Tribeca Film Festival edition of Talking Movies. Im tom brook. In todays programme, with sections on gaming, television and Virtual Reality, is tribeca moving away from just being a Film Festival . We will always be about film, there is no question. That is in our dna. It was a festival in which the wonders of Virtual Reality were fully on display. If you sit in a Movie Theatre and the character turns and looks at the camera, they call it breaking the fourth wall. But in vr, there are no walls. Plus tribeca had movies from around the world. A drama set in china, and the story of womens emancipation in switzerland in the 19705. They actually had these arguments in the 19705. They were like if women do politics, it is apocalypse. Then there were tribecas political films, for politically charged, confusing times. We are living in a surreal time. I just dont know what to make of it. And a feature on people for whom the environment makes them ill. All that and more in this special, tribeca Film Festival edition of Talking Movies. New yorks landmark Radio City Music Hall is home to the World Famous Synchronised Dancers known as the rockettes. But this year, it has also played host to the launch of a rather different kind of showbiz robert de niros tribeca Film Festival. I have learned through the years that clive really has a weakness for artists. A Documentary Profile Of Legendary American Musical Executive clive davis opened the festival, a man who has influenced the careers of such artists as barry manilow, patti smith, bruce springsteen, aretha franklin, and many more. That he is still going strong, at age 85, impressed festival co Founder Robert de niro. I am not close to his age, but im getting there. So i have. He is an inspiration. The longer he keeps going, the better it is for me. This two hour documentary was put together by a filmmaker who has packed a lot into it. Everything. 55 to 58 interviews, Something Like that. Just an unbelievable amount of music and art and artists and executives. It is just a blizzard of stars, and things that people have relationships with. You know, it is the history of popular music, 50 years. Every so often, somebody turned out to be a big hit. There is much to admire in clive davis his ability to spot and nurture talent, his tenacity. But the film is not a warts and all exposure. It is a puff piece, in that it only tells his side of the story, and there is nothing in it that makes him look at all negative. It was kind of typical for a tribeca opening night, where often you have got a big gala event organised around a very Important Media figure. And so they show a documentary that is fairly complimentary to that person, in order to tie in the sort of celebrations, in this case a big concert, with lots of people. Tribecas 12 day festival isnt designed with the Highbrow Cineaste in mind. There are lots to choose from, everything from a thriller with tom hanks and emma watson, to a political satire set in india, to issue related documentaries, to a portrait of the late actor heath ledger. No longerjust a Film Festival, tribeca also unveiled tv shows, Virtual Reality projects, and gaming. As technology has changed, the way distribution has changed, we are about storytelling, and good storytelling, whether or not it is in gaming, or amazing documentaries, short films, and great narratives. This is the first tribeca festival since donald trump became president. These are politically charged times, Giving Tribeca Films which touch on politics a special resonance. One looking back is the reagan show, examining president ronald reagan, and how the administration of the long time hollywood actor used television to its advantage. The film is made up entirely of archival footage from the time. The business that i used to be in said save something for the third act, and we will. The images suggest that the Reagan Administration governed by relying on what social commentators have termed post truth politics. Post truth politics is a world in which politics is more about the spectacle, and the Entertainment Value of the event, rather than any kind of real world, verifiable facts, evidence, truth. So, if the Reagan Administration planted the seeds of post truth politics, then the Trump Administration has really been harvesting that crop. Tribeca is closing with screenings of the godfather and godfather part ii. Robert de niro thinks that they connected with audiences because, at a time when the social fabric in america appeared to be fraying, they present a strong portrait of a family. People felt more connected to that than they did to the disillusion and the cynicism and suspicion of the government, and so on. I think that that just. I am oversimplifying it, but that had a lot to do with it, in some way. To many new yorkers, tribeca, is a Welcome Hodgepodge of movies and affiliated activities, often proves very engaging. But the festival is yet to launch a truly memorable picture that comes to define it. During festival time, there was much talk about a sideshow that could become the main show in years to come Virtual Reality. All told, some 30 different Virtual Reality projects were on display, each attracting a lot of interest. Tristan daley went along to investigate. 