Tribeca Film Festival announces 2011 Short Film selection

NEW YORK, USA The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival has announced its official short film selection including 60 shorts, of which 22 are world premieres.

The winner of the 2011 TFF Best Narrative Short award will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category for the 2012 Oscars without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

The short film program will be presented in 8 different programs. The final selected films were chosen out of more than 2,800 submissions, and will represent 21 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Haiti, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Australia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States.

This year's Festival shorts exemplify a broad spectrum of styles and storytelling, including an animated program and the always-popular New York shorts program. From zombies taking over Manhattan to the humanitarian effort in Haiti, these short films represent a range of genres and subjects. The program features performances by well respected actors. These include: Campbell Scott, Anthony LaPaglia, Jean Reno, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Brendan Gleeson, Colin Quinn, Carmine Famiglietti and Eddie Marsan, and animated shorts featuring the voices of David Duchovny, Joseph Fiennes and Ian McKellan.

Returning TFF directors include Thomas Hefferon, Rider and Shiloh Strong, Barney Elliot, Rick Rodgers, Jay Rosenblatt, Brian Doyle, Scott Nyerges and Ken Jacobs.

Each of our short film programs promises an entertaining journey, exposing an audience to filmmaking they may not have the opportunity to see otherwise, said Sharon Badal, TFF head short film programmer. Whether narrative, documentary, experimental or animation, these short films exhibit extraordinary talent. We re thrilled to bring films from around the globe to our Festival, and with a large number of world premieres, to share many of them with an audience for the first time.

The works in the 2011 TFF short film lineup are eligible to compete for combined cash and value-in-kind prizes totaling more than $15,000 for Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short and Student Visionary Award.

Following is a listing of the selected short films in the eight programs in which they will be presented:

Off the Grid (Documentary)

Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll are a few of the topics explored in these thought-provoking short documentaries. Two-man rock duo Crash&Burn is turned upside down when Burn decides to have transgender surgery. It s San Francisco, sex, and the First Amendment in Smut Capital of America. A broken building trembles in a battle for space and souls in Caretaker for the Lord. In Guru a charismatic motivational speaker privately battles bipolar disorder. Incident in New Baghdad recounts a U.S. Army veteran s personal experience in and out of the war zone.

Crash&Burn, (USA), World Premiere, directed and written by Rick Rodgers
Smut Capital of America, (USA), World Premiere, directed and written by Michael Stabile
Caretaker for the Lord, (Scotland), New York Premiere, directed by Jane McAllister
Guru, (USA), World Premiere, directed and written by Jonathan VanBallenberghe
Incident in New Baghdad, (USA), World Premiere, directed by James Spione

One For All (Documentary)

Positive thinking prevails in this group of inspiring short documentaries. In Summer Snapshot a group of friends reflects on a special sun-kissed day. It s mind over matter, literally, for spiritual leader and peace advocate Sri Chinmoy in Challenging Impossibility. In the Spirit of Laxmi a hotel manager commits to raising and re-wilding an injured leopard cub. A community in Haiti rallies to build a movie theater in Sun City Picture House.

Summer Snapshot, (USA), New York Premiere, directed by Ian McCluskey
Challenging Impossibility, (USA), World Premiere, directed by Sanjay Rawal and Natabara Rollosson
In the Spirit of Laxmi, (Singapore, India, USA), New York Premiere, directed by Meghan Shea and Michael Rogers
Sun City Picture House, (Haiti), World Premiere, directed by David Darg

All You Can Eat (Narrative) Recommended for ages 14 and up

This tasty assortment of animated shorts will leave you hungry for more. A polar bear in Hollywood has trouble going with the floe in The Beaufort Diaries. Love isn't what it s cracked up to be in Not Over Easy. In Year Zero a sole survivor battles the zombie apocalypse in New York City. A lonely and bitter Easter Bunny hatches a plan to steal the spotlight from Santa in Preferably Blue. Follow the lives of seemingly random characters in Just That Sort of a Day. A man s journey through grief is revealed in A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation. It's a ravishing ride through an imaginary animated landscape in Harmonium Mountain.

The Beaufort Diaries, (USA) New York Premiere, directed by Alex Petrowsky, written by T Cooper
Not Over Easy, (Canada), New York Premiere, directed by Jordan Canning, written by Jody Richardson and Jordan Canning
Year Zero, (USA), World Premiere, directed and written by Richard Cunningham III
Preferably Blue, (New Zealand), New York Premiere, directed by Alan Dickson, written by Wayne Ching
Just That Sort of a Day, (India), New York Premiere, directed and written by Abhay Kumar
A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation, (Germany), New York Premiere, directed by Martin Wallner and Stefan Leuchtenberg, written by Martin Wallner