The problem with interviewing Melvin Van Peebles is that you never know whether he’s truthfully answering your questions or if he’s just trying to be a baadasssss—something he excels at as evidenced by his string of irreverent films and the cap he’s fond of wearing that states so.

Either he’s the most modest successful filmmaker ever, or else he’s just plain ornery. For every inquiry tossed his way, Van Peebles throws back a shrug and a response that infers he doesn’t believe—despite all the accolades and awards—that he’s made much of an impact on the world of cinema.

Web phenomenon, book author and now film producer Tucker Max became an accidental Bad Boy through a combination of drink, smoke, willing women, too much testosterone and the internet. Nonetheless, bad boy he became rather than a corporate lawyer. In his callow youth, he swaggered his way through a law education(at Duke) and reflected a frat boy wantoness that I have both hated and begrudgingly admired in its sheer assholic-ness.

Rarely has a film's release dovetailed with an earth-shattering event so that, by its very existence, it CAN contribute to radically altering world affairs. The Stoning of Soraya M. is such a film--especially since it highlights the plight of the women of Iran. It tells the tale of Soraya Marnò, who refuses to divorce her abusive husband, a former criminal, so he falsely accuses her of adultery which leads to her execution by stoning. In revolutionary Iran, women have few rights and the religion is manipulated by those claiming correct religious practice.

Every film festival yields an unexpected treat and this year's Tribeca Film Festival is no exception. With the premiere of Accidents Happen, the 51 year old actor Geena Davis steps into the spotlight again, this time by doing a quirky little indie--the feature directorial debut of composer and short filmmaker Andrew Lancaster--shot in Australia but set in the 1980s Connecticut.