0n the fifth floor of the tribeca festival hub, participants with headsets covering their eyes walk around waving their hands in the air, interacting with a world only they can see. Tribeca is one of several Film Festivals across the world to be demonstrating burgeoning Virtual Reality technology, with a number of different installations, in a time when the market for this gadgetry is rapidly expanding. But tribeca specially designed their Exhibition Space to bring the most out of their Virtual Reality experiences. These installations are not in your living room. So when you go into one of these pieces, you are notjust putting the headset on. You are actually entering the installation that has been built specifically for the space, so it is actually a bespoke experience. And it is actually a very. It is like a collective experience, because people talk about vr being very lonely, but what i love about this is we are figuring out ways to bring people into spaces and actually have them be part of something that feels collective. They are very excited about the cutting edge nature of these projects, claiming creators are pushing the possibilities of Virtual Reality to its limits. Treehugger wawona is a project in which participants creep up the trunk of a tree, and are able to see it produce oxygen. Creators wanted to immerse the audience not only in the sights and sounds, but also the actual smell of the tree. Weve got a scent release system, so that adds. When you push ahead through the bark, through the sap, to the internals of tree, the sound changes and the scent changes. The more you are pushed into that world, with your senses, the more real thatjourney feels. So we are always pushing the limits of that, and we have got the sculptural elements, and your touch aligns with the virtual feed. Unlike traditional Motion Picture formats, Virtual Reality thrusts viewers into a virtual 3 d space in which, most times, you can see 360 degrees around you. Some veteran filmmakers, like steven spielberg, are daunted by the new technology, saying it takes control away from the storytellers, giving the audience more choice on where to look. The advent of Virtual Reality has given filmmakers a new Storytelling Vocabulary that is distinct from cinema. Eric darnell, the director of the madagascar animation franchise, brought rainbow crow to tribeca this year. It is a retelling of a native american folk tale. To him, Virtual Reality is a medium in its own right. Coming from the film world i have directed a number of films, and i thought, easy, this is going to be no big deal, ive done this for 25 years. But i got humble really quick when i got into vr, and realised that it is just not the same. It just feels different, it looks different. Audiences respond to it in different ways. You know, if you sit in a Movie Theatre and a character turns to camera, i dont really feel like they are looking at me. You know, they call it breaking the fourth wall. But in vr, there are no walls, and that is a Pretty Amazing experience for audiences. This whole space is in such a period of flux. And what is so interesting about all this technology is, every time you get your hands around one thing, and you figure out how it works, like, tribeca next year is going to look completely different. It just keeps changing. Many challenges lie ahead for this medium, such as how best to harness Virtual Reality to tell original stories, and how to develop mass distribution, so hundreds can share the same Virtual Reality experience simultaneously. And commercially, a priority remains developing an effective business model, so this new technology can be monetised. Now, on to some tribeca films in a bit more detail. It goes without saying that tribeca is an american festival. After all, it takes place on american soil. But this year, films from some 31 Different Countries were shown, among them king of peking, set and shot in china. Basically it is a father son relationship drama, but it is also an ode to cinema, as our correspondent reports. Set in china in 1998, king of peking is a layered comedy about a projectionist, his love for movies, and even greater love for his son. The story is about a father who is a projectionist. He has got a son who works with him in business, which is they travel around china, or rural parts of china, and they screen movies for villagers. And his projector catches fire, and they have to start finding new ways to work together. The ex wife is putting an enormous amount of financial pressure on them, on the father. She has basically given them an ultimatum that, unless he pays x amount of money, he is basically not going to have custody of his child anymore. And that is why he goes to the great expense of bootlegging movies in order to keep his son. He even rolls himself up with film to smuggle them to the basement, where he makes his dvds. According to voutas, the digital age phenomenally transformed cinema in china. It was really only when dvds entered the market, in the 1990s, and vcds, different types of video discs, that these movies were able to enter the home, and be consumed by people who beforehand didnt have access to these type of stories. And voutas says an easy way to get your hands on a dvd copy of your favourite movie was from a bootlegger on the street. He got the idea for the story when one of his previous films, also set in china, was bootlegged in real life. It was sort of a spark that got me writing. So our previous film, within a week it was on the streets of beijing. And, rather than get angry, i was actually very impressed with the creativity that the bootleggers had. They had done their own artwork, they had done their own credits, really interesting stuff. So i realised that there was a creative element to the bootlegging, and that is how it started. It is more of a sort of. I guess you could say it is a celebration of the creativity of that of that world. King of peking is sam voutass first film to premiere at the tribeca Film Festival. Support doesnt guarantee him wide