I’m back, and i’m feeling weirdly reflective after this year's festival. I saw an odd bunch of films this year, but somehow not odd enough for me? For Tribeca I decide pretty haphazardly, influenced by how much I can get into for free while volunteering for the festival (tip: of the three festivals I’ve worked, Tribeca gives you the most chances to see movies by far; if you hang out on the rush lines of venues on the last Sunday in the evening, you might see volunteers giving away screenings vouchers that they’ve accumulated. It’s far from a reliable plan, but if you’ve been working all festival there are only so many films you can see in a weekend!) This year though, I was kind of surprised at how little I ventured out of my comfort zone, or even into independent fare. I didn’t catch anything particularly weird like Der Samurai; three of the films I saw have well known names, and one of them is coming out in a month. I kind of regret delving into smaller and/or foreign fare; Lucifer in particular is one that I’m sad I missed.
It begs the question: what am I looking for in film festivals? Is it to see sneak previews of upcoming films? To broaden my film horizons? To see weird shit that probably won’t get major distribution (or that will run for a week at Lincoln Center where I’d inevitably miss it)? Tribeca so far has given me the most choices in what I end up seeing, and this year I’m not sure I used my choices wisely.
One thing I can definitely say I did was watch more documentaries than I usually do; typically they’re not my cup of tea. I generally chose smaller fare than the most buzzed about docs (In Transit, Thank You For Playing, Transfatty Lives), but I did catch some interesting stuff.
