2012 got off to a great start for Northern Irish director Terry George, when his short film ‘The Shore’ won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short. George now hopes to build on this momentum with the release of his new feature film ‘Whole Lotta Sole,’ premiering at the TriBeCa Film Festival (TFF) on Saturday April 21.

The film, which was also co-written by George, was shot on location in Ireland last spring, and attracted actors such as SAG winner Brendan Fraser (for 2004′s ‘Crash’) and IFTA winners Colm Meaney and Martin McCann (for 2001′s ‘How Harry Became a Tree’ and 2009′s Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne, respectively). Northern Ireland-born Foy Vance composed the film’s music, while Thomas Gallagher co-wrote the screenplay with George. As for the plot, the following is listed in the TFF Film Guide:

In a rowdy little corner of Belfast, hapless young father Jimbo tries to protect his family from the gangster he’s in debt to by robbing the local fish market… which turns out to be a front for the same gangster! On the run, Jimbo holes up in a local antique shop run by a long-lost man from his past. A colorful cast of character actors and a strong turn from Brendan Fraser light up this madcap Irish crime comedy from Terry George (Hotel Rwanda).

The film’s premiere at TFF presents a major festival coup for George, and an oddly poetic one at that. The festival was founded in response to the September 11 2001 terrorists attacks, while ‘Sole’ is an opportunity for George to expand upon what he did with ‘The Shore,’ which was to show to the world that Northern Ireland is not the war-torn place it once was, and that the people — as well as its creative offerings — have moved on.

Terms like ‘madcap’ and ‘crime comedy’ mark an extreme contrast to George’s last feature film set in Northern Ireland, 1993′s ‘In the Name of the Father’. For that film, which George again co-wrote, the country’s political situation weighed heavily on the characters, and its cultural resonance resulted in it being nominated for seven Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and a BAFTA.

Coupled with the success of ‘The Shore,’ it is clear that George has a long-standing successful reputation in critics’ circles, so all eyes will no doubt be on ‘Whole Lotta Sole’ when it makes its big-screen debut late next month. Screening details are as follow:

• Saturday April 21, 8:30pm, SVA Theater 2 Beatrice
• Sunday April 22, 3:00pm, Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 7
• Wednesday April 25, 5:30pm, AMC Loews Village 7 – 3
• Saturday April 28, 3:45pm, Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 8

Meanwhile, full details about the Tribeca Film Festival, which runs from April 18 – 29, can be found here. The festival is also active on both Facebook and Twitter.

Image Courtesy of   http://theshorefilm.com

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Tribeca Cinemas continued showcasing a variety of independent movies at the Big Apple Film Festival. While the audience appreciated certain movies more than others, the Big Apple Film Festival continued to give great exposure for upcoming filmmakers and actors.

In a set of documentaries grouped together, the audience was able to see into the lives of unique individuals set against a New York City and New Jersey backdrop. Director Guy Shahar created two different four-minute-long documentaries entitled “Poets In Person.” The first poet focused on was Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Levine.

Cast against his artistic neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn, New York, Levine speaks of how it is a great neighborhood for inspiration and writing poetry. Levine is also a United States Poet Laurete, and believes Walt Whitman is one of the greatest poets that has ever lived.

“Poets In Person” continued by highlighting poet Stephen Dunn, who described his process of writing poetry while playing a competitive game of ping-pong in his suburban garage. Dunn is also a Pulitzer Prize-winner. It was a simple, well-done documentary, and a good way to get a feel for these poets’  lives.

“Equality, I Am Woman,” directed by Al Sutton, was the next documentary played for moviegoers. Set in New York City in the 1970s, the documentary shows a movement for the equal rights of women. 50,000 women gathered on the streets to celebrate their gender and to embrace the idea of gender equality.

“I did the footage and put it on my shelf for a long time, like 30-something years,” Sutton explained. “We got Gloria Steinem to weigh in on it and all of a sudden it was quite inspiring.” The gender equality movement took off in full force after this gathering of women in New York City. “I’m really happy with it. For me, it was a feel-good movie,” Sutton said.

The Bridge Academy, a charter scool from New Jersey, was showcased in the next documentary. Directed by film student and graduate of the Bridge Academy, Alexander Epply-Schmidt, the seven-minute-long film took a very positive approach to showcasing the aspects of the school.

Although there was a sound problem where the voices did not match the people as they spoke, it was still successful at portraying its message. Epply-Schmidt explained his feelings toward attending the school as a “drastically life-changing moment.”

“Odysseus’ Gambit,” directed by Alex Lora Cercos, was a beautifully done documentary about a Cambodian man who spends his life playing chess in Union Square in New York City. Dramatically uprooted from a turbulent Camodia and brought to the United States as a child, his heart-wrenching story was masterfully compared to a strategic game of chess, where every move holds strong importance.

The final documentary was also the longest, at 58 minutes-long, and was what most of the theater’s audience came to watch. “Our Hawaii,” directed by Kryssa Schemmerling, was set against the backdrop of Rockaway Beach, a sleepy coastal section of Queens, New York. The film depicted a group of men, now in their 40s and 50s, who spent their lives surfing the waters of Rockaway.

Even though the lifestyle of surfing is never associated with New York City, this documentary showed how important it was, and still is, to the beachside neighborhoods in isolated Rockaway. Through anecdotal pieces and a great deal of film and photo archives, surfing in Rockaway was successfully told as a compelling story.

The men explained where surfing has taken them in their lives and how much they love the sport, as well as the neighborhood they come from. ”I was always curious about Rockaway riding the subway about what goes on there,” Schemmerling stated. “They had wonderful stories and they were all interesting. They were trying to create the California lifestyle in a place that was so hostile to it.”

These documentaries at the Big Apple Film Festival were a unique way for the filmmakers to tell stories through detailed documentaries.

Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

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