scale success, but he hopes that the exposure from this festival will bring a wide audience from those who only saw his last film on bootleg. While making movie about the bootlegging industry in china is clever, and a bit tongue in cheek, for the producer of the film, it all comes back to one thing a tale of a father and his son. It is a love letter, father to son and son to father, as well as of father to cinema, and to his passions in life. The real heart of the film is about love. People whose lives are destabilised by products like house paint, perfume, even mobile phones. These are the individuals scrutinised in the tribeca documentary The Sensitives. People who have whats termed multiple chemical sensitivity. The subjects of powerful new documentary, drew xanthopouloss The Sensitives, live day to day in a unique distressing predicament. They suffer from a new Chronic Disorder that the mainstream medical community largely recognises as real, but has not yet developed any treatment or medication for. It has a name multiple chemical sensitivity. But because the symptoms vary so dramatically, many suffers struggle to even define their illness. He started having trouble at work with his colleagues, their personal hygiene, their shampoos, things like that. What they have in common is theyve developed these debilitating reactions to commonplace things in the environment, things that we take for granted, like Garden Pesticides or house paint, perfume and colognes, and even cellphones, wireless routers, things like that. The degree to which each of those things affects them varies and the kinds of reactions, the way it manifests, also has a fair amount of variation. What they share in common is the things that most of us are unaffected by in small amounts affects them immensely. This radio is an at home way to figure out if any electrical appliances are spewing out electromagnetic fields. In order to function with any normalcy, the subjects of The Sensitives must dramatically rearrange their lives. Some move to remote areas where there are fewer man made chemicals and electronics, others create safe spaces in their homes and where a mask any time they leave. Even documenting their lives was a unique challenge for the filmmakers, since the cameras and microphones needed to capture these stories often made the subjects physically sick. They were unsure of the effects that the camera would have on them because obviously they normally avoid things like that at all costs, but they signed up to be part of this project because they felt like their stories being told would help other people like them feel less lonely and less marginalised, like theyre not the only ones. So there were many moments where i had to stop shooting because the subjects were feeling uncomfortable with what was going on and most of the film i keep a healthy distance between the subject and myself. This is a story that could have been told in a variety of ways. The filmmakers could have done a conventional Talking Heads style documentary with members of the medical community, they could have focused on the companies that create these chemicals and electronics. Instead The Sensitives looks at its subjects through a personal lens, examining how this unique illness impacts their relationships. Weve really protected him against his chemical sensitivities. The story of the caregivers was just as important as those who were afflicted with them. I mean, its the other half of the story, its what grounds their identity. Are there loved one sticking by and keeping them in contact with the world . A 96 year old grandmother who delivers mail and supplies and tries to bring some kind of levity to their life every day. Or a wife who tries to keep her husband sane by thinking and interacting with his grandchildren through all this. So their stories to me were just as compelling as those who were sick and also served as a really important bridge to everyone that would watch this film. When youre that impaired, it can really make you feel like dirt. For instance, going to the store each day, people usually notice that youre not acting like everyone else, but they dont really know whats going on. Whenever we are confronted with an illness we dont understand, we almost always put the blame on the person whos sick. Multiple sclerosis, before we understood how it works, you were an hysterical woman, thats why youre feeling this way. Ptsd was, oh, youre a man with a weak constitution. Man up. Aids was, oh, you are gay. Thats why this is coming upon you. All they had in common was before we knew what was going on, we phrased it in such a way that it put blame on the person who was sick. Its your fault, youre your own worst enemy. I think these people suffered the same kind of treatment, being that people were saying, oh, its all in your head, its all your fault. Id like this film to encourage discussion that gets us past that and break that pattern. When i was scrutinising the tribeca lineup this year for films that Talking Movies could possibly cover, i was startled by the write up for one of them which mentioned that women in switzerland didnt get the right to vote until very late, 1971. The Tribeca Film The Divine 0rder looks at the story of one womans emancipation in that time. In the divine 0rder, the films protagonist is nora, a Dutiful Swiss wife who, without complaints, tends to the needs of her husband, father in law and two children. But she wants more she wants to work. At that time in switzerland, women couldnt work without permission from their husbands. Shesjust a regular person in the village, shes very busy with her kids and then she finds out, when her husband forbids her to work, that she is actually really affected by these discriminatory laws in switzerland and also that she cant vote, so she starts to be angry about it and she starts to become a rebel and fight for it. A5 the divine 0rder makes clear, womens rights in early 19705 switzerland were minimal. 