Tribeca Film Festival

  • Tribeca Film Festival Adds World Premiere of ‘Horses: Patti Smith and her Band,’  TIME’S UP event + More to 2018 Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_27853" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Horses: Patti Smith and her Band Horses: Patti Smith and her Band[/caption] Tribeca Film Festival, has added new film, TV, Tribeca Talks and Tribeca Immersive programming, including the world premiere of ‘Horses: Patti Smith and her Band’, and TIME’S UP event, rounding out its 2018 slate. Tribeca has added the world premiere of Horses: Patti Smith and her Band, Steven Sebring’s documentary film capturing the final performance of Patti Smith’s iconic “Horses” at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles as well as the 40th anniversary of the Horses album tour. Following the special screening at the Beacon Theatre, Smith and her band will perform some of their most popular songs. Tickets go on sale on Monday April 2, at 12:00 PM. TIME’S UP will host its inaugural New York event during the Tribeca Film Festival. The program will feature compelling conversations with activists, filmmakers, storytellers, lawyers and more including early TIME’S UP supporters such as Ashley Judd and Julianne Moore as well as Fatima Goss Graves (National Women’s Law Center), Robin Morgan (celebrated poet and activist), Mónica Ramírez (Alianza Nactional de Campesinas), and more. The day will explore how we got here, the women who came before us to make this work possible, and what’s next for TIME’S UP and beyond. In addition, Tribeca Immersive is adding the world premiere of Jack: Part One. From the Emmy Award-winning creators of INVASIONS!, ASTEROIDS! and Rainbow Crow comes Baobab Studios’ latest visionary animation that lets viewers enter the world of Jack from the classic fairytale in a groundbreaking blend of VR and immersive theater that must be seen to be believed. The Tribeca TV program expands with the world premiere of Enhanced, an ESPN docuseries from Executive Producers Alex Gibney and Brad Hebert, that explores the frontiers of sports training, technology and recovery, as boundary-pushing innovations propel human athletic achievement to its limits.

    FILM – SPECIAL SCREENING

    Horses: Patti Smith and her Band, directed by Steven Sebring and executive produced by Jimmy Iovine (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. The documentary of the last concerts of the fortieth anniversary of Patti Smith’s seminal album Horses, performed in full in sequence at the Wiltern Theater, Los Angeles. Horses: Patti Smith and her Band includes intimate backstage footage and features Patti Smith and her band, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan, and Jack Petruzzelli, joined by guitarist Jackson Smith and Flea. Horses: Patti Smith and her Band will be released exclusively on Apple Music. After the screening: Patti Smith and her Band – Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan, and Jack Petruzzelli – will perform the title track of Horses along with some of their signature songs. Monday, April 23, 7:00 PM, Beacon Theatre

    TIME’S UP EVENT

    In response to the growing national movement, Tribeca Film Festival has partnered with TIME’S UP to host a day of conversations with the outspoken women playing a pivotal role in raising awareness about inequality in the workplace. Activists, storytellers, business leaders, filmmakers, lawyers, media figures, and more share their stories, seek next steps to establish the parameters for lasting change across industries and the pay spectrum. Participants will include Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (theBoardlist), Joanna Coles (Hearst), Amy Emmerich (Refinery29), Fatima Goss Graves (National Women’s Law Center), Christy Haubegger (CAA), Danielle Herzlich (New Jersey National Guard Sexual Assault Alliance), Saru Jayaraman (ROC United), Ashley Judd, Robbie Kaplan (Kaplan & Company, LLP), Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (UN Women), Sienna Miller, Julianne Moore, Robin Morgan (celebrated poet and activist), Sarah Jessica Parker, Jess Morales Rocketto (National Domestic Workers Alliance), Mónica Ramírez (Alianza Nacional de Campesinas), Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Amber Tamblyn, Marisa Tomei, Rachel Tuchman (Kaplan & Company, LLP), Pam Wasserstein (New York Media), Sisters of Comedy standup created & produced by Agunda Okeyo, and more. Net proceeds from the day will go to the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund. Donations to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund ​ Saturday, April 28th, 11:00 AM, Tribeca Festival Hub.

    TRIBECA TV

    Enhanced (ESPN) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Brad Hebert, Alex Gibney Enhanced explores the frontiers of sports training, technology, recovery, and more, as boundary-pushing innovations push human athletic achievement to its limits. After the screening: A conversation with Executive Producer Alex Gibney, Director Chai Vasarhelyi, Director Jesse Sweet, and moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Marisa Guthrie Screening: Thursday, April 26, 6:00 PM, Cinépolis Chelsea

    IMMERSIVE

    Jack: Part One (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Mathias Chelebourg Key Collaborators: Baobab Studios, Nexus Forward Step into the shoes of Jack and experience a world completely re-imagined from the classic fairytale. From Emmy Award-winning creators of INVASION!, ASTEROIDS! and Rainbow Crow comes Baobab Studios’ latest visionary VR animation: the most immersive theater work to date by Mathias Chelebourg, creator of Alice: The Virtual Reality Play.

