CinÉireann / March 2018 13
The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival revealed its feature film lineup championing the discovery of emerging voices and celebrating new work from established filmmaking talent. The lineup includes two Irish produced films, the Element Pictures-backed Disobedience, directed by Sebastián Lelio, and the Parallel Films-backed Mary Shelley, directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. Both films will enjoy their U.S. premieres at the festival.
To close the Festival, Tribeca will World Premiere The Fourth Estate, from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus, which follows The New York Times’ coverage of the Trump administration’s first year. The Centerpiece Gala will be the World Premiere of Drake Doremus’ sci-fi romance Zoe starring Ewan McGregor, Léa Seydoux, Rashida Jones, and Theo James.
The 2018 feature film program includes 96 films from 103 filmmakers. Of the 96 films, 46% of them are directed by women, the highest percentage in the Festival’s history. The lineup includes 74 World Premieres, 6 International Premieres, 9 North American Premieres, 3 U.S. Premieres, and 4 New York Premieres from 27 countries. This year’s program includes 46 first time filmmakers, with 18 directors returning to the Festival with their latest feature film projects. Tribeca’s 2018 slate was programmed from more than 8,789 total submissions.
Disobedience
Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience is based on the novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman.Disobedience is adapted by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, and stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola. The film follows young woman who returns to her Orthodox Jewish home after learning about the death of her estranged father. She causes an upheaval in the quiet community when she rekindles a repressed love with her best friend – a woman now married to her cousin. Disobedience is produced by Ed Guiney for Dublin-based Element Pictures, Frida Torresblanco for Braven Films, and Rachel Weisz for HGS Productions. It is financed by Film 4 and Film Nation. It is an Element Pictures/ LC6 Productions / Braven Films production.
Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Mary Shelley is a biopic of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, co-produced by Parallel Films (Brooklyn). The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.Teenager Mary dreams of writing but has yet to find inspiration. When she meets poet Percy Shelley, it is love at first sight. But Percy has his secrets, he is married with a child. Setting up home together, Mary soon becomes pregnant with Percy’s child, a daughter who tragically dies. Ostracised by polite society and grieving for their child, they escape from London and Percy introduces Mary to Lord Byron at his house in Lake Geneva. On a stormy night, Byron suggests they all write a ghost story. Mary gives birth to Frankenstein’s Monster. It is brilliant, but women don’t write books, and publishers won’t print them. And so Mary fights for her creature and her identity, all at the age of eighteen.
The film stars Elle Fanning as Mary and Douglas Booth as Percy, alongside Maisie Williams, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt and Tom Sturridge, and Stephen Dillane. Al-Mansour directs from a script co-written with Emma Jensen and Conor McPherson. Alan Moloney and Ruth Coady produce for Parallel Films, with Amy Baer of Gidden Media. DoP is David Ungaro, Production Design comes from the legendary Paki Smith, and Room’s Nathan Nugent edits with Alex Mackie. Funding for Mary Shelley came from the Irish Film Board, the BFI, Hanway Films, the Luxembourg Film Fund, Ingenious Media, and Sobini Films.
The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18-29.