Rush Documentary Wins Tribeca Audience Award

A documentary about Canadian prog-rock pioneers Rush has won the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage had its world premiere at the Festival, which was honored during Saturday night's wrap party as the crowd favorite.

The win nets directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn $25,000, and to paraphrase the band's Geddy Lee from the McKenzie Brothers' "Take Off," you know, twenty-five-thousand bucks is twenty-five-thousand bucks. The film is a chronology of the band's progression, and you won't have to wait long to see it: Apparently, a limited release is scheduled for June, when one of the longest-lived rock bands heads back out on the road. Here's the blah blah from Nancy Schafer, Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Festival:

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'Shrek Forever After' Opening Tribeca Film Festival

I won't pretend to know the financial specifics of putting on a major film festival, so let's assume for the moment that they're really, really expensive. Then let's take that festival and put it in America's largest city, where venue rental and other costs would cost more than say, Des Moines. So while it may defeat the purpose of what think film festivals are about when Tribeca announces that its opening night film will be Shrek Forever After, they gotta pay the bills.

Tribeca kicks off on April 21st, a month before Shrek opens in theaters, and runs through May 2nd. The official slate of films will be announced on March 10th and 15th. But why is the festival opening with Shrek, if it's not the money? “We have always sought to open our Festival with films that are captivating and strike an emotional chord with movie-goers. Shrek Forever After combines the very best in storytelling and artistry while showcasing the wonders of innovative 3-D filmmaking," said festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal without a hint of irony.

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'Best Worst Movie' Gets Great Trailer

I had never seen Troll 2 until there was a legitimate reason to. For years, it was thought of as just a bad movie, but sometime in the past five years, it officially reached cult status as a movie so bad it had to be watched and appreciated. Or depreciated, as the case may be.

The star of that film, Michael Paul Stephenson, was just a kid when Troll 2 was released straight to video, but after realizing that bad movie fans held it in such high esteem, he decided to chronicle the bizarre adoration for one of the worst films ever made. The result, Best Worst Movie, played at Tribeca this past week, and based on the reaction it has received there and at SXSW, I'm hopeful we'll see the documentary in theaters by the end of the year. Here's an extended trailer for Best Worst Movie, which makes me wonder where From Justin to Kelly ranks on that list.

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'Speed Racer' To Close Tribeca Film Festival

The uber-trendy Tribeca Film Festival will close this year's festivities with one of summer's most anticipated titles, the Wachowski Brothers' big screen adaptation of Speed Racer.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the film will buck the tradition of playing in uptown theaters and will instead debut downtown. Of course, I'm no New Yorker, but the last time I visited Tribeca, it wasn't anywhere near uptown and it's not like Manhattan has a paucity of theaters, so why the tradition of having the debuts uptown makes no sense to me at all.

In previous years, Tribeca has hosted Spider-Man 3 and Mission: Impossible 3. Several members of the Speed Racer cast reportedly appearing at the film's May 3rd screening, making it an even more valuable ticket.

Over its first few years in existence, Tribeca has already become probably the second most valuable week to ten days of movies in America, behind only Sundance. And even that's debatable.

The festival offers world cinema, over 200 films total, and more than 20 noncompetitive films of both the narrative and documentary variety. And Baby Mama, it should be noted. Another format that sets Tribeca apart from literally every other film festival in the world is its partnership with ESPN on a sports film festival as part of the main festivities.

Tribeca runs April 23rd - May 4th.