Tribeca 2013 Preview: Documentary And Narrative Competitions

It's Tribeca time again as the film fest kicks off tomorrow in typical New York fashion with The National rock-doc Mistaken for Strangers. We took a look at that film, the other galas, and the midnight lineup yesterday -- and today we turn our attention to the documentary and narrative competitions. The documentary competition specifically has become a real focus for Tribeca in recent years. Here are a few films in each of those sections that caught our eye.

World Documentary Competition


MICHAEL H. PROFESSION: DIRECTOR
Prolific behind-the-scenes documentarian Yves Montmayeur takes a look at the man, the myth, the legend, and the twitter account of director Michael Haneke.


TEENAGE
Based on a book by Jon Savage and narrated by Jena Malone, Ben Whishaw, Julia Hummer and Jessie Usher, director Matt Wolf's documentary examines the very notion of an age existing between childhood and life as an adult.


POWERLESS
Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar's documentary looks at modern day Robin Hoods who put themselves at great risk by robbing electricity from paying customers to provide it to those too poor for power.


OXYANA
Sean Dunne's feature directorial debut is this look at the OxyContin abuse epidemic gripping the small town of Oceana, West Virginia. The film is scored by indie folk band Deer Tick.


ALIAS RUBY BLADE: A STORY OF LOVE AND REVOLUTION
Docu editor Alex Meiller's (Capitalism: A Love Story) directorial debut is this enthralling-looking docu about Timor-Leste covert documentarian-turned-activist Kirsty Sword Gusmão.


BIG MEN
Rachel Boynton (Our Brand is Crisis) takes a look at the huge personal costs of big oil doing business in West Africa in her latest docu, executive produced by Brad Pitt


THE KILL TEAM
Veteran docu cinematographer Dan Krauss reports firsthand accounts of battlefield from the US soldiers accused of gratuitous killings of Afghan civilians.

World Narrative Competition


SUNLIGHT JR.
Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon star in this Florida-set domestic poverty drama from Laurie Collyer, director of Sundance 2006 awards title Sherrybaby.


WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW?
Arvin Chen's follow-up to Au Revoir Taipei takes another crack at the Taiwanese romantic comedy genre with this multi-threaded Berlin-premiering narrative.


BLUEBIRD
Indie editor Lance Edmands's (Tiny Furniture, Nobody Walks) feature directorial debut is this small town drama starring Amy Morton, John Slattery, Louisa Krause, Emily Meade, Margo Martindale, and Adam Driver.


THE ROCKET
This rural Laos-set adventure from Aussie director Kim Mordaunt looks to be all kinds of fun.


BEFORE SNOWFALL
There may not be a lot of competition, but it is completely fair to call Hisham Zaman's border crossing adventure the most interesting sounding Kurdish language Norwegian-German co-production this year.


THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
My quick pitch for Felix Van Groeningen's follow-up to Cannes '09 title The Misfortunates is a Flemish Blue Valentine involving a couple who are obsessed with American country/western living.