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Lakeith Stanfield, Joanna Gleason, Susan Lacy, Ray Liotta[/caption]
The Tribeca Film Festival announced the members of ten juries tasked with honoring the new works of emerging and established members of the creative community with unique art awards and cash prizes as they present their works at the 2018 Festival. The team of jurors include acclaimed filmmakers, award-winning actors, noteworthy producers, and cultural leaders. The Festival takes place April 18 to 29 in New York City.
Over 35 industry professionals have been selected to award work covering both feature-length and short film categories comprised of narratives and documentary films as well as Storyscapes, the juried section of the Virtual Arcade, presented by AT&T. The jurors will also present the Tribeca X Award, celebrating branded storytelling at the intersection of advertising and entertainment.
The Festival will announce the winner of the sixth annual Nora Ephron Award, presented by CHANEL, which will be selected by a jury composed of women firmly entrenched in the entertainment industry. The award was created to honor the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer Nora Ephron.
The winning films, filmmakers, actors, and storytellers in each category will be announced at the Tribeca Film Festival Awards ceremony, sponsored by Chloe Wine Collection, at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center on Thursday, April 26.
Following is a list of all 2018 Festival jurors and their respective categories.
Feature Film Competition Categories
The
jurors for the 2018 US Narrative Competition section are:
Justin Bartha: Actor Justin Bartha
has co-starred in two be-loved billion dollar franchises: The Hangover and National Treasure. Some of Bartha’s other notable film credits include White Girl, Holy Rollers, Dark Horse, The Rebound, opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Upcoming films include Nick Hamm’s Driven and Collin Friesen’s Sorry for Your Loss. Bartha can currently be seen co-starring in the acclaimed drama, The Good Fight for CBS All Access.
Bilge Ebiri: Bilge Ebiri is the senior film critic for the Village Voice.
Jenny Lumet: Jenny Lumet is the author of Rachel Getting Married for which she received the 2008 New York Film Critics Circle Award, 2008 Toronto Film Critics Association Award, and 2008 Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Award and NAACP Image Award.
Chris Messina: Actor Chris Messina will next be seen in Sharp Objects with director Jean-Marc Valle opposite Amy Adams for HBO.
Lakeith Stanfield: Actor Lakeith Stanfield stars in Netflix’s Come Sunday opposite Chiwetel Eijofor, premiering April 13th on Netflix and in Boots Riley’s Sundance hit Sorry to Bother You, out July 6th from Annapurna Films. On the small screen, Lakeith has gained critical acclaim for his role as ‘Darius’ in Donald Glover and FX’s series Atlanta. He is currently shooting The Girl in the Spider’s Web opposite Claire Foy, out November 2018.
The
jurors for the 2018 International Narrative Competition section are:
Florence Almozini: Florence Almozini is currently the Associate Director of Programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Martha Coolidge: Martha Coolidge is an award winning director, and the only female president of the DGA, so far. Her work ranges from Indies to studio films, TV and documentaries. She has been on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures, the DGA, the AFI and has directed many actors to Academy, Golden Globe, Emmy and Spirit Awards.
André Holland: Andre Holland’s film credits include Moonlight (Academy Award® for Best Picture), Selma (Academy Award Nominee), 42, Miracle at St. Anna, and the acclaimed 2008 independent film Sugar. He’ll next be seen in the Stephen King inspired series, Castle Rock (Hulu/Bad Robot), and can currently be seen in Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time alongside Mindy Kaling, Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah Winfrey.
Ray Liotta: Ray Liotta has become a prominent figure in entertainment appearing in film, TV, Broadway, and even lending his talents to production. He currently stars on the NBC drama Shades of Blue as Lieutenant Matt Wozniak.
Haifaa Al Mansour: Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the director of Wadjda, the first full-length film ever shot inside the Kingdom.
The
jurors for the 2018 Documentary Competition section are:
Dan Cogan: Dan Cogan is the Academy Award-winning and BAFTA Award-nominated producer of Icarus and the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Impact Partners, a fund and advisory service for investors and philanthropists who seek to promote social change through film.