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  • THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED, Assia Boundaoui’s Personal Story of FBI Surveillance, to World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival

    The Feeling of Being Watched A personal journey that unfolds like a thriller, The Feeling of Being Watched charts journalist Assia Boundaoui’s investigation into a secret FBI counterterrorism probe of her Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago – code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal”- and its enduring impact on her family and community.  The Feeling of Being Watched will World Premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, running April 18 to 29, 2018. In the village of Bridgeview, Illinois, where director Assia Boundaoui grew up, most of her Muslim-American neighbors think they have been under surveillance for over a decade. While investigating their experiences, Assia uncovers hundreds of pages of declassified FBI documents that prove her hometown was the subject of one of the largest counterterrorism investigations ever conducted in the U.S. before 9/11. [caption id="attachment_23721" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Feeling of Being Watched The Feeling of Being Watched[/caption] With unprecedented access, The Feeling of Being Watched weaves the personal and the political as it follows the filmmaker’s examination of why her community—including her own family—fell under blanket government surveillance. Assia struggles to disrupt the government secrecy shrouding what happened and takes the FBI to federal court to compel them to make the records they collected about her community public. In the process, she confronts long-hidden truths about the FBI’s relationship to her community. The Feeling of Being Watched follows Assia as she pieces together this secret FBI operation, while grappling with the effects of a lifetime of surveillance on herself and her family. The Feeling of Being Watched was written and directed by Assia Boundaoui and produced by Boundaoui and Jessica Devaney. Director of photography was Shuling Yong and the film was edited by Rabab Haj Yahya with illustrations by Molly Crabapple and original music by Angélica Negrón. Executive producers are Jim Butterworth, Daniel J. Chalfen, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Debra Mcleod, Jay K. Sears, Bill Harnisch, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Alexa Poletto, Michael D. Mann, Barry W. Rashkover, and Vijay Dewan. Assia Boundaoui is an Algerian-American journalist who has reported for the BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, VICE, and CNN. Her debut short, a film about hijabi hair salons for the HBO Lenny documentary series, premiered at Sundance in 2018, and she has worked in an editorial capacity on the production of a number of documentaries, including HBO’s Emmy Award-winning Manhunt (2013). Assia has a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University and is fluent in Arabic. The Feeling of Being Watched is her feature debut.

    Tribeca Film Festival Screenings

    Saturday, April 21, 6:45 pm Cinepolis Chelsea 2, 260 W. 23rd St. (at 8th Ave.) Sunday, April 22, 7:30 pm Cinepolis Chelsea 3, 260 W. 23rd St. (at 8th Ave.) *A special extended Q&A panel discussion will follow the screening Wednesday, April 25, 5:45 pm Regal Battery Park 3, 102 North End Ave. (at Murray St.) Thursday, April 26, 5:00 pm Cinepolis Chelsea 6, 260 W. 23rd St. (at 8th Ave.)

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  • Air Jordan 1 Shoe Documentary ‘Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1’ to Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival | Trailer

    [caption id="attachment_27765" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]UNBANNED: THE LEGEND OF AJ1 UNBANNED: THE LEGEND OF AJ1[/caption] Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1, the documentary that tells the origin story of the Air Jordan 1 shoe, will premiere as a Special Screening at the 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival.  Directed and written by Dexton Deboree, the film follows the iconic shoe from its unlikely beginnings to its role in disrupting long-established rules of the NBA, changing the game of basketball, birthing sneaker culture and influencing a social and cultural revolution. “We are honored to premiere our film at the Tribeca Film Festival for so many reasons. Los York, many of our film’s cast members and much of the story itself, are rooted in the culture of NYC and we are proud to introduce the true story of AJ1 to one of our hometowns,” Deboree exclaims. “The film captures the raw, rebellious, eclectic and diverse spirit of culture in and around basketball and beyond, something our film has very much in common with New York City. Nothing is more fitting than to premiere with Tribeca at the historic Beacon Theatre especially, this year where the lineup celebrates American diversity,” he adds. The first feature documentary from Los York Entertainment, Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1 is the true story about the shoe that changed the world. Through interviews with Spike Lee, Chuck D, Anthony Anderson, Michael B. Jordan, Lena Waithe, Kenya Barris, DJ Khaled, Aleali May and many more including Michael Jordan himself, this film explores the power of the AJ1 across social and political spectrums and how it has broken barriers between female and male fashion, self-expression, identity, empowerment and more. Tribeca Film Festival has been the launching pad for many groundbreaking films including Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story, Nas: Time is Illmatic and most recently, Kobe Bryant’s Oscar®-Winning Animated Short Dear Basketball from acclaimed director Glen Keane. “At Tribeca we are always looking for documentaries that shift our perspectives to tell us stories in new and exciting ways,” said Cara Cusumano, Director of Programming, Tribeca Film Festival. “The enduring cultural impact of the AJ1 is an entertaining, thrilling, surprising ride, and one that we can’t wait to share with audiences at the Beacon on April 27th.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p79nXVeyj4s