1971, its 46 years ago. Its nothing and they had no right. They had no right to go to work, no right to open up a bank account. They couldnt sign a contract without the will of a man. Having women involved in the political process was seen as being against gods law, against a divine order. The film doesnt directly addre55 why switzerland, commonly thought of a5 quite a modern country, was so late in granting women the right to vote. There are several possible explanations. I think the big reason is that switzerland is a deeply conservative country and very opposed to change. And switzerland has always been kind of well, like, after the Second World War the world was in shreds, but switzerland was still 0k. So they didnt see the necessity. They were like, but we are fine everything is fine, we shouldnt change it. In the film, one of the most visible local opponents in granting women the right to vote is a woman, the head of the anti politicisation of womens action committee. Many swiss women were opposed to universal suffrage. I thought that was a very intriguing antagonist because it is so surprising that its a woman. I read a whole dissertation on them. I thought thats more interesting. I think patriarchy in the end affects everybody, Men And Women, and i wanted to break up that strict war line between Men And Women because its not between Men And Women. I deeply believe that equality is good for Men And Women. The film has already opened in switzerland. Its a Story Of Female Empowerment which really resonated with the picture arriving in cinemas at the time of the worldwide womens march, in the wake of president trumps inauguration. I think, with the current political atmosphere, i think the film has become more timely than we anticipated a year ago. Because the film is also about civil courage, about standing up and voicing your opinion, about fighting for justice and equality. This story of swiss womens emancipation is quite good cinema. Marie leuenberger is solemnly convincing in the central role of nora and the divine 0rder very effectively paints a picture of an inward looking, rigid community, almost hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world, that threatens to suffocate its inhabitants. Well, that brings this special tribeca Film Festival edition of Talking Movies to a close. We hope youve enjoyed the programme. Please remember, you can always reach us online and you can find us on facebook too. So, from me tom brook and the rest of the Talking Movies production crew here in new york, its goodbye. We leave you with a clip from a tribeca Virtual Reality project called life of us, which is a story of evolution on earth. Hello there. Well, Tuesday We Saw a big contrast in Weather Conditions across the country. The further west you were, the better the sunshine as you were sheltered from the easterly breeze. In fact, Western Scotland fared best with wall to wall sunshine and a top temperature of 21 degrees. It was cloudier further east, especially in the south east. So it led to a bit of a disappointing afternoon, but it was still fairly warm. Through the night, we will hold onto this contrast. Breeze in the south east. In fact, Patchy Light Rain Moving in from the near continent because of a Weather System there. Further north and west, lengthy clear skies in the west. So a recipe for a chilly start on wednesday morning. A touch of frost in the Western Glens and a bit of mist and fog too. So well start the tour of scotland. Plenty of sunshine through the morning. A bit of a chilly start. Low cloud through the central belt this will tend to burn away quickly. Lots of sunshine for Northern Ireland and the north of england. The north midlands as well seeing some sunshine, as well as northern wales. Some sunny spells into cornwall and devon. But elsewhere, a cloudy and disappointing start. Some cloud big enough for light rain and drizzle in the south east and maybe london as well. Out on the breeze, itll actually feel quite nippy. Through the day, there will not be much change. Cool and cloudy across the south east with further patchy light rain. The further north and west, the better the sunshine. A little bit cooler than what we saw on tuesday. A top temperature of 17 18 degrees potentially across Western Scotland. Itll feel very pleasant in the strong early may sunshine. But itll be 12 or lower on the east coast, especially when you have the cloud. The reason for the chill on the north coast is the temperatures in the ocean not more than 8 10. With the cloud, temperatures on the coast will feel disappointing for early may. So through the rest of wednesday evening, cloudy for a proportion of england and wales. Light and patchy rain. For thursday, a similar picture. Plenty of cloud for england and wales. Patchy light rain. Feeling a bit chilly. The best of the sunny spells in the north and the west of the uk. The top temperature of around 111 15 degrees. On friday, the breeze picks up even more, so it will feel nippier, particularly close to the coast. The best of the sunshine in northern and western areas. Temperatures range from around 10 15 degrees. 0n into the weekend, a ridge of High Pressure keeping the Weather System that day. So it stays largely fine and dry. Chilly on the coast. 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