The Campus

Media Credit: Still from the film - DP Mathias Shoningh Olga and Robert contemplate their last tango in Belgrade. [Click to enlarge]

It's all over but the applause: undertaking a risky star turn by mounting fewer films but with hopeful mega-box-office lustre, this eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival exceeded expectations in a Kentucky Derby wrap weekend that witnessed even 50-1 long-shots transformed into overnight constellations both on the track and on the screen.

In the Tribeca field, two films in exhibition - "Here & There" and "Handsome Harry," seemingly as disparate as night and day - crossed paths in magical and mystical fashion on the arc of heartbreak, hope and healing. "Here & There" garnered the prize for "Best New York Narrative" film in competition; the category was juried by Adrien Brody, Karen Durbin, Richard Ledes, Melissa Leo, Parker Posey, Andre Leon Talley, and Beau Willimon.

In 1991 on the highway of life, the now accomplished and acclaimed Darko Lungulov, who wrote and directed "Here & There," was not even an 100-1 shot; today, his movie is a clear winner. In 1991, Mr. Lungulov sought to flee the raging inferno of war-torn former Yugoslavia by seeking refuge in New York. Mr. Lungulov was unknowingly gathering the seeds for what would blossom both there and here when he enrolled as an undergraduate in the City College of New York, focusing on film-making.

If City College during the 1930s provided a safe-haven for immigrants fleeing a Europe on fire, then that tradition is still alive and well. Now and then, here and there, eternal struggles do not change. The cast of characters may look different, speak varying languages, and adopt changing lifestyles, but the core underbelly of what they all universally seek - love, a life worthy of their dreams, and freedom - are vividly articulated in virtually every frame of "Here & There."

Starring David Thornton ("Civil Action" and "John Q") and Serbia's Leading Lady, Mirjana Karanovic, "Here & There" is replete with star-crossed lovers, unintended romantic trysts, and bereaved lonely hearts. All align to create a humorous pathos that shatters simplicity and stuns profundity.

Not one character in "Here & There" will lie, neither ultimately to themselves and/nor each other. While their own individual worlds - in both New York City and Belgrade - are splitting threads, these characters keep their promises to and faith in each other.

As Rose, Grammy and Emmy-award winner Cyndi Lauper delivers a stunningly landscaped performance, raising the bar for all that follows thereafter. In opening sequences with Mr. Thornton, her real-life husband, Ms. Lauper portrays a gal who is hell-bent on ensuring that girls really want and really will just have fun. Who would have ever predicted that in 1991, when Ms. Lauper and Mr. Thornton tied the knot, they would share scenes almost two decades later in a film about a man in desperate pursuit of redemption - a man who discovers renewed love for music and life while in Belgrade, portraying the would-be American paramour (Fiance Visa) of a woman half his age, who passionately yearns for a reunion with her true sweetheart in New York?

Whether it's the "voice" of the Serbian taxi driver who serves as a one-man bully pulpit decrying failed national policies and the shrunken sovereignty of his former country, or Jose, the quick flat-fix New York hustler who no longer can make engines sing, or Tosha, who Lungulov describes as "the good spirit of Belgrade," music truly is "Here & There." While the credits crawl, Ms. Lauper's original intense homage swings off the theatrical scrim. Throughout "Here & There," a backdrop jazz refrain in turn wipes out, wallows, and wails. If the characters are trying to find their rhythm, then music is their compass. The exceptionally talented composer, Dejan Pejovic, sweetens "Here & There" with soul-filled sounds that illuminate the passageways en route to realized shimmering dreams and high in the sky schemes.

Lungulov's documentary "Escape" won the Audience Award at the 2004 Hamptons International Film Festival. "Here & There" earned the support of, amongst others, the City of Belgrade, the Ministry of Culture Republic of Serbia, and has been promoted by the United States Agency for International Development via USAID Serbian Competitiveness Project.

Means and ends also eclipse "Handsome Harry," in which those who seek forgiveness have done little wrong, wrong-doers deny culpability, and none are above reproach.

Steve Buscemi's exquisitely courageous rendering of Tommy Kelly soars as he lays on his death-bed informing his long-ago Navy-mate: "You ain't handsome anymore, Harry." With that salvo, Kelly quickly focuses Harry on his epiphany moment, declaring: "I just don't want to go to hell" for a "crime" Kelly thinks he himself committed. As to that, little does Kelly know, and what may Handsome learn?

In the journey to uncover who did what when, to whom, and why, Jamey Sheridan as "Handsome Harry" revisits his past and discovers tattered relics of what might have been, what could never be, and what might still not yet be lost forever. Director Bette Gordon steadfastly refuses to allow these five war veterans to be sad-sacks. Using harrowing flashbacks to distill each split-second of long-buried truth, these sailors at turns could as easily fill the shoes of those assembled in "On The Town." The hero in each is re-born, renewed and re-claimed well off the battle-field as their savage suburban struggles with power, sex, and death are laid so bare that only the truth can safely survive.

The cumulative economic impact on New York City of the Tribeca Film Festival from 2002 through 2008 is estimated to be over $500 million. The net worth of "Here & There" and "Handsome Harry" is an incalculable value.

Darko Lungulov is "old school." He says that if he "makes it," he intends to give back to the Film Program at City College. Mr. Lungulov has already delivered a big-time down-payment: it is "Here & There."

Frances E. Scanlon, an attorney, moonlights as a freelance writer and was credentialed press at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

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