One of the most anticipated films of the year has been picked to close out this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. After dropping out of ‘Bond 25,’ everyone’s been curious what filmmaker Danny Boyle would be presenting next. And now, with “Yesterday” coming to theaters soon, the filmmaker has decided to make this year’s festival the place to have its world premiere.
For those that missed the recent trailer, “Yesterday” is the musical comedy that tells the story of a struggling British musician that wakes up one day to find out that the world has forgotten everything about the Beatles. Using this to his advantage, the musician uses the famous songs to launch his own career.
“This isn’t a time travel movie but it feels like introducing the Beatles music to America for the first time again,” Danny Boyle says. “Absolutely delighted that our film has been chosen to be the closing film of the Tribeca Film Festival. A great honor in a great city.”
Boyle’s latest is far from the only reason you should stick around for the full Tribeca experience. In the anniversaries program, Francis Ford Coppola is premiering a new restoration of “Apocalypse Now,” celebrating the film’s 40th anniversary.
“Restoring ‘Apocalypse Now: Final Cut’ forty years later has been a tremendous undertaking and joy that I am thrilled to be able to share with the world for the first time at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The audience will be able to see, hear and feel this film how I always hoped it could be—from the first ‘bang’ to the final whimper,” said Francis Ford Coppola.
Another film getting the anniversary treatment is the classic ‘80s rom-com from filmmaker Cameron Crowe, “Say Anything.” Celebrating its 30th birthday, the classic film that launched a million copycats is coming to Tribeca with the filmmaker and two stars John Cusack and Ione Skye.
Cameron Crowe said, “Can’t believe it’s been 30 years since we made ‘Say Anything’…The movie grew out of many inspiring conversations with James L. Brooks, and a quest to bring a new kind of romantic couple to the screen. Out of those many afternoons came the script, the opportunity to direct my own screenplay, and the great adventure of working with these wonderful actors, among them John Mahoney, Lili Taylor, Joan and John Cusack, and Ione Skye. And, of course, Eric Stoltz as The Rooster. We also had the gift of Peter Gabriel allowing us to use his extremely personal song, ‘In Your Eyes.’ No other song ever worked coming out of that boombox. Big thanks to Paula Weinstein and the Tribeca Film Festival for bringing us together for this Anniversary Screening, and a chance to watch the movie again on the big screen with old friends and a brand-new audience.”
The Tribeca Film Festival begins on April 24.
The film selections for Closing Night, Galas, Anniversary selections and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Gala are as follows:
CLOSING NIGHT
Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle, screenplay by Richard Curtis, story by Jack Barth and Richard Curtis, produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Bernie Bellew, Matthew James Wilkinson, Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle. (UK) – World Premiere.
Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal. From Academy Award®-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) and Richard Curtis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill, comes a rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life.
Jack Malik (Himesh Patel, BBC’s Eastenders) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed … and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed.
Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (Emmy winner Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love. A Universal Pictures release.
DATE: Saturday, May 4
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
GALA
Between Me and My Mind, directed by Steven Cantor. Produced by Jamie Schutz. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Driven by a constant need to create, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio takes on new projects, including some of his most personal music to date as well as Phish’s ambitious New Year’s Eve show at Madison Square Garden
● After the Premiere Screening: a special performance by Trey Anastasio Band
DATE: Friday, April 26
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre
ANNIVERSARIES
Apocalypse Now – 40th Anniversary & Restoration
Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now will celebrate its 40th Anniversary at the Festival with a screening of a new, never-before-seen restored version of the film, entitled Apocalypse Now: Final Cut. Remastered from the original negative in 4K Ultra HD, the film will be brought to life with Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, delivering spectacular colors and highlights that are up to 40 times brighter and blacks that are 10 times darker, and Dolby Atmos, producing moving audio that flows all around you with breathtaking realism. The Beacon Theatre will also be outfitted for this exclusive occasion with Meyer VLFC (Very Low Frequency Control), a ground-breaking loudspeaker system engineered to output audio frequencies below the limits of human hearing, giving the audience a truly visceral experience.
