Tribeca films feature sky-diving nun, Brazil cops
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's Tribeca Film Festival revealed its star attractions on Monday, including films that depict a nun with a wild streak, police corruption in a Brazilian slum, and a Frenchman's death-defying stunt between New York's twin towers in 1974.
The announced films will play from April 23 to May 4 for the seventh annual festival co-founded by Robert De Niro to promote the cultural and economic revitalization of the Tribeca neighborhood after the September 11 attacks.
The "Spotlight" films, which have not yet been released in the United States but have been picked up for distribution, include "Man On Wire," a documentary depicting a French daredevil's walk across a high wire between the World Trade Center towers without a safety net in 1974.
"Mister Lonely" will premiere at the festival, telling the story of a sky-jumping, dirt-bike riding nun.
"Elite Squad," a controversial Brazilian film depicting police corruption, murder and violence in the slums of Rio, will also be making its North American debut. The movie won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival last month.
"War, Inc." co-written and produced by actor John Cusack, features a hit man sent to a Middle Eastern country where the United States wages a fully outsourced war.
The "Showcase" films, which have appeared at other festivals, include "Lioness," which shows female Marines sent to a deadly insurgent stronghold in Iraq.
"Strangers," an Israeli film in Arabic, English, French and Hebrew, features the tale of an Israeli man and Palestinian woman who meet at the World Cup in Germany and try to build a relationship.
The festival's "Restored/Rediscovered" films will include "Night Tide" starring a young Dennis Hopper in a romantic mystery set in an amusement park. The film was restored and has not been seen on the 35 millimeter film typically used for motion pictures since the 1960s.
(Reporting by Emily Chasan, Editing by Daniel Trotta and Stuart Grudgings)
