DJ AM Doc, Schwarzenegger Zombie Movie Lead Tribeca Lineup
A documentary detailing the life and influence of the late DJ AM, as well as a new zombie flick that pairs Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin are among the slew of films set for special screenings at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Music doc veteran Kevin Kerslake wrote and directed As I AM: the Life and Times of DJ AM, which examines Adam Goldstein’s remarkable rise from mash-up pioneer to the first million-dollar DJ, while also digging into musician’s struggle with drug addiction that would lead to his untimely death in 2009.
As for Maggie, the Henry Hobson-directed film puts a spin on the traditional zombie movie and finds Schwarzenegger playing Wade, a father who must protect his daughter, Maggie (Breslin) after she becomes sick and the authorities come looking to eradicate anyone with the zombie virus.
Both films are featured in the festival’s Spotlight section, which also includes Mojave, written and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) and starring Oscar Isaac in the story of a Hollywood director who stumbles across a drifter claiming that he’s the devil. Orange Is the New Black‘s own Joe Caputo, actor Nick Sandow, will also premiere his new film The Wannabe, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and stars Patricia Arquette and Vincent Piazza as two nobodies who begin robbing the New York mafia elite.
Among the Spotlight documentary selections are Roseanne for President, which chronicles Roseanne Barr’s 2012 presidential campaign, and two films that discuss the causes and current state of income inequality in America: Michael Winterbottom and Russell Brand’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, and Requiem for the American Dream, which is centered around a series of interviews with Noam Chomsky.
Tribeca also has a number of special events lined up for this year’s festival, including a concert from Mary J. Blige following the screening of Mary J. Blige – The London Sessions, which looks at the making of the singer’s ambitious last album; and a presentation of Harold Lloyd’s silent comedy classic, Speedy, which will feature a new soundtrack performed live by DJ Z-Trip. Also on the docket is a screening of the cult classic, The Room, complete with real time commentary from Rifftrax, the brainchild of Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett.
A full list and schedule of this year’s screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival will be is available on its website. The 2015 TFF will take place between April 15th and 26th, and will open with the premiere of Live From New York!, a new documentary chronicling the last 40-years of American culture and politics through the lens of Saturday Night Live.