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  • 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Tribeca TV and N.O.W. (New Online Work) Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_27725" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Home, created by Micah Sudduth, Keylee Sudduth Home[/caption] The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival will debut highly anticipated TV shows and introduce audiences to online storytellers without boundaries in its Tribeca TV and N.O.W. (New Online Work) sections.  The Tribeca TV line-up includes 18 shows made up of eight series premieres, three season premieres, one mid-season premiere, two feature documentaries and five indie pilots. The 5th edition of N.O.W. includes 12 programs in the Episodic and Short Form Showcases, in addition to the Creators Market. N.O.W. will also present five The New York Times Op-Docs. The Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18-29. This year’s Tribeca TV lineup includes world premieres of new series, including Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, from Executive Producer Jay-Z, based on the timely book of the same title; Sweetbitter, a coming-of-age series about a young woman working the restaurant industry in New York City and Cobra Kai, with Ralph Macchio reprising his iconic role from The Karate Kid franchise. Two feature films exploring iconic television shows will World Premiere: Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary, looking at the fan favorite with a dedicated cult following, created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow and Mr. SOUL!, which focuses on the groundbreaking show Soul!, which presented the breadth of black artistry and culture for the first time to nationwide audiences via the medium of television. National Geographic’s acclaimed Genius series returns to Tribeca with Genius: Picasso, starring Antonio Banderas, on the heels of the series’ world premiere at last year’s festival. The star-studded cast of HBO’s hit series Westworld, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, and James Marsden will be in attendance for the New York premiere of season two’s premiere episode. Tribeca TV also presents the best in new independent voices in episodic television with its Pilot Season section with five new unaffiliated projects. “Tribeca TV has become a destination for some of the most highly anticipated and well-received shows on television,” said Cara Cusumano, Director of Programming at the Tribeca Film Festival. “While we continue that tradition with an exciting slate of new and returning series premieres, we also sought to pay homage to the rich cultural history of TV through two feature documentaries about groundbreaking shows of the past, and all-new episodes of a true-crime trailblazer.” The N.O.W. Showcase features the latest work from 18 unique online creators who are using their platforms to tell original stories. In the Episodic Showcase the projects range from coming-of-age stories about gender non-conforming friends in Dinette, to Snugglr, a comedic series about a young Turkish woman who takes up the strange profession of cuddling with strangers for profit, to an animated series based on the Oscar®-nominated short film Pig: The Dam Keeper Poems. Some of the works in the Short Form Showcase include a documentary about the devastating water crisis in Flint, Michigan called Flint is a Place; a film set in the dystopian future wherein an aging fisherman in Vietnam discovers an android woman from his past called The Last Fisherman; and Crime Cutz, a hybrid documentary-music video all set to the music of the band Holy Ghost! These online creators, as well as an additionally curated 15 participants – including, for the first time, VR and immersive filmmakers – are invited to take part in the Tribeca Creators Market – a private industry market that brings creators together with distributors, brands, and MCNs to pitch and discuss their latest work. “We started Tribeca N.O.W. five years ago to recognize a truly unique brand of storytellers emerging from the online space,” said Liza Domnitz, Senior Programmer, Tribeca Film Festival. “Here were creators who found the Wild West landscape of the web the perfect playground for their hysterical, provocative and moving visions. Tribeca is proud to be a leader in recognizing these diverse filmmakers who, this year, have created vastly different work ranging from an episodic, dark comedy about addiction, to a visual extension of a popular podcast, to a serial version of a beloved Oscar®-nominated animated short film.”

