Interpreter to Open Tribeca Film Fest

Originally Published: March 13, 2005

A special premiere of Universal Pictures’/Working Title Films’ thriller The Interpreter-the latest from Academy Award winning director Sydney Pollack and Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn-is slated to open the fourth annual Tribeca Film Festival, with a screening at Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Theater on April 19. The screening will be held in association with the United Nations, whose officials allowed unprecedented access to Pollack, his cast and crew, marking The Interpreter as the first motion picture to ever film inside the headquarters of the world famous organization.

Shot on location in Manhattan and Southern Africa, The Interpreter is the first motion picture in history to receive inside access to the United Nations’ headquarters (which is officially international territory) in New York.

The escalating events begin when African-born U.N. translator Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) alleges that she has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than Silvia can understand. With the words “The Teacher will never leave this room alive,” in an instant, Silvia’s life is turned upside down as she becomes a hunted target of the killers. Placed under the protection of federal agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn), Silvia’s world only grows more nightmarish. As Keller digs deeper into his eyewitness’ past and her secretive world of global connections, the more suspicious he becomes that she herself might involved in the conspiracy. With every step of the way, he finds more reasons to mistrust her.

The Tribeca Film Festival