Nominated for eight Academy Awards®, Francis Ford Coppola’s stunning vision of the heart of darkness in all of us remains a classic and compelling Vietnam War epic. Martin Sheen stars as Army Captain Willard, a troubled man sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost. [Released August 15, 1979]
● After the Screening: An evening with Francis Ford Coppola who will reflect on the film and discuss its elaborate restoration.
DATE: Sunday, April 28
TIME: 5:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre
Say Anything… – 30th Anniversary
Thirty years ago, Cameron Crowe shifted the landscape of romantic comedies with his remarkable and deeply felt debut that chronicled, with tender and warm-hearted authenticity, a vivid tale of first love. Charting the blooming romance between recent high-school graduates Lloyd (John Cusack) and Diane (Ione Sky), Crowe gave audiences one of cinema’s most indelible and enduring romantic movie moments: a lovesick boy, standing outside a girl’s window, asking her to love him with the help of Peter Gabriel and a boombox. Three decades later, Say Anything… continues to give off the affectionate, enveloping glow of first love. [Released April 1, 1989]
● After the Screening: A conversation with director Cameron Crowe, executive producer James L. Brooks, and cast members John Cusack and Ione Skye.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Reality Bites – 25th Anniversary
Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke star in Ben Stiller’s 1994 feature film directorial debut, the iconic comedy-drama that defined a generation of independent moviegoing-and-moviegoers with its achingly-relatable portrait of early 90’s disaffected youth struggling to live and love amid the brutal reality of (almost) adulthood.
In the film, written by Helen Childress, Lelaina Pierce (Ryder) navigates her post-college disillusionment by turning the camera on her friends: the free-spirited Vickie (Janeane Garofalo); Sammy (Steve Zahn), struggling to come out to his conservative parents; and the passionate but direction-less Troy (Hawke), with whom Lelaina is romantically-entwined until video executive Michael (Stiller, who co-stars) arrives with the promise of both budding romance and the chance for Lelaina to cash in on her dreams—but at what expense?
Reality Bites may have been for and about Generation X, but has proven itself a timeless, decades-spanning classic. [Released February 18, 1994]
● After the Screening: A conversation reuniting director Ben Stiller, writer Helen Childress, actors Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, producer Michael Shamberg, and executive producer Stacey Sher.
DATE: Saturday, May 4
TIME: 2:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
This Is Spinal Tap – 35th Anniversary
Spinal Tap is the loudest band in England and they’re making a comeback with a North American tour promoting their new album “Smell the Glove.” Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) sets out to make a documentary of the legendary rock band’s exploits on the road, featuring front men Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), bearing witness to the highs and lows of what makes a musician into a rock star. [Released March 2, 1984]
● After the Screening: This Is Spinal Tap stars and creators Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Rob Reiner, will pay tribute to the band with a special musical performance and a conversation to follow.
DATE: Saturday, April 27
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre
13TH ANNUAL TRIBECA/ESPN SPORTS FILM FESTIVAL GALA
The Good, The Bad, The Hungry, directed by Nicole Lucas Haimes. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Fortitude. Honor. Tradition. Two rivals address the years on animosity that defined their careers and their shared dream of achieving greatness on the world’s biggest stage: the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. An ESPN Films release.
DATE: Friday, April 26
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
STAR WARS TRIBECA FAMILY DAY
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Nineteen years after the formation of the Empire, Luke Skywalker is thrust into the struggle of the Rebel Alliance when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived for years in seclusion on the desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as Luke joins him on a daring mission to rescue the beautiful Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of the evil Empire. Although Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader, his former apprentice, Luke proves that the Force is with him by destroying the Empire’s dreaded Death Star.
This is a first-come-first-serve free family event. Costumes are welcomed. May the 4th be with you.
DATE: Saturday, May 4
TIME: 10:00 AM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
