Danny Boyle's Yesterday, Apocalypse Now restoration to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival has added two directorial powerhouses to its 2019 lineup.
Oscar-winning Danny Boyle is set to world-premiere his latest film Yesterday as the upcoming event’s closing night title, while legendary filmmaker (and five-time Academy Award winner) Francis Ford Coppola will present a never-before-seen, restored version of his classic Vietnam War-set film Apocalypse Now in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos from a 4K scan of the original negative in honor of its 40th anniversary, per a festival announcement Thursday.
Yesterday — starring Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon, and Ed Sheeran as himself — follows a struggling musician who’s hit by a bus and awakens to discover he’s the only person in the world who remembers the music of the Beatles. He then plagiarizes their songs and becomes a global superstar.
“This isn’t a time travel movie but it feels like introducing the Beatles music to America for the first time-again,” the Slumdog Millionaire director said of the project vis press statement, while Coppola added: “Restoring Apocalypse Now: Final Cut 40 years later has been a tremendous undertaking and joy that I am thrilled to be able to share with the world for the first time at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The audience will be able to see, hear and feel this film how I always hoped it could be—from the first ‘bang’ to the final whimper.”
Also joining the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival lineup are a 30th anniversary screening and a cast and crew reunion for Cameron Crowe’s 1989 coming-of-age romance Say Anything… starring John Cusack, the world premiere of Between Me and My Mind, a documentary about Phish lead singer Trey Anastasio (followed by a performance from Anastasio), as well as the premiere of Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival documentary about competitive hot dog eating titled The Good, The Bad, The Hungry.
Previously announced special presentations set for the Robert De Niro- and Jane Rosenthal-founded festival’s 18th edition include the world premiere of Oscar-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams’ The Apollo theater documentary at the film’s titular venue as well as screenings of two classic films: Rob Reiner’s directorial debut, This Is Spinal Tap (which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year), and Ben Stiller’s 25-year-old freshman filmmaking effort, Reality Bites.
Among other features headed to the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival are the Margot Robbie-produced, Oklahoma-set historical drama Dreamland, which also stars the I, Tonya actress as bank robber Allison Wells, Zac Efron’s chronicle of murderer Ted Bundy Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile will also make the jump from Sundance to Manhattan for a Tribeca screening; Downsizing star Hong Chau’s speculative drama based on the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst in 1974, as told from the perspective of a pacifistic associate of the Symbionese Liberation Army, Christoph Waltz’s directorial feature debut Georgetown (starring Annette Bening and Vanessa Redgrave), and Moving Parts, a documentary about RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars 3 champion Trixie Mattel‘s rise to fame as a folk music artist and drag superstar.
The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 24 through May 5. Pass and package information is available on the festival’s website. Tickets for events at the Beacon Theatre go on sale beginning March 19 at 11 a.m. ET; Single tickets for all other festival events go on sale March 26 at 11 a.m. ET. Read on for more details on the festival’s just-announced gala and reunion additions.
CLOSING NIGHT
Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle, screenplay by Richard Curtis, story by Jack Barth and Richard Curtis, produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Bernie Bellew, Matthew James Wilkinson, Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle. (UK) – World Premiere.
Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal. From Academy Award®-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) and Richard Curtis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill, comes a rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life.
Jack Malik (Himesh Patel, BBC’s Eastenders) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again). Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed … and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed.
Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, and with a little help from his steel-hearted American agent, Debra (Emmy winner Kate McKinnon), Jack’s fame explodes. But as his star rises, he risks losing Ellie — the one person who always believed in him. With the door between his old life and his new closing, Jack will need to get back to where he once belonged and prove that all you need is love. A Universal Pictures release.