    TRIBECA TV

    Bobby Kennedy for President (Netflix) – World Premiere. Executive Producers: Laura Michalchyshyn, Dawn Porter, Gunnar Dedio, Nestan Behrans, Dave Sirulnick, Justin Wilkes, Jon Kamen. Acclaimed director Dawn Porter reveals anew what America gained and what it lost in the life, vision, politics, and hope of Bobby Kennedy. After the screening: A conversation with director Dawn Porter and Ambassador William vanden Heuvel. Screening: Wednesday, April 25, 5:00 PM, SVA Theatre Cobra Kai (YouTube Red) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, Susan Ekins, Will Smith, James Lassiter, Caleeb Pinkett, Ralph Macchio, William Zabka. Epic adversaries return to the dojo in Cobra Kai, an all-new series in which Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprise their star-making roles (and rivalry) from the iconic film franchise, The Karate Kid. With Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Mary Mouser, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Courtney Henggeler. After the screening: A conversation with writers, directors, and executive producers Hayden Schlossberg, John Hurwitz, and Josh Heald and series stars and executive producers Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. Screening: Tuesday, April 24, 7:45 PM, SVA Theatre Drunk History (Comedy Central) – Season Five, Midseason Premiere Executive Producers: Derek Waters, Jeremy Konner, Will Ferrell, Owen Burke, Adam McKay. Derek Waters, along with an ever-changing cast of actors and comedians, travels across the country to present the liquored-up narrative of our nation’s rich history. With Derek Waters, Jeremy Konner. After the screening: A conversation with co-creator, director, and host Derek Waters, co-creator and director Jeremy Konner, and other special guests. Each screening ticket provides access to two (2) complimentary drink tickets. Screening: Thursday, April 26, 8:30 PM, Tribeca Festival Hub Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary, directed by Brent Hodge, produced by Aly Kelly, Matthew Galkin. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary Tribeca alum Brent Hodge examines the untold stories and pivotal moments from the making of one of the greatest “one-season wonders” ever produced—one that influenced pop culture far beyond the series’ short TV life. ​With Paul Feig, Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Busy Philipps, James Franco. After the movie: A conversation with director Brent Hodge and Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig. First Screening: Saturday, April 21, 8:00 PM, Tribeca Festival Hub; Genius: Picasso (National Geographic) – World Premiere Executive Producer: Ken Biller In its second season, Genius explores the Spanish expatriate Pablo Picasso’s devotion to his craft, his contribution to modern art, and his turbulent personal life. With Antonio Banderas, Alex Rich, Clémence Poésy, Samantha Colley, Poppy Delevingne, T.R. Knight, Seth Gabel. After the screening: A conversation with showrunner Ken Biller, executive producers Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo, and cast-members Antonio Banderas, Alex Rich, Clémence Poésy, Poppy Delevingne, and Samantha Colley. Screening: Friday, April 20, 8:30 PM, BMCC Tribeca PAC Little Women (PBS) – North American Premiere Executive Producers: Colin Callender, Sophie Gardiner, Heidi Thomas, Lucy Richer, Rebecca Eaton. Set against the backdrop of a country divided, the story follows the four March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy on their journey from childhood to adulthood under the guidance of their mother Marmee. Little Women is a coming-of-age story that is as relevant and engaging today as it was on its original publication in 1868. With Emily Watson, Michael Gambon, Angela Lansbury, Maya Hawke, Annes Elwy, Kathryn Newton, Dylan Baker and Jona Hauer-King. After the screening: A conversation with Executive Producers Colin Callender and Rebecca Eaton along with cast-member Maya Hawke. Screening: Friday, April 27, 5:00 PM, SVA Theatre Mr. SOUL!, directed by Melissa Haizlip, Samuel Pollard, written and produced by Melissa Haizlip. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary Mr. SOUL! offers an entertaining, essential look at the groundbreaking television show SOUL!, which, under producer-host Ellis Haizlip’s passionate guidance, showcased the breadth of black artistry from 1968 to 1973. After the movie: A tribute to SOUL! hosted by Blair Underwood and featuring performances from Robert Glasper and more. First Screening: Sunday, April 22, 8:00 PM, Tribeca Festival Hub Picnic at Hanging Rock (Amazon Prime Video) – North American Premiere Executive Producers: Jo Porter, Anthony Ellis, Penny Win. A penetrating reimagining of the iconic, timeless Australian classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock plunges audiences into the mysterious disappearances of three schoolgirls and their governess on Valentine’s Day, 1900. With Natalie Dormer, Lily Sullivan, Madeleine Madden, Samara Weaving, Lola Bessis, Yael Stone, Inez Curro, Harrison Gilbertson, Ruby Rees. After the screening: A conversation with director Larysa Kondracki, executive producer Jo Porter and cast member Natalie Dormer. Screening: Saturday, April 28, 8:00 PM, SVA Theatre Phenoms (FOX, FOX Sports) – World Premiere Executive Producers: David Brooks, Mario Melchiot, Tony Sella. Chronicling the journey of the next great soccer players on their quests to represent their respective countries in the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, Phenoms allows fans and viewers to experience the personal lives of players through unprecedented behind-the-scenes access. After the screening: A conversation with Executive Producer David Brooks, Producer Arbi Pedrossian, Director Chris Perkel, and Editor Thomas Verette. Screening: Wednesday, April 25, 8:30 PM, SVA Theatre [caption id="attachment_27726" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story[/caption] Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story (Paramount Network) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Michael Gasparro, Nick Sandow, Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin, Chachi Senior. Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story depicts the life and legacy of Trayvon Martin, presenting the definitive look at one of the most talked-about, controversial events of the last decade. After the screening: A conversation with co-directors Julia Willoughby Nason and Jenner Furst, the parents of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, executive producers Mike Gasparro and Chachi Senior, and special guest. Screening: Friday, April 20, 5:45 PM, BMCC Tribeca PAC The Staircase – International Premiere Executive Producers: Matthieu Belghiti, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.The true-crime phenomenon The Staircase returns with all-new chapters, as convicted murderer Michael Peterson faces his final trial. After the screening: A conversation with creator and director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and producers Matthieu Belghiti and Allyson Luchak Screening: Saturday, April 28, 6:00 PM, SVA Theatre Sweetbitter (STARZ) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Stephanie Danler, Stuart Zicherman, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Sarah Esberg. New to New York City, 22-year-old Tess is quickly intoxicated by the chaotic, adrenalized world of the upscale restaurant industry, where she tastes expensive wine, explores dive bars, and learns who she can trust. With Ella Purnell, Tom Sturridge, Caitlin FitzGerald, Paul Sparks, Evan Jonigkeit, Eden Epstein, Jasmine Matthews, Daniyar. After the screening: A conversation with Sweetbitter creator, executive producer, and writer Stephanie Danler, showrunner Stuart Zicherman, and cast-members Ella Purnell, Caitlin FitzGerald, Tom Sturridge, and Paul Sparks. Screening: Thursday, April 26, 5:00 PM, SVA Theatre Westworld (HBO) – Season Two, New York Premiere Executive Producers: Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, J.J. Abrams, Athena Wickham, Roberto Patino, Richard Lewis, Ben Stephenson. As a new chapter begins, Westworld continues on its dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. With Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Tessa Thompson. After the screening: a conversation with co-creators, showrunners, and directors Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, and cast-members Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, and James Marsden. Screening: Thursday, April 19, 8:30 PM, BMCC Tribeca PAC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvhMHJfB5U8