Kirsten Johnson: Kirsten Johnson is a cinematographer and director. Her most recent film Camerperson premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, was released by the Criterion Collection, named one of the “Top Ten Films of 2016” by The New York Times and The Washington Post, and was shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Awards.
Brett Morgen: Brett Morgen is an award-winning director, producer, writer and editor.
The
jurors for the 2018 Best New Narrative Director Competition section are:
Josh Charles: Josh Charles is an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award nominated film, television and stage actor.
Joshua Leonard: Joshua Leonard is a filmmaker, writer, and actor. His notable credits as an actor include the lo-fi sensation The Blair Witch Project, the Independent Spirit Award winning Humpday and Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane which was recently released in theaters. His credits as a director include The Lie(Sundance 2011) and the upcoming Behold My Heart.
Zosia Mamet: Zosia Mamet has established herself as one of the film and television industry’s most exciting young talents as both an actress and producer
The
jurors for the 2018 Albert Maysles Award (Best New Documentary Director Award) are
Nelson George: Nelson George is an author, cultural critic, and filmmaker who moves between multiple disciplines.
Linda Knowlton: Linda Knowlton is an Emmy-nominated director and producer, working in documentary and scripted feature films, as well as in television.
Elvira Lind: Elvira Lind created, filmed and executive produced the TV series Twiz and Tuck launched on Viceland in 2017. Her second feature documentary,Bobbi Jene, won three awards at Tribeca 2017, including best documentary, and opened in cinemas in the U.S. in September the same year.
Basil Tsiokos: Basil Tsiokos is the Director of Programming for DOC NYC, and the Nantucket Film Festival, and a Programming Associate at Sundance.
Derek Waters: Derek Waters is the creator and host of Emmy-winning Drunk History on Comedy Central. Waters has also earned an Emmy-nomination for directing
Short Film Competition Categories
The
jurors for the 2018 Narrative Short Competition section are:
Steve Aoki: Steve Aoki is a two-time Grammy-nominated international producer/DJ, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of the trendsetting record label, events/lifestyle company and apparel line Dim Mak.
Amy Kaufman: Amy Kaufman is a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, where she has covered film, celebrity and pop culture since 2009. She is also the author of New York Times best seller Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure.
Sheila Nevins: Sheila Nevins is the former President of HBO Documentary Films and executive producer on upcoming projects. She has been responsible for overseeing the development and production of more than 1,000 documentaries for HBO, HBO2, and Cinemax.
Alex Pettyfer: Alex Pettyfer has established himself as a leading man by starring in such films as I Am Number Four and Magic Mike. He will soon make his debut as a feature film director when his movie, Back Roads, debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20th.
Norman Reedus: Norman Reedus is an immensely talented actor, filmmaker, and artist with a gift for taking on challenging roles and bringing dynamic characters to life on screen.
Alysia Reiner: Alysia Reiner, actress and producer, is best known as “Fig” on Orange is the New Black and won a SAG award as part of the amazing ensemble cast.
Ondi Timoner: Ondi Timoner has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice for Dig! and We Live In Public. Her sixth feature documentary, Brand: A Second Coming, opened SXSW ’15 and is premiering her first scripted film, Mapplethorpe, which she wrote, directed and produced here at Tribeca
The
jurors for the 2018 Short Documentary and Student Visionary Competitions section are:
Sapphire: Sapphire is the author of the bestselling novels The Kid and Push which was made into the Academy Award-winning movie Precious.
Joe Daniels: Joe Daniels is the former President & CEO of the National September 11th Memorial & Museum and as of April 2018 will become the CEO of the as-of-yet-unbuilt National Medal of Honor Museum in Charleston, SC.
Amy Kaufman: Amy Kaufman is an executive who shepherded productions for Good Machine International and Focus Features including Y Tu Mamá También, 21 Grams, Lost in Translation, and The Constant Gardener.
Susan Lacy: Susan Lacy is an award-winning director and producer. She recently premiered Spielberg and Jane Fonda in Five Acts – both for HBO Documentary Films, with her production company Pentimento Productions. Susan is also the creator and former executive producer of PBS’ American Masters.
