Tribeca 2019 Will Close With Danny Boyle’s ‘Yesterday,’ Adds ‘Apocalypse Now’ Restoration and More
The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival has announced a number of additions to this year’s lineup, including its Closing Night title, a Trey Anastasio-centric documentary, and new films and new details in a particularly stacked Anniversaries section. This year’s festival will close with the world premiere of Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle’s “Yesterday,” which imagines a world in which everyone — save for one budding musician — suddenly forgets about The Beatles. Universal Pictures will release the film later this summer. As was previously announced, the festival will open at New York’s iconic Apollo Theater with the world premiere of Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams’ documentary, “The Apollo” from HBO Documentary Films.
The festival has also announced that it will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” as a Gala presentation at the Beacon Theatre. For the first time ever, audiences will see “Apocalypse Now: Final Cut,” remastered in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos from a 4K scan of the original negative. “Restoring ‘Apocalypse Now: Final Cut’ forty 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,” said Coppola in an official statement.
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Tribeca is also playing home to anniversary screenings of “Say Anything…,” “This Is Spinal Tap,” and “Reality Bites,” and new details about each event, including cast reunions and post-screening discussions, have been officially added to the schedule. Steven Cantor’s Trey Anastasio-centric documentary “Between Me and My Mind” will also debut at the festival, and will be followed by a special performance by Trey Anastasio Band.
“This year, we are bringing some of the most iconic storytellers of our time back to the ‘big screen’ for our audiences by creating events and reunions for beloved films,” said Tribeca EVP Paula Weinstein in an official statement.
As previously announced, the festival’s full feature lineup includes fifty-two narratives and 51 documentaries that will debut throughout the 12-day festival. The competition section features 12 documentaries, 10 U.S. narratives, and 10 international narratives. The event will also host 15 spotlight narratives, 16 spotlight documentaries, as well as five Midnight features, and 17 Viewpoints selections.
This year’s edition of the Manhattan festival, runs April 24 – May 5. Check out Tribeca’s newest additions below, with all synopses provided by the festival.
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 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. 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.
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
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.
“Apocalypse Now”
“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.
“Reality Bites” – 25th Anniversary
Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke star in Ben Stiller’s 1994 feature film directorial debut, the iconic comedy-drama that defined a generation of independent moviegoing-and-moviegoers with its achingly-relatable portrait of early 90’s disaffected youth struggling to live and love amid the brutal reality of (almost) adulthood.
In the film, written by Helen Childress, Lelaina Pierce (Ryder) navigates her post-college disillusionment by turning the camera on her friends: the free-spirited Vickie (Janeane Garofalo); Sammy (Steve Zahn), struggling to come out to his conservative parents; and the passionate but direction-less Troy (Hawke), with whom Lelaina is romantically-entwined until video executive Michael (Stiller, who co-stars) arrives with the promise of both budding romance and the chance for Lelaina to cash in on her dreams—but at what expense?
“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.
“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.
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 of 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.
“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.
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