    PILOT SEASON

    Screening Showcase: Monday, April 23, 6:45 PM, Cinépolis Chelsea Fabled (USA) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Evan Jonigkeit, Alex Gayner, Zosia Mamet. This anthology series reimagines classic fairy tales through the perspective of its female characters, whose overlapping stories take place in the same small town. With Zosia Mamet, Trace Lysette, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Paul Wesley, Norbert Butz. Nice (USA) – World Premiere Executive Producer: Naomi Ko. Teddy, a sarcastic-but-loveable 23-year-old, prides herself on being the black sheep of her conservative Korean-American family. But when her cancer returns—and she keeps it a secret—everything in her life takes on new meaning. With Naomi Ko, Sun Park, Kim Cooper, Parvesh Cheena, Nathan Yueh, Connor Gould. Tantalum (USA) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Clara Aranovich. Detroit-based tech mogul Colton stands on the edge of a bridge in the middle of the night, ready to jump to his death. But when a strange woman perched above him derails his plan, he finds he’s in for a bizarre, and increasingly violent, night. With Marcus Henderson, Susan Deming, Jeffery Waddell, Langston Fishburne. Oversharing (USA) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Katie Flynn, Terri Timely. When a new business venture fails, uptight Jenny is forced to start renting out her apartment online. But diving into the sharing economy proves not to be so easy for someone who never actually learned to “share.” With Beth Dover, Sarah Burns, David Danipour, Thomas Fowler. On the Spectrum (Israel) – World Premiere Executive Producers: Ron Eilon, Danna Stern, Koby Gal Raday, Dganit Atias Gigi. On the Spectrum follows three 20-something roommates, all on the autism spectrum, as they navigate the day-to-day concerns of work, friendship, and romance. With Neomi Levov, Niv Majar, Ben Yosipovich, Uri Gat, Avi Dangur, Tal Yakimov.

    N.O.W. SHOWCASE

    A curated selection of independent, online creators invited to showcase their latest work at public screenings as official Tribeca Film Festival selections and on TribecaFilm.com. Divided into two groups: Episodic and Short Form.