James Steyer:
James Steyer is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Common Sense Media, the nation’s leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a powerful voice for kids and families in the 21st Century
Storyscapes Award
The
jurors for the 2018 Storyscapes Competition are
Myriam Achard: Myriam Achard
has been a Director of PR & Communications at the Phi Centre since 2012 where she is also responsible for the VR Garden’s programming and the immersive/interactive exhibits.
Marcie Jastrow: Marcie Jastrow is an industry veteran with over 20 years in the entertainment business. She currently serves as the SVP of Immersive Media at Technicolor, as well as the Head of the Technicolor Experience Center (TEC), dedicated to bringing artists, technologists, and partners together to build the future of immersive media.
Nicholas Thompson: Nicholas Thompson is the Editor-in-Chief of WIRED. Under his leadership, WIRED has launched a successful paywall, a Snapchat channel, and an AMP Stories edition; it has also been nominated for National Magazine Awards in design and feature writing
Nora Ephron Award
The
jurors for the 2018 Nora Ephron Award are:
Joanna Gleason: Joanna Gleason has appeared in 15 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, winning the Tony for Best Actress in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
Rebecca Keegan: Rebecca Keegan is a Vanity Fair Hollywood Correspondent who reports on the film and TV industries and writes VF.com’s HWD Weekly newsletter.
Sasheer Zamata: Sasheer Zamata is a comedian, actress, writer and four season cast member on Saturday Night Live. She will be appearing in the new NBC pilot So Close, and also will be featured in Amy Schumer’s new movie I Feel Pretty, which comes out in April.
Tribeca X Award
The
jurors for the 2018 Tribeca X Award are:
Brian Braiker: Brian Braiker is the Editor-in-Chief of Ad Age and prior to joining the magazine was executive editor at Digiday for four years
.
Bonin Bough: Bonin Bough is one of the foremost-awarded marketing executives in his field, the producer and host of The Cleveland Hustles, the author of TXT Me (646) 759-1837 and Chairman of Bonin Ventures.
Zachary Heinzerling: Zachary Heinzerling is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY who directed the 2014 Oscar-Nominated Documentary feature, Cutie and the Boxer.
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Obey, the powerful new British film set during the time of the London Riots (which took place in 2011) will World Premiere in the International Narrative Competition category at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, April 22, 2018.
Obey is about Leon, a nineteen-year-old boy with an alcoholic mother who has grown up in and out of care. Introducing Marcus Rutherford as Leon, who plays the film’s central character, Obey also stars Sophie Kennedy Clark (Philomena, Nymphomaniac, Black Mirror) as Twiggy and T’Nia Miller (Wagstaffe, Stud Life, Marcella, Guilt) as Leon’s mother.
Obey is raw and uncompromising and set against the backdrop of social unrest in London. It is the directorial debut feature from Jamie Jones whose award-winning short film THE NEST starring Vicky McClure was recently selected for Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and Tampere Film Festival 2017. Produced by Emily Jones of Beyond Fiction and Ross Williams of Harvest Pictures, Executive Produced by John Giwa-Amu (The Party, The Silent Storm, The Machine) of Red & Black Films and with Sound Design by Ben Baird (Lady Macbeth, The Levelling).
Finally free from adult supervision, Leon begins to rail against the injustice of his reality as his dreams become more and more unattainable and distant. Oppressed at home and hunted on the streets by local gangs, Leon’s existence is suffocating, and all too real. When he meets Twiggy, a beautiful blond girl living in a local squat something stirs inside of him. As she introduces him to her world, the weight of his past lifts. He is in love for the first time and for a moment escapes the reality of his unrelenting existence. But naïve to the affluent world supporting Twiggy’s hedonistic lifestyle, Leon is unprepared when Twiggy no longer wants him around. Leon withdraws, allowing his raw and unhampered emotions to take over in the blind fight against his unjust existence with terrifying and brutal consequences.
Director Jamie Jones said: “I’m delighted to have our World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The journey to get to this point has been long – so i am thrilled that the cast and crew who have worked so hard can bask in this glory! Without their determination and dedication we wouldn’t have got this far. It’s been such a collaborative process every step of the way and we are such a tight team, so really this is a dream for us all.
