The 2016 Tribeca Film Festival announced the feature film lineup for the 10th annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.
The tenth annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival will open on April 14 with a Gala screening and world premiere of the documentary This Magic Moment chronicling the 1990s Orlando Magic dynasty headlined by superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway. Seven feature films will screen as part of the Festival, the premiere outlet to showcase independent films that focus on sports and competition. The film will premiere on ESPN that night with live simulcast from the Tribeca red carpet, with special guests including Shaquille O’Neal.
Jeff and Michael Zimbalest return to the Tribeca Film Festival with the World Premiere of their inspiring biopic Pele: Birth of a Legend, about Pele’s rise from the slums of Brazil to become the youngest ever World Cup winner at the age of 17 (Pele will be in attendance). Other films explore a new soccer franchise in New York, a famous chess player, a Native American girls highschool lacrosse team, and an LA recreational basketball league, made up of actresses, comedians, musicians, and mothers.
Gala:
This Magic Moment, co-directed by Erin Leyden and Gentry Kirby. (USA) – World Premiere. Documentary. In the mid-1990s, Orlando was the epicenter of excitement in the NBA. The young franchise, led by mega-stars Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, beat Michael Jordan and the mighty Bulls en route to the 1995 NBA Finals. They lost to the Rockets that year but it was clear this team from Orlando was a dynasty in the making. But the Magic’s moment on top was never fully realized – a classic “what-could-have-been” story, where success came fast and big and then ‘poof’, the magic was gone.
Feature films:
El Clásico, directed by Halkawt Mustafa, written by Anders Fagerholt and Halkawt Mustafa. (Norway, Iraqi Kurdistan Region) – North American Premiere
Keepers of the Game, directed by Judd Ehrlich. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary
Magnus, directed by Benjamin Ree, written by Linn-Jeanethe Kyed and Benjamin Ree. (Norway) – World Premiere, Documentary.
My Blind Brother, directed and written by Sophie Goodhart. (USA) – New York Premiere, Narrative.
Pelé: Birth of a Legend, directed and written by Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative.
Pistol Shrimps, directed and written by Brent Hodge. (USA, Canada) – World Premiere, Documentary.
Win!, directed and written by Justin Webster. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary.
All of this year’s Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival films will screen throughout the day as ‘Sports Saturday’ on Saturday, April 23 at Regal Battery Park Stadium 11. The films will also screen throughout the Festival, prior to this date.