DATE: Saturday, May 4
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
GALA
Between Me and My Mind, directed by Steven Cantor. Produced by Jamie Schutz. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Driven by a constant need to create, Phish frontman Trey Anastasio takes on new projects, including some of his most personal music to date as well as Phish’s ambitious New Year’s Eve show at Madison Square Garden
After the Premiere Screening: a special performance by Trey Anastasio Band
DATE: Friday, April 26
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre
ANNIVERSARIES
Apocalypse Now – 40th Anniversary & Restoration
Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now will celebrate its 40th Anniversary at the Festival with a screening of a new, never-before-seen restored version of the film, entitled Apocalypse Now: Final Cut. Remastered from the original negative in 4K Ultra HD, the film will be brought to life with Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, delivering spectacular colors and highlights that are up to 40 times brighter and blacks that are 10 times darker, and Dolby Atmos, producing moving audio that flows all around you with breathtaking realism. The Beacon Theatre will also be outfitted for this exclusive occasion with Meyer VLFC (Very Low Frequency Control), a ground-breaking loudspeaker system engineered to output audio frequencies below the limits of human hearing, giving the audience a truly visceral experience.
Nominated for eight Academy Awards®, Francis Ford Coppola’s stunning vision of the heart of darkness in all of us remains a classic and compelling Vietnam War epic. Martin Sheen stars as Army Captain Willard, a troubled man sent on a dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost. [Released August 15, 1979]
After the Screening: An evening with Francis Ford Coppola who will reflect on the film and discuss its elaborate restoration.
DATE: Sunday, April 28
TIME: 5:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre
Say Anything… – 30th Anniversary
Thirty years ago, Cameron Crowe shifted the landscape of romantic comedies with his remarkable and deeply felt debut that chronicled, with tender and warm-hearted authenticity, a vivid tale of first love. Charting the blooming romance between recent high-school graduates Lloyd (John Cusack) and Diane (Ione Sky), Crowe gave audiences one of cinema’s most indelible and enduring romantic movie moments: a lovesick boy, standing outside a girl’s window, asking her to love him with the help of Peter Gabriel and a boombox. Three decades later, Say Anything… continues to give off the affectionate, enveloping glow of first love. [Released April 1, 1989]
After the Screening: A conversation with director Cameron Crowe, executive producer James L. Brooks, and cast members John Cusack and Ione Skye.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Reality Bites – 25th Anniversary
Reality Bites may have been for and about Generation X, but has proven itself a timeless, decades-spanning classic. [Released February 18, 1994]
After the Screening: A conversation reuniting director Ben Stiller, writer Helen Childress, actors Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, producer Michael Shamberg, and executive producer Stacey Sher.
DATE: Saturday, May 4
TIME: 2:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
This Is Spinal Tap – 35th Anniversary
Spinal Tap is the loudest band in England and they’re making a comeback with a North American tour promoting their new album “Smell the Glove.” Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) sets out to make a documentary of the legendary rock band’s exploits on the road, featuring front men Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), bearing witness to the highs and lows of what makes a musician into a rock star. [Released March 2, 1984]
After the Screening: This Is Spinal Tap stars and creators Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Rob Reiner, will pay tribute to the band with a special musical performance and a conversation to follow.
DATE: Saturday, April 27
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: Beacon Theatre
13TH ANNUAL TRIBECA/ESPN SPORTS FILM FESTIVAL GALA
The Good, The Bad, The Hungry, directed by Nicole Lucas Haimes. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Fortitude. Honor. Tradition. Two rivals address the years on animosity that defined their careers and their shared dream of achieving greatness on the world’s biggest stage: the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. An ESPN Films release.
DATE: Friday, April 26
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) – Star Wars Tribeca Family Day
Nineteen years after the formation of the Empire, Luke Skywalker is thrust into the struggle of the Rebel Alliance when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived for years in seclusion on the desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as Luke joins him on a daring mission to rescue the beautiful Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of the evil Empire. Although Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader, his former apprentice, Luke proves that the Force is with him by destroying the Empire’s dreaded Death Star.
This is a first-come-first-serve free family event. Costumes are welcomed. May the 4th be with you.
DATE: Saturday, May 4
TIME: 10:00 AM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