Obey is a social drama – a politically driven film that highlights the tough plight and frustrations of young adults growing up in London so I am hopeful that it resonates with NY audiences. London and New York are both global cities with complex multi-cultural societies, and I am excited to show an aspect of London that is often unrepresented in cinema to a New York audience.”
Bleeker Street has released the first teaser trailer for the documentary “
Norah Shapiro documentary “
FOX Sports will world premiere the action-packed soccer documentary mini-series, PHENOMS, at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, in its Tribeca TV section. The network will showcase the FOX Sports Films series’ third episode, “Goalkeepers,” introducing audiences to the behind-the-scenes journey with these future stars, who act as the true last line of defense for their countries on the global stage.
The premiere will take place on Wednesday, April 25 at 8:30pm ET at SVA Theatre (333 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011), followed by a panel discussion about the upcoming mini-series and road to the FIFA World Cup. The post-film panel, hosted by FOX Sports’ Rachel Bonnetta, includes guests Mario Melchiot (Executive Producer, PHENOMS; former professional player); David Worthen Brooks (Executive Producer, PHENOMS; EVP, ALL CITY); Arbi Pedrossian (Producer, PHENOMS); Chris Perkel (Series Creative Director, PHENOMS); Directors Jane Hicks, Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist; and Thomas Verette (editor, PHENOMS).
In its May network television premiere, PHENOMS will kick-off with back-to-back episodes, “Attackers” and “Defenders,” on Friday, May 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX. Episode 3, “Goalkeepers,” will air on Friday, June 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, ahead of the finale on June 8, when Episodes 4 and 5, “Playmakers” and “Creators,” will air back-to-back at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The five-part documentary chronicles the journey of the next great soccer players on their quests to represent their respective countries in the 2018 FIFA World Cup(TM). The series allows fans and viewers to experience the personal lives of players through unprecedented behind-the-scenes access. Some of the players featured include young stars from the world’s top clubs and countries such as Dele Alli, Davinson Sanchez, Marco Asensio, Paulo Dybala, Gabriel Jesus, Ousmane Dembele, Adrien Rabiot, Leon Goretzka, Corentin Tolisso, Hirving Lozano and Marquinhos.
This captivating global sports documentary series has been created by the world’s top sports documentarians and award-winning storytellers — filmmakers who’ve won Emmys, Peabodys and Academy Awards, including Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, Kevin Klauber, Chris Perkel, Leo Pearlman, Jane Preston, Alastair Uhlig, Lovinsa Kavuma, Bart van den Aardweg, Mirko Dreiling, Marco Schillaci, Gilles Rof, Joan Lloret and Sofia Geveyler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TeBHXgquI
The Tribeca Film Festival will provide exclusive, real time livestream access to must-see events and the biggest names in film, television, music, journalism and fashion at the 2018 festival. The real time access provides a window for festival goers at home or anywhere to be a part of the candid conversations with such stars as Evan Rachel Wood, Spike Lee, Thandie Newton, Alec Baldwin, Jamie Foxx, Paris Hilton, Nathan Lane, Christine Baranski, André Leon Tally, Antonio Banderas and James Marsden among many others.
Audiences from around the world will be able to join the star-studded cast of Westworld for a conversation about the anticipated new season and experience the conversation with the world’s most respected journalists following the gala closing night film The Fourth Estate. The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 18-29 and is presented by AT&T.
The talks are available exclusively via Facebook Live on the Tribeca Film Festival Facebook page. The 
“Fractured memories within the black abyss.” From Vestige. Photo credit: Aaron Bradbury.[/caption]
VESTIGE, an emotional, complex, virtual reality documentary, that is set to world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, has been acquired by UK-based VR distributor and sales agent Other Set. The deal marks the second VR acquisition for the company who picked up ZIKR: A SUFI REVIVAL in a historic deal earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. It is the third-ever sale of a virtual reality experience at a major film festival.
