During the second day of the Tribeca Film Fest, The Bang Bang Club Premiered at the BMCC/TPAC Theatre at 199 Chambers street in lower Manhattan.

The Bang Bang Club, Directed by Steven Silver, follows the real life story of four young combat photojournalists; Greg Marinovich, Joao Silva, Kevin Carter, and Ken Osterbroek.  The story takes place during a turbulent post-Apartheid South Africa in the early 90s.

The red carpet event featured the stars of the film Ryan Phillippe (Greg), Taylor Kitsch (Kevin), and Malin Akerman (Greg’s Girlfriend Robin) as well as Greg Marinovich (Photojournalist and subject of the film) and Steven Silver (director).

The screening was followed by a discussion with the stars and director of the South African/Canadian film.  Here are the most salient quotes from the panel.

Steven Silver - Director

“One of the many decisions we made on the film was to shoot in the exact locations where the events took place.  In most of the instances, we were shooting not just in the areas, but sometimes on the exact streets and city blocks where those events took place.  The extras that you see are not extras, they came from those communities, so for them it was an exercise in remembering, not acting.”

Ryan Phillippe - Greg

“We shot real film the whole time, Taylor got super obsessive about it.  I did a ton before, much to my kid’s dismay, but we did shoot [photographs] while we were actually shooting the scenes, and the photographs turned out pretty cool.”

Malin Akerman – Robin

“I was really lucky because Robin Comley is this amazing person, and to shadow her... she’s still a photo editor.  I was able to go and chat with her for a day, I sat down with her and she told me stories and showed me pictures.”

Taylor Kitsch – Kevin

“Kevin used a Leica primarily for most of his stuff, so I got a Leica and shot with a professional photographer in Los Angeles, then I dropped a bunch of weight for Kev, which helped a lot for physicality... his walk, his clothes, all that.  For me it’s really the why he did what he did.”

Greg Marinovich – Subject of film

“I stopped [war photography] in 2000.  In 1999, I went with Joao to Afghanistan... this was before the American involvement, and I got injured, which is the fourth work wounding I’ve had, so I decided that was quite enough and that I should stop... and I think it was a fine decision.”

Caption: From left to right; The Tribeca Talk Moderator, Greg Marinovich, Malin Ackerman, Taylor Kitsch and Steve Silver

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