07/03/2017 - Son of Sofia, Tom of Finland and Ice Mother, among the European co-productions which will compete at the festival

Following up on her well-travelled The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Psykou
film profile], which picked up top honours in Karlovy Vary’s Works in Progress section in 2012 and world-premiered in the Berlinale Forum in 2013, Elina Psykou’s sophomore feature, Son of Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elina Psykou
film profile], has secured a spot for its debut in the Tribeca Film Festival’s international competition, along with five other European co-productions. 

Dubbed as a dark but tender coming-of-age story, Psykou’s Greco-Franco-Bulgarian co-production (with world sales handled by Heretic Outreach) will attempt to tread the line between dream and reality, as it follows an 11-year-old boy from Russia who arrives in the shiny and bright Athenian landscape of the 2004 Olympics in order to reunite with his long-estranged mother – the titular Sofia. What he’s unaware of is that a new father is also expecting him in Athens, where the young boy will be violently thrust into a dark and adult world that by no means resembles his dreamy expectations. 

Rounding off the European delegation in Tribeca’s International Narrative section, where they will compete for the Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actor and Best Actress Awards, will be Dome Karukoski’s Tom of Finland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dome Karukoski
film profile] (Finland/Sweden/Denmark/Germany), Rainer Sarnet’s November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rea Lest
film profile] (Estonia/the Netherlands/Poland), Julia Solomonoff’s Nobody's Watching [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Colombia/Argentina/Brazil/USA/Spain), Bohdan Sláma’s Ice Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia/France) and Petra Volpe’s The Divine Order [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Petra Volpe
film profile] (Switzerland).

Moreover, Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Germany), Guillaume Canet’s Rock'n Roll [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (France) and Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip to Spain (UK) will be screened out of competition in the Spotlight section, while another four European documentaries will vie for the Best Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Editing Awards within Tribeca’s Documentary section.

Featuring 98 feature-length titles from 30 countries, including 78 world premieres, the 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival will take place from 19-30 April.