Tribeca Film Festival goes Greek in 2009

The Vardalos flick My Life in Ruins will be screened as a special presentation to close the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival on May 2 in New York City.

Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame stars in the upcoming romantic comedy feature film My Life in Ruins.

Co-starring Richard Dreyfuss, Harland Williams, Rachel Dratch and Alexis Georgoulis and directed by Donald Petrie, My Life in Ruins portrays the tragic love life of a tour guide Georgia (Vardalos) whose missing romantic spark is reignited while leading tourists around Greece.

The film is set on location in Greece and marks the first time an American film studio has been allowed to film on location at the Acropolis.

Permission was granted by the Greek government after Vardalos sought approval to shoot several scenes there.

Originally written by Mike Reiss (The Simpsons), the script for My Life in Ruins was adapted by Vardalos after she became involved in the project.

Founded in 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival was created by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro in response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which evoked a loss of vitality in the Tribeca neighbourhood of Manhattan.

The festival aims to bring the international film community together with the public to experience the power of film.

Tribeca has become one of the most prominent international film festivals in the word with its line up offering movie buffs a wide variety of independent films including documentaries, narrative features and shorts.

Several cast members of My Life in Ruins will be attending Tribeca for the closing screening.

Jane Rosenthal expressed that, “This year’s festival has a number of fun and light-hearted films for our audience to enjoy. We are delighted to bring them another crowd-pleasing film, My Life in Ruins, to celebrate our closing night.”

In response, the film’s director Donald Petrie said, “We are excited and thrilled that the film is receiving the honour of being the closing night event at the Tribeca Festival. I can’t think of a better launching pad for our film.”

My Life in Ruins is scheduled to be released in the US in June and Fox Searchlight has announced that it will also distribute the film in Australia and New Zealand.