“Survivor testimonial projected on the burned out walls of the Hiroshima Dome.” From The Day the World Changed. Photo credit: Tomorrow Never Knows.[/caption]
The virtual reality experience, The Day the World Changed, co-created by award-winning filmmakers and virtual reality pioneers, Gabo Arora and Saschka Unseld, will premiere in the Virtual Arcade that runs April 20 to 29, at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Produced by Jennifer Tiexiera, the social, interactive experience pairs ground-breaking technologies with rare survivor testimonies from Hiroshima to bring the terror of nuclear war to vivid life.
“Over the years, we have been desensitized to the consequences of nuclear war,” said Arora. “We are living in a time when our Commander-in-Chief and leaders of other nations are openly calling for more nuclear weapons, taunting each other over their capabilities. Our intention with this work is to give voice to those victims of nuclear war asking the world to face this shared history and to recognize the true horror of these weapons.”
Added Saschka Unseld, “We want this to be an unwavering, uncomfortable experience for people. We want to turn on its head our obsessions and fetishizing of nuclear superiority as a symbol of pride in one’s country, but also to recognize the power of the virtual reality medium. By placing the general public inside the ruins of a tragic event like Hiroshima, we hope to activate a groundswell of support for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and to help ICAN generate momentum in their mission towards elimination.”
The documentary film General Magic, looks at the rise and fall of the most influential Silicon Valley company you have never heard of, General Magic.
In the early 1990’s, a team of former Apple employees formed the company and took Silicon Valley by storm with their new project, the first handheld, wireless personal computer – the first smartphone. The company and the product were so ahead of their time, that it ultimately failed, and the company closed down. However, General Magic’s former employees have gone on to found eBay, Linkedin and Android, develop the technology that has lead to the iPhone and have become the tech innovators that now lead companies like Samsung, Apple and Facebook. Matthew Maude and Sarah Kerruish’s film show how this team has created a lasting impact of the on the world around us.
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In 1992, Marc Porat holds up the design of what is now the IPhone in a scene from GENERAL MAGIC[/caption]
Nancy Schwartzman’s debut documentary feature Roll Red Roll, following a notorious high school sexual assault case in Steubenville, Ohio, will world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
Go behind the headlines of notorious high school sexual assault to witness the social media-fueled “boys will be boys” culture that let it happen. In small-town Ohio, at a pre-season football party, a horrible incident took place. What transpired would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. As amateur crime blogger Alex Goddard uncovers disturbing evidence on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, documenting the assault of a teenage girl by members of the beloved high school football team, questions linger around the collusion of teen and adult bystanders. Roll Red Roll explores the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders in this story, to unearth the attitudes at the core of their behavior. It is a cautionary tale of what can happen when adults look the other way and deny that rape culture exists. With unprecedented access to police documents, exhibits and evidence, the documentary feature unflinchingly asks: “why didn’t anyone stop it?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJze9-ZNIeU
Alia Shawkat as Alia and Laia Costa as Laia in DUCK BUTTER. Photo credit: Hillary Spera.[/caption]
The trailer and poster debuted for 
Ivory dealer “X” (outside car window) and poacher Lukas wait for the wildlife rangers to pass. From When Lambs Become Lions, directed by Jon Kasbe. Courtesy of Kasbe Films / The Documentary Group.[/caption]
WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS, a gorgeously crafted work of vérité cinema that takes us to the front lines of the poaching divide through the intertwined stories of an ivory dealer and a wildlife ranger, will World Premiere at the 2018 
Ivory dealer “X” (left in foreground) visits the wildlife ranger unit of his cousin Asan (at right). From When Lambs Become Lions, directed by Jon Kasbe. Courtesy of Kasbe Films / The Documentary Group.[/caption]
Director Jon Kasbe followed the film’s subjects over a three-year period, gaining an extraordinary level of access and trust as he became part of their everyday lives. The result is a rare and visually arresting look through the perspectives and motives of the people at the epicenter of the conservation divide.
WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS was directed and shot by Jon Kasbe and produced by Kasbe, Innbo Shim, Tom Yellin, and Andrew Harrison Brown. The film was edited by Frederick Shanahan, Jon Kasbe and Caitlyn Greene with music by West Dylan Thordson. Executive producers are Matthew Heineman, Isaac Lee, Eric Douat, Nicolás Ibargüen, Juan Rendón, and Daniel Eilemberg.