank Langella as an energy exec and Melvin Van Peebles following characters from Harlem to the high seas. And they're all seeking distribution, which should catch the eye of a few acquisition execs.

But our favorite description comes from the Australian film "Donkey in Lahore."
The film's logline: "An unusual love story that follows the quixotic courtship of Brian, an ex-goth puppeteer from Australia, and Amber, the traditional Muslim girl he met and fell in love with in Pakistan." Hey, if they can make it work, Tribeca's new direction should be a snap.