The Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Film Institute have selected 27 projects for the 2009 Tribeca All Access programme, which encourages industry support of filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities.

TAA, supported by Bloomberg, is now in its sixth year, and will run during April 20-25 during the TFF.

Participating directors and screenwriters will participate in workshops and have one-on-one meetings with more than 100 potential investors, development executives, producers and agents.

Tribeca selected the 21 US-based projects from a pool of more than 475 submissions. The six international projects were chosen through international partners the UK Film Council, Screen Australia, and the Canadian Film Centre.

Projects include documentaries about a Chinese blogger (High Tech, Low Life), an filmmaker’s personal journey with multiple sclerosis (When I Walk), new Muslim superheroes (Wham! Bam! Islam!), and Palestinian and Israeli mental health patients living together in an asylum (Borderline).

Narrative projects include a Tehran-set love story (The Stones), the tale of a geeky Bronx teenager who turns his Dominican neighbor into a comic book character (Bronxopolis), a drama about a man fighting for his country in Harlem’s 369th infantry (Harlem Hellfighters), a conspiracy story from Giancarlo Esposito (Diamond District), an Australian feature about an aboriginal girl becoming a servant in a white household (Binawee), and a UK project about ason searching for his father in Bangkok (Goldfishing).

This year’s TAA jurors, who will hand out cash prizes worth $55,000, include Viola Davis, Sanaa Lathan, Anbe Carey, Luis Guzman, Ellen Kuras and Fenton Paily.

The expanded year-round iniative, TAA OnTrack, will host work-in-proigress screenings of Camila Martin’s The Row, Michael Golamco’s Please By, Rodney Evans’ Day Dream, and Bennie Klein’s Lost Tribes.

The programme has worked with more than 155 film-makers so far. TAA alumni showing at the 2009 festival include Nicole Opper’s Off And Running, Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte’s Entre Nos, and Crayton Robey’s work-in-progress Making The Boys. Other TAA alumni include Amreeka director Cherien Dabis, who recently got a National Geographic theatricaldeal for her Sundance hit film, and director Gemma Cubero who recently attracted philanthropist Sheila Johnson to executive produce Ella es el Matador after a TAA 2008 meeting.

‘This year’s line up continues the tradition of bringing year-round access and exposure for filmmakers with voices often unheard,’ said Tamir Muhammad, director of Tribeca All Access. ‘The focus is on supporting the careers and not just the one project, allowing the selected filmmakers to continuously make an impact on a larger community. In just six years, we are proud of the success and response the industry has shown to the program.’

TAA 2009 US projects

Documentary
The Kivalina Project, dir Gina Abatemarco
When I Walk, dir/prod Jason DaSilva
Shot In Mexico, dir/prod Xochitl Dorsey
Wham! Bam! Islam!, dir/DoP Mark French
High Tech, Low Life, dir/prod/DoP Stephen Maing
Borderline, dir Shirli Michalevicz
La Muneca Fea (The Ugly Doll), co-dir/prod George Reyes
An American Promise, dirs/prods Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster
Resolution 07-609: The Rule of Law, dir/prod Marco Williams

Narrative
The Stones, dir/scr Ana Lily Amirpour
Somnium, dir/scr Miguel Aviles
The Unforgiving Minute, dir/scr Benny Boom
Bronxopolis, dir/scr Andrew Bui
Saturday Morning Christmas, dir/prod Gene Cajayon and dir/prod/scr Van Partible
The Spider In The Bathtub, dir/scr Kat Candler
Harlem Hellfighters, scr Robert Davenport and scr/prod Travis Wright
Diamond District, dir/prod Giancarlo Esposito
Walter’s Boys, scr Jinho Ferreira (Piper)
Ghost Days, scr Tanya Hamilton
Immaculate Conception, dir/scr Hugo Perez
Look For Water, dir/scr Jennifer Phang

TAA 2009 (international projects)
Mei Mei, dir/scr/prod Pauline Chan (Australia)
Binawee, dir/scr Samantha Saunders (Australia)
Home Again, dir/scrs/exec prods Sudz Sutherland and Jennifer Holness (Canada)
The River Of Blood, scr K’naan War same (Canada)
Together, dir/scr David Alexander (UK)
Goldfishing, dir/scr Lab Ky Mo (UK)

Topics