Tribeca Film Festival

The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival will debut highly-anticipated new and returning TV series and spotlight creative online storytelling work. The Tribeca TV lineup will include 16 shows made up of eight series premieres, two season premieres, one feature documentary, and five indie pilots. The N.O.W. (New Online Work) section, sponsored by HBO, will showcase 12 projects from creators using digital platforms to tell original stories in addition to special spotlight programs. The N.O.W. Creators Market will return to connect online creators with industry professionals. Building on the Festival’s successful film reunions, for the first time this year, Tribeca TV will celebrate anniversaries of acclaimed series In Living Color and The Simpsons, the longest-running American sitcom, marking its milestone 30th anniversary. The hit series Mr. Robot will return to Tribeca after its first episode screened at the Festival in 2015 to celebrate the final season with a special Tribeca Talk conversation with stars Rami Malek, fresh off his Oscar win, Christian Slater, Carly Chaikin, and creator Sam Esmail. The 18th Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 24 – May 5.

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[caption id="attachment_32783" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] This Is Spinal Tap[/caption] This Is Spinal Tap will return to the big screen for the iconic mockumentary’s 35th anniversary at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival which runs April 24 to May.  Generation X will also have a comeback for the 25th anniversary of Reality Bites.  The storytellers behind the cult classics will be on hand for cast and creator reunions. This Is Spinal Tap stars and creators Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Rob Reiner, who also directed, will turn it up to eleven again with a one-night-only anniversary celebration 35 years in the making. Released in 1984, the mockumentary follows the fictional heavy metal rock band Spinal Tap on tour. After the screening, the four will pay tribute to the band with a special musical performance and a conversation to follow. [caption id="attachment_32784" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Reality Bites[/caption] Tribeca will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Reality Bites, a film that captured the zeitgeist of the 90s. Starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, and Ben Stiller, who also directed, the film was released in 1994. A conversation will follow the screening to take a look back at the making of the film and the characters who have come to embody the spirit of Generation X. Rob Reiner and Ben Stiller brought these two cult classics to life both in front of the camera and from behind – This Is Spinal Tap and Reality Bites were their directorial debuts. “Spinal Tap proves there is definitely a fine line between stupid and clever,” said director, co-writer, and star Rob Reiner. “Reality Bites was a formative experience in my life. To have a 25 year anniversary screening is very exciting. Looking forward to seeing the whole cast, and possibly changing the ending so Michael gets Lelaina,” said director and star Ben Stiller. “From the heavy metal bands of the ‘80s to Generation X in the early ‘90s, This Is Spinal Tap and Reality Bites didn’t just capture the spirit of their respective times – they helped define them,” said Paula Weinstein, EVP of Tribeca Enterprises. “We’re excited to bring these two films back to the big screen for existing fans and also to introduce them to new audiences.” Tribeca has hosted reunions and anniversary events for some of the most iconic films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Scarface, Schindler’s List, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, and more.

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The Tribeca Film Festival, today announced that its 18th edition will take place April 24 to May 5, 2019 in New York City. Tribeca celebrates storytelling in all its forms from film to TV, VR to gaming. Submissions will open on August 20 for feature and short films; episodic and online storytelling; virtual, immersive, and augmented reality; as well as branded entertainment. The 2019 Festival will introduce Critics Week, the first for a North American film festival, as a sidebar to the main program. Tribeca is collaborating with New York-based film critics to curate the section including Eric Kohn (IndieWire Chief Film Critic and Deputy Editor), K. Austin Collins (Vanity Fair Film Critic), Bilge Ebiri (Village Voice Film Critic), Alison Willmore (BuzzFeed News Film Critic and Culture Writer), and Emily Yoshida (New York Magazine and Vulture Film Critic). The inaugural Critics Week will highlight a slate of 5-7 feature films and screen throughout the Festival. Tribeca also announced that the Tribeca X Award, which debuted in 2016 to honor the best in branded entertainment, will expand with new juried award competitions for feature length film, short film, episodic, and VR. Past Tribeca X winners include works for Samsung (Hearing Colors, directed by Greg Brunkalla), Smirnoff Ice (Chris Fonseca: Keep It Moving, directed by Zachary Heinzerling), and Square (For Every Kind of Dream Series, directed by Mohammad Gorjestani). Tribeca is a longstanding champion for female filmmakers – last year 46% of the feature films were directed by women. The 7th annual Nora Ephron Award will again recognize a female writer or director whose work embodies the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer Nora Ephron with a $25,000 prize. In addition to honors for films playing In Competition, Tribeca continues to focus on the discovery of new filmmakers with juried awards for best new narrative and documentary filmmakers. “The New York critical community has long been our compatriots in championing the most exciting new voices and trends in cinema, so we are thrilled that Tribeca will officially partner with them with this inaugural Critics Week program,” said Tribeca’s Director of Programming Cara Cusumano. “We look forward to discovering the new work they select, along with all the upcoming features, shorts, TV, VR, and online work from around the world as we officially open for submissions for Tribeca 2019.” “We have been impressed with the caliber of stories and creators submitting to Tribeca X to the point where we see a need to increase visibility for the work being done in branded entertainment by expanding with additional awards opportunities,” said EVP Paula Weinstein. Last year’s Festival celebrated storytelling and diverse voices with a slate of feature films; acclaimed shorts programming; TV including the world premiere of National Geographic’s Emmy®-nominated Genius: Picasso, the second season of the series which world premiered at the 2017 Festival; in addition to Tribeca N.O.W.’s (New Online Work) showcase of innovative digital storytellers. Tribeca Immersive expanded with the debut of VR theater Tribeca Cinema360, and its acclaimed line-up included projects like Vestige, one of the first VR experiences to be acquired at a major festival. The Festival debuted the first film funded through Untold Stories, the Festival’s premier program awarding $1M to an underrepresented filmmaker, in collaboration with the Festival’s Title sponsor AT&T and the Tribeca Film Institute. Submissions open on August 20 for all sections of the Festival – feature and short films, TV, Immersive, N.O.W., and the Tribeca X Award.

Submission deadlines for the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival:

Feature and Short Films, Tribeca TV, Tribeca N.O.W., and Tribeca Immersive:

August 20, 2018 – Submissions Open September 26, 2018 – Early Deadline October 31, 2018 – Official Deadline November 28, 2018 – Late Deadline

Tribeca X Award:

August 20, 2018 – Submissions Open November 28, 2018 – Early Deadline January 9, 2019 – Official Deadline January 30, 2019 – Late Deadline

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