My Hot List for TFF 09

Upon initial review of the films at TFF 09, these are the ones I'd really like to see the most. I usually prefer documentaries and comedies, so it should come as no surprise that those are the films I've chosen for my Hot List. TiMER is the one I am most excited about! It's a chick flick for sure, but comes off (at least in the trailer) as clever and funny in the way it demonstrates female fears and insecurities when it comes to love. If you're interested in P-Star Rising, be aware that there is a special outdoor screening which includes a live performance by the film's 9-year-old rap star! Horray for Tribeca Film Festival 2009!!

A Matter of Size (foreign, comedy)
Cast & Credits
Primary Cast: Itzik Cohen, Irit Kaplan, Dvir Benedek, Alon Dahan, Levana Finkelstein, Togo Igawa Directors: Erez Tadmor, Sharon Maymon Screenwriters: Sharon Maymon, Danny Cohen-Solal Producers: Chilik Michaeli, Avraham Pirchi, Tami Leon, Daniel Bauer, Oliver Simon Co-Producer: Antoine de Clermont-Torrenne Director of Photography: David Gurfinkel Editor: Einat Glaser-Zarhin
Program Notes
Herzl (Itzik Cohen) is an overweight, underemployed chef living at home with his mother in the Israeli city of Ramla. Unable to find a job cooking, he becomes a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant. One day he notices his coworkers watching sumo wrestling on TV. To Herzl, sumo is a revelation, an escape from the dictatorship of diets espoused by his weight-loss group. With three hefty pals in tow, Herzl decides to pursue the sport where his size is an asset. Codirectors Erez Tadmor (Strangers, TFF '08) and Sharon Maymon (who also cowrote the script) have created a feel-good comedy reminiscent of crowd-pleasers like The Full Monty. The result is a sweet, touching, funny, and relatable story of self-acceptance and determination. Utilizing a talented and versatile group of actors, Tadmor, Maymon, and cowriter Danny Cohen-Solal give us a collection of extremely likable characters who realize that in both life and love, they'll only discover their greatest happiness by paying attention to what's inside and to the power of their individual spirits.--Aaron Dobbs

Timer (comedy)
Cast & Credits ****THIS IS THE ONE I AM MOST EXCITED TO SEE!!!
Primary Cast: Emma Caulfield, Michelle Borth, John Patrick Amedori, Desmond Harrington, JoBeth Williams, Kali Rocha Director: Jac Schaeffer Screenwriter: Jac Schaeffer Producer: Rikki Jarrett, Jac Schaeffer, Jennifer Glynn Director of Photography: Harris Charalambous Production Designer: Maya Sigel Original Music: Andrew Kaiser Editor: Peter Samet Sound Design: Joe Dzuban Associate Producer: Joshua Lee Huber
Program Notes
Finding true love is easier than ever thanks to a revolutionary bio-technological wrist implant called the TiMER, which counts down to the exact moment when people will lay eyes on their soul mates. Heartbreak is a malady of the past. Except that love-starved, pushin'-30 Oona's (Emma Caulfield, TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) TiMER hasn't even started counting down—her destined "one" hasn't gotten himself hooked in just yet. All the people around her are literally set on their unshakable paths to true love, from her mom (who broke up with Oona's dad because he wasn't the "one"), her younger sister, and even her 13-year-old brother (who has to wait only a day). What's worse, Oona's falling for a barely twentysomething rocker (John Patrick Amedori, Gossip Girl) who is set to meet his true love in only four months. Oona finds that as she navigates the rocky waters of love, the same technology that is supposed to make life easier is the very device that makes it all messier. With heartfelt performances and quirky characters, newcomer Jac Schaeffer's smart and delightful romantic comedy leaves behind the burning question… "would you want to know?"--Roya Rastegar


The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (documentary)
Cast & Credits
Director: Julien Nitzberg Producer: Storm Taylor Executive Producers: Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine, Priya Swaminathan, Jeff Yapp
Program Notes
Tucked deeply in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains, the White family lives an existence more like something out of the Wild West than modern-day rural America. The legendary family is known as much for their disturbing and excessive ways as they are for their famous mountain tap dancing legacy, which includes living legend Jesco White (star of the PBS documentary Dancing Outlaw). From MTV Studios and executive producers Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine (Jackass), this edgy and often hilarious look into a dying breed of American outcasts exposes the powerful forces of corruption, poverty, and West Virginia's environmentally and culturally devastating coal mining culture


Transcendent Man (documentary)- (*There was a recent Rolling Stone Article about Kurzweil's ideologies)
Cast & Credits
Director: Barry Ptolemy Producers: Barry Ptolemy, Felicia Ptolemy Executive Producers: Joe DiSanto, John Ramsay, Wren Waters, Doobie White, Drew Dowdle, John Erick Dowdle Composer: Philip Glass Editors: Meg Decker, Doobie White Director of Photography: Shawn Dufraine
Program Notes
Ray Kurzweil is one of the world's foremost inventors. At age 15 he was designing programs that were adapted by IBM and soon after machines that allowed the blind to read. Today he is hailed by some as a modern-day Nostradamus and dismissed by others as a crackpot. The "futurist" and best-selling author is a leading theorist on the "technological singularity"—a time when humans and machines will fuse in the next phase of bio-technological evolution, creating superintelligent, godlike beings that could conceivably live forever. The kicker is, Kurzweil claims that this monumental change is destined to happen in just 30 years. This mind-bending documentary probes the searing questions that have previously only been teased out in science fiction. Kurzweil is as convincing as he is entertaining even when he claims he is drastically extending his own life span and will bring his late father back to life with new technology in the future. First-timer Barry Ptolemy finds a wide range of interview subjects, from evangelists and "brain builders" to William Shatner and Stevie Wonder. Matching the pace of the world it describes, the film moves at breakneck speed, saturating us with ideas and locations and images and theories. Engrossing and at times seemingly absurd, Transcendent Man makes it hard not to wonder if Kurzweil may be splitting a bull's-eye too far away for us to see.

P-Star Rising (documentary/ discovery)
Cast & Credits
Primary Cast: Priscilla Star Diaz, Jesse Diaz, Solsky Diaz Director: Gabriel Noble Producer: Marjan Tehrani Editor: David Abelson Executive Producers: Ryan Harrington, Bob Alexander Director of Photography: Gabriel Noble Composers: Ion Furjanic & B.Satz All-Stars
Program Notes
In the early '80s, Jesse Diaz was a rising star in the hip-hop world. Now he's a broke single father living in a Harlem shelter with two children to support. But Jesse finally finds a shot at redemption in his nine-year-old daughter Priscilla, a precocious and immensely talented rapper. With older daughter Solsky the family's quiet cheerleader, Jesse and Priscilla look to parlay "P-Star's" talent into victory for the whole family. And that means long rehearsals, late nights, and home schooling for the growing girl. But as Priscilla's star really begins to rise, it'll tax all the relationships in her life and test Jesse in ways he never expected. Director Gabriel Noble follows four years of father-daughter ups and downs as they navigate the grit and the glamour of the music biz. From sit-downs with image consultants to the elation of spending that big signing bonus, Priscilla always remains a magnetic figure with a resolve and way of talking that belies her young age. Though Jesse, for better or worse, remains the rock in their lives, an emotional attempt to track down the girls' mother is threaded throughout the film. "She became a crackhead," Priscilla says, blasé. "Things happen, you know." --Sara Nodjoumi