2005 Tribeca Film Festival Awards
2005 Tribeca Film Festival: April 19–May 1
This year's edition of New York's Tribeca Film Festival did not shy away from potentially controversial films. For starters, Li Shaohong's Sheng Si Jie / Stolen Life, a Chinese drama that has reportedly been banned in its country of origin, won Best Film honors.
Shaohong hopes that the publicity surrounding Stolen Life's Tribeca win will help get the film "green-lighted so my people in China can watch [it] soon." Stolen Life depicts the hardships of a young Chinese woman who struggles to eke out a living doing menial work after having dropped out of college because of her untrustworthy lover.
Felicity Huffman, one of the stars of the American TV hit series Desperate Housewives, won the best actress prize for her portrayal of a Born-Again Christian who also happens to be a pre-operative (male-to-female) transsexual in Duncan Tucker's Transamerica. Actor William H. Macy, Huffman's husband and the film's executive producer, accepted the award in her place.
Dutch actor Cees Geel won the best actor award for his role as a man who, facing imminent death, must take responsibility for his future — or lack thereof — in Eddy Terstall's Simon, the Netherlands's official submission for the 2004 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
Péter Forgács' El Perro Negro: Stories from the Spanish Civil War, a Dutch-Hungarian production covering the travails of a Catalan industrialist family during Spain's bloody 1930s, was chosen the best documentary feature. Director Forgács has explained that his film attempts to show that there were villainous murderers on all sides of that conflict, which left in its wake between 600,000 and 1 million dead.
More than 250 films from 45 countries were shown at Tribeca. Judges included actress Whoopi Goldberg, author Tom Wolfe, and pop personality Sheryl Crow.
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Sheng Si Jie / Stolen Life (China)
Director: Li Shaohong
NARRATIVE FEATURE SPECIAL MENTION
L'Estate di mio fratello / My Brother's Summer (Italy)
Director: Pietro Reggiani
BEST ACTOR IN A NARRATIVE FEATURE
Cees Geel, Simon (Director: Eddy Terstall; Netherlands)
BEST ACTRESS IN A NARRATIVE FEATURE
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica (Director: Duncan Tucker; USA)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
El Perro Negro: Stories from the Spanish Civil War (Netherlands / Hungary)
Director: Péter Forgács
BEST NEW NARRATIVE FILMMAKER
Alicia Scherson for Play (Chile / Argentina)
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
Jeff Zimbalist, Matt Mochary for Favela Rising (Brazil / USA)
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
SPECIAL MENTION
Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani for The Devil's Miner, (Germany / USA)
MADE IN NEW YORK
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Red Doors (USA)
Director: Georgia Lee
MADE IN NEW YORK NARRATIVE FEATURE SPECIAL MENTION
Bittersweet Place (USA)
Director: Alexandra Brodsky
NEW YORK LOVES FILM
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Rikers High (USA / France)
Director: Victor Buhler
NEW YORK LOVES FILM DOCUMENTARY FEATURE SPECIAL MENTION
The American Ruling Class (USA)
Director: John Kirby
AUDIENCE AWARD
Street Fight (USA)
Director: Marshall Curry
KIDS PICK FAMILY SHORT
Spandex: A Father's Tale (USA)
Director: Matthew Manson
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Cashback (UK)
Director: Sean Ellis
NARRATIVE SHORT SPECIAL MENTION
Jihad (USA)
Director: Michael Shapiro
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Life of Kevin Carter (USA)
Director: Dan Krauss
BEST STUDENT VISIONARY SHORT
Dance Mania Fantastic (USA)
Director: Sasie Sealy
STUDENT VISIONARY SPECIAL MENTIONS
Draft (Israel)
Director/Screenwriter: Naomi Levari
Photo of Luzmila(Peru / USA)
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor: Mayu Mohanna
Tribeca Film Festival Awards: 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Film Awards: 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
British Independent Film Awards
London Film Critics' Circle Awards
Montreal World Film Festival Awards
National Society of Film Critics Awards
Romanian Film Critics Top-Ten Films
Solothurn Film Festival Awards
Stockholm Film Festival Awards