Announcements: Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival Alums The Hammer, The Grand, and Planet B-Boy Open

Sports are thrilling human dramas—remember last January, when Eli Manning and the Giants snatched a Superbowl victory from the clutches of the practically perfect Patriots? Those heart-stopping moments in competition sparkle on film, and last year, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival premiered with a strong slate of films celebrating the kicks and inspirations of sport, be they poker games, 40-year-old boxers, or breakdancing b-boys. Three Tribeca/ESPN alums are opening this Friday, March 21 (and another is coming soon!): Adam Carolla's underdog comedy The Hammer, the Woody Harrelson poker mockumentary The Grand, and Benson Lee's Planet B-Boy.

The result of a five-year odyssey, The Hammer stars Loveline radio host and The Man Show TV personality Adam Carolla in a role that's not too far from his past life, as a construction worker who picks up the golden gloves for another chance at boxing glory. Co-starring Heather Juergensen (Kissing Jessica Stein), The Hammer shows a sweet side of the salty Carolla, as his character boxes his way to a later-in-life coming-of-age. Carolla talked about the film at last year's Tribeca Film Festival:



The Grand, written and directed by X-Men: The Last Stand writer Zak Penn, is an improv-friendly mockumentary featuring Woody Harrelson as a screw-up trying to get back his grandfather's casino by winning the Grand Championship of Poker.  A crazy quilt of proven funny actors like Cheryl Hines, Michael McKean, and David Cross make appearances around the poker table, with an additional appearance from legendary German director Werner Herzog as a nihilistic card shark. The actors discussed making the movie and playing poker at last year's Festival:



Planet B-Boy travels around to the world to show the evolution of breakdancing (more coverage here). Emerging from the Bronx in the 1980s as part and parcel of hip hop culture, b-boys are now breaking it down from Japan to the Czech Republic, getting ready to rumble at the annual Battle of the Year in Germany. Dancing (with the stars) is quite hot right now, and Benson Lee's documentary takes the audience into the heart, the struggle, and the awesome moves of the modern b-boy. In this edition of Road to Tribeca, director Benson Lee talks about the passion that went into making the documentary:



Watch out for news about this year's Tribeca/ESPN programming, coming later this month.