    EPISODIC

    Premiere Screening: Thursday, April 19, 8:30 PM, Regal Battery Park Theater Cleaner Daze, created by Tess Sweet (USA) – Episode One (New York Premiere), Episode Two (World Premiere). Cleaner Daze, a dark comedy series about addiction, follows Jasmine, a newbie drug counselor, and her eccentric co-workers as they struggle to wrangle a misfit crew of teenage drug addicts. With Abigail Reno, Karin Babbitt, Tess Sweet, Kemi O’Connor. Tess Sweet is an award-winning writer and director, a recovering drug addict, and a lover of dark comedy. In 2011, Sweet graduated with an M.F.A. from the film and television directing program at the University of California at Los Angeles. Sweet now resides in the Bay Area, where she works as a freelance director and editor, serves as president of Loud and Clean, and runs programs for with at-risk youth. Dinette, created by Shaina Feinberg (USA) – World Premiere. The original series Dinette focuses on a group of female and gender non-conforming friends who come together for a commitment ceremony in the waning days of 2017. Shaina Feinberg leads the ensemble cast through a series of inter-connected vignettes riffing on wounded machismo and the patriarchy. Shaina Feinberg has directed and produced content for RIOT, Shatterbox and IFC’s Comedy Crib. Her debut as a writer and director, the award-winning feature The Babymooners, blurred the lines between documentary and fiction while examining gender stereotypes. In 2017, her short film Shiva, a hybrid of improvised comedy and actual grief, premiered at Tribeca. Senior Escort Service, her follow-up to Shiva, is a full-length movie that blends nonfiction and fiction. Driver Ed, created by Jacob A. Ware, Amanda Cowper (USA) – World Premiere. A guy decides to get his driver’s license to impress his NASCAR-loving girlfriend, but unexpected things happen on the open road. With Jacob A. Ware, Layla Khosh, Eddie Diaz, Becca Blackwell. Jacob A. Ware is an actor and writer, best known for playing Harold Selby on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. He is the head writer and host of the RYOT Studio show Screen Time; his television credits also include Law and Order: SVU, Shades of Blue, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Amanda Cowper is a New York City-based producer and director. As associate producer on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Cowper produces all of the show’s field pieces. Home, created by Micah Sudduth, Keylee Sudduth (USA) – World Premiere. Pulling from the true life experiences of the filmmakers, Home mines the humor and heartbreak of growing into adulthood, leaving home, and balancing individual creative careers as a married couple in the millennial age. Micah Sudduth grew up in the woods of East Texas and survived years of homeschooling so that he could one day pursue his dream of a) being around people and b) making films. Keylee Sudduth is a Texan born and raised actor and filmmaker. In childhood, she always found herself better able to connect with others through theater. That has now grown into an unabashed passion for cinematic storytelling. Pig: The Dam Keeper Poems, created by Erick Oh (USA, Japan) – New York Premiere. Pig: The Dam Keeper Poems is a 2D animated series based on the world of The Dam Keeper, the beloved Oscar-nominated short film by Tonko House. The series shows how Pig remembers his father’s departure and having to step into the role of the dam keeper. Erick Oh is a Korean filmmaker and animator based in California, whose independent films have won awards at numerous film festivals. After receiving his B.F.A. from Seoul National University and his M.F.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles’s film program, Oh worked at Pixar Animation Studios as an animator, working on Academy Award®-winning films, including Inside Out and Finding Dory. [caption id="attachment_27728" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Snugglr Snugglr[/caption] Snugglr, created by Georgia Bernstein, Cemre Paksoy (USA) – World Premiere. Snugglr is an improvised comedy that follows a young Turkish girl, Cemre, who cuddles strangers, professionally as a last resort to make rent. She winds up fully dressed and in bed with all kinds of characters – including a high school student discovering her sexuality, a piano playing dad, and a twelve-year-old with lice, all of whom are looking for more than just a snuggle, in one weird way or another. In English, Turkish with English subtitles. Georgia Bernstein is a filmmaker from Los Angeles. A recent graduate from Northwestern University, she’s living in Chicago where she created and directed a short film for Condé Nast and Indigenous Media based off her web series, Snugglr. Her first short film about modern neuroticism was an official selection in the 13th annual CineYouth Festival. Cemre Paksoy is an actor and filmmaker living in Chicago. She recently adapted Snugglr, the web series, into a short film that can be seen on Condé Nast’s The Scene. She’s from Turkey where she windsurfs and pets dogs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-xJZ_Xh7_o

