TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: The Best of the Fest

Asghar Farhadi's "Abouy Elly" won the award for Best Narrative Feature at this year's Tribeca Film Festival

With fewer venues and titles, this was a more reserved year for the Tribeca Film Festival, but even with a smaller catalogue, the quality was as high as ever. From intimate issue-oriented documentaries to brave relationship dramas – to one quirky tale of famous go-kart racers – there are a good number of films from this year’s program that will likely go on to find notoriety.

This 2009 award winners were announced just prior to the weekend. “About Elly” was named best narrative feature. An Iranian drama set on the banks of the Caspian Sea, “Elly” is about a friendly group outing that quickly goes sour when Elly – a kindergarten teacher brought along by the parent of one of her students, who had been hoping to set her up on a date – suddenly goes missing. As a search is launched, and lies are unraveled, director Asghar Farhadi uses the mystery to shine a light on his native culture.

“Racing Dreams” was named best documentary, a story about tweens who spend their weekends racing on the go-kart track. Following the nation’s best go-karters as they practice of the World Karting Associations’ national championship – a major stepping stone to professional auto racing – director Marshall Curry captures the irony of a sport that takes kids still too young to drive and hurls them around a track at 80 mph.

A special jury mention went to Yoav Shamir for his documentary “Defamation,” which examines the pervasiveness of anti-Semitism in the modern world.

I saw a number of great films at this year’s festival – from Steven Soderbergh’s low-key “The Girlfriend Experience” to Darko Lungulov's inspired New York-to-Belgrade road trip “Here and There” (which took home an award for best New York narrative) – but the movie that surprised me the most was Spike Lee’s “Kobe Doin’ Work.”

A meticulously edited examination of a game in the life of one of basketball’s biggest stars – narrated by Bryant himself, who offers commentary on his game time behavior – “Kobe Doin’ Work” captures the ebbs and flows, the bluffs and strategies, that define the four quarters of a typical game. It isolates the pulse of the competition, and takes you into the middle of the action through Bryant’s observations. I’m someone who has never really enjoyed the game of basketball; in fact, it’s my least favorite professional sport. But Lee’s camerawork, and Bryant’s narration, are mesmerizing. Together, they recreate the game as an evolving chess match, demonstrating how sometimes it’s the shots that aren’t taken in the first half that help to decide a game’s final seconds.

Once again, the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival demonstrated that it is one of the most eclectic of all film fests. Whether we’re talking about lost Iranian teachers, frustrated high-end escorts, or philosophical basketball documentaries, this is truly a festival with something for everybody.