    SHORT FORM

    Premiere Screening: Thursday, April 19, 7:15 PM, Regal Battery Park Theater Crime Cutz, created by Ben Fries, Alden Nusser, with the music of Holy Ghost! (USA) – World Premiere. Crime Cutz is a documentary that profiles four New Yorkers to the soundtrack of Holy Ghost!’s Crime Cutz EP. Each subject is invited to interpret a song in their unique style, showcasing these individuals as both subject and collaborator, blurring the line between documentary and music video. With Brad Pawly, Caramia Lior, Lori Brizzi, Louis Orlando, Stuart Hodes, Elizabeth Hodes. Ben Fries is an award-winning director, producer, and composer from New York City. He has directed more than 20 music videos for bands, including Holy Ghost! and Danny Brown, and has composed music for films such as The Search for General Tso, The City Dark, and The Most Unknown. Alden Fitzpatrick Nusser is a native Manhattanite who got his start directing short documentaries for news outlets, including The New York Times, the New Yorker, and HBO. He is now developing several projects; among them is a samurai flick set in the tropics and a documentary-opera about a plastic surgery-obsessed grande-dame. Everything is Stories, created by Mike Martinez, Tyler Wray (USA) – World Premiere. Peter Stefan, owner of Graham Putnam & Mahoney funeral parlor in Worcester, Massachusetts, found himself thrust into the national spotlight in the spring of 2013 amid a damning controversy. With implications that still linger to this day, Stefan and his team faced the question of where to draw the line on who deserves a burial. Directed by Daniel Navetta. Everything is Stories was initially created as a podcast by Garrett Crowe, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray. It is now also a documentary series that explores unconventional narratives of the past and present to preserve the eccentric, the authentic, and the personal. The Last Fisherman, created by Shal Ngo (USA, Vietnam) – World Premiere. In a dystopian future, on the South China Sea, an aging fisherman discovers an android woman from his past. Shal Ngo is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who seeks to bring the inner workings of the human brain to the big screen. After graduating from New York University in 2008, he began working in narrative, documentary, and commercial filmmaking. He is now in development on two projects: his debut feature, a sci-fi thriller about a sentient smart house, and a series of stop-motion documentaries about the psychology of mental health. Flint is a place, created by Zackary Canepari (USA) – World Premiere. This cross platform series about Flint, Michigan, document a specific moment within this American city in an intimate, character-driven way. What happens here happens in many other urban American cities. But in Flint, it happens all at once. It’s what makes Flint so important in the national conversation. Zackary Canepari is a documentary photographer and filmmaker. In 2010, he teamed with filmmaker Drea Cooper to make California is a Place, a short documentary series about California; their first feature documentary, T-Rex, about female boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, premiered at SXSW in March 2015 and was featured on PBS before the 2016 Olympics. 99 Names of God, created by Yumna Al-Arashi (UK) – World Premiere. Arab-American filmmaker Yumna Al-Arashi embraces the rhythmic rituals that have run alongside Islamic tradition throughout the centuries in this surreal and poetic short film. Piecing together old and new, Al-Rashi’s dream-like imagery breathes fresh air to a subject hardly seen in positive light. London-based artist Yumna Al-Arashi was born to a Yemeni father and Egyptian mother and raised in the United States. Her work confronts her own struggles of identity and belonging as both a woman and a Muslim. Her background in politics—she studied international politics at the New School—and journalism shines in her work, in which she focuses on humanitarian issues such as women’s rights and labor injustices. Under Her Skin, created by Rémy Bennett, Kelsey Bennett (USA) – World Premiere. Under Her Skin is an intimate character portrait of 71-year-old photographer Jane Rule Burdine which explores her work, personal struggles, and triumphs in the Mississippi Delta where she grapples with the beautiful yet harrowing complexities ingrained in the culture and landscape of the American Deep South. With Jane Rule Burdine. Rémy Bennett received her B.A. in acting from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Her film work includes Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, and she also runs Hurry Sundown Productions with her husband, Monroe Robertson, and sister, Kelsey Bennett. Kelsey Bennett is a New York City-based photographer and filmmaker who has shown work in her home city, as well as Los Angeles and London and has contributed to Interview magazine, Dazed, and Vice magazine.

    Tribeca N.O.W.: THE NEW YORK TIMES’ OP-DOCS

    Screening Time: Thursday, April 26, 5:30 PM, SVA Theatre The New York Times’ Op-Docs returns to Tribeca for year two of beautifully depicted short documentary stories, all told with Op-Docs signature expertise. Touching upon unforgettable historical events, to universally relatable family struggles, all the way to emotionally-charged, timely debates, this crop of online films is an impressive and uniquely diverse group. After the screening, please join us for a conversation with the filmmakers, moderated by The New York Times’ Op-Docs Executive Producer, Kathleen Lingo. The Blue Line, directed by Samantha Knowles (USA) – World Premiere. When a small town makes the controversial decision to paint a blue line in support of police on one of its busiest roads, an explosive division emerges between residents for and residents against the line. Birth Control Your Own Adventure, directed by Sindha Agha (USA). How the filmmaker’s birth control side effects made her four different people. Earthrise, directed by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee (USA) – World Premiere. The Apollo 8 astronauts recount their memories of capturing the first image of Earth from space in 1968 and evokes the awe of seeing Earth framed against the blackness of space. Also screening as a part of the Shorts Program: Home Sweet Home. The Happiest Guy in the World, directed by Lance Oppenheim (USA) – World Premiere. Mario Salcedo boarded his first cruise nearly twenty years ago — and hasn’t returned since. My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes, directed by Charlie Tyrell (Canada). Was my father’s leftover stuff the key to who he really was?

    Tribeca N.O.W. Creators Market

    Time and Location: Wednesday, April 25, Tribeca Festival Hub Industry and independents will come together at the Tribeca Creators Market, an invite-only event where creators discuss their work with distributors, brands, and MCNs. The following online and VR/immersive filmmakers will participate in the Creators Market: Gabriela Arp is an independent filmmaker and virtual-reality director whose work focuses on reinterpreting memory and creating experiences that blur the line between reality and imagination. She was a Sundance Institute Knight Fellow in 2017 and was selected for the Oculus VR for Good Creators Lab program. ·Sydney, Australia native Lauren Augarten published her first play, Define You, at just 14 years old. She moved to the United States at 21 to study at David Mamet’s Atlantic Theater School, she created the digital series Same Same, based on her experience as a newly out queer woman in Brooklyn, New York. The series won the LGBT Category award at the LA New Media Film Festival, and was an official selection at Newfest. It has been featured in The Huffington Post, Washington Post and Buzzfeed, and was recently acquired for European distribution. Jesse (Jesus) Ayala is a creator specializing virtual-reality, social-impact storytelling. Ayala is the creative director and founder of Fovrth Studios and was selected for the Oculus VR for Good Creators Lab in 2017, as a creative fellow with Future of Storytelling for Good in 2016, and as a nominee at the Shorty Awards in 2018. Lindsay Branham is an Emmy®-nominated filmmaker and social scientist with an interest in art that inspires human connection in imaginative ways. Her work focuses on how investigative storytelling, combined with emerging technology, can foster behavior change in places of violent conflict or in settings of intractable human rights abuses. Misha Calvert is an award-winning actor and show creator, whose projects span film, television, and digital. Her acclaimed series, Tinder is the Night, is currently screening at festivals around the world. Baron Davis is a professional basketball player as well as an actor, filmmaker, and CEO and founder of No Label Productions. Alongside his 2-time NBA All-Star’s career, he produced the Emmy®-nominated documentary Crips & Bloods: Made In America, and directed the documentary film The Drew; No Excuse, Just Produce which aired on Showtime. Jenn Duong is a director and producer who works primarily in virtual reality. She has created a range of cutting-edge virtual-reality projects, ranging from short-form documentaries to music experiences. After rising to fame with her role on The Real World: Ex-plosion, Ari Fitz (Arielle Scott) created two YouTube Channels, Ari Fitz and TOMBOYISH. She posts videos on an array of subjects that touches upon her life, gender, sexuality, and fashion. She has garnered a strong following, with over 13 million views across both channels. Native New Yorker, Tatienne Hendricks-Tellefsen attended Atlantic Acting school and RADA. Recent Theater credits include: Measure for Measure, and Women by Chiara Atik. Hendricks-Tellefsen wrote, produced, and stars in Adult. Manon Lucy Mathews is an actress and alumnus of The Second City Conservatory in Hollywood, as well as The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade. Bud Light tapped Manon to create original content for them and she has also worked with T-mobile, JBL Speakers, and Mastercard. She is now starring in the YouTube RED series Single by 30, as well as the Universal web series Off Script. Monique Moses has starred in and created content for Bustle, BrickTV, Comedy Central and IFC Comedy Cribs—including X Pat, the IFC series she wrote, and Sport Court, also on IFC, which was listed among Indiewire’s “10 Best Web Series of 2017.” Daniel Navetta is a multi-disciplinary creative artist. He founded the influential creative agency, APK.NYC. Channeling a wealth of experience as a musician and content creator, he has worked with a dynamic range of brands, agencies, networks, musicians, and artists. His work as a director and producer has earned him nods for multiple MTV awards, and a GRAMMY nomination. His films have also been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art and the Brooklyn Museum. Landon Stahmer is an emerging writer, director, and producer from Nebraska. Stahmer created the popular horror web series Look-See, which is distributed by CryptTV, and has received over 20 million views. He has produced content for many digital distributors, including, most notably, AwesomenessTV; he also has projects in development at the studio level. Matt Steffanina is a world-renowned choreographer who has worked with countless artists, including Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift, and Chris Brown. In 2016, he won The Amazing Race, a victory that transformed him into an international superstar. Steffanina is YouTube’s most-followed dancer in the world, with more than 10 million subscribers and more than a 1.5 billion views on his videos. Casey Stein & Bernard Zeiger Casey Stein (Holy Night Director/Co-Creator) is a Washington, D.C.-born, New York City-educated, and Brooklyn-based director. A lover of skateboarding, theater, and emerging technology, he has worked with the likes of the New York Times and 20th Century Fox. Bernard Zeiger (Holy Night Writer/Co-Creator) is an award-winning screenwriter and professional game designer. He studied film and economics at New York University and is now an associate writer at Kognito, a health simulation company. Jacob Wasserman is a writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles, California. Also participating in the Tribeca N.O.W. Creators Market are the N.O.W Showcase creators Tess Sweet, Shaina Feinberg, Georgia Bernstein & Cemre Paksoy, Keylee Sudduth & Micah Sudduth, Jacob A. Ware & Amanda Cowper, Yumna Al-Arashi, Ben Fries & Alden Nusser, Mike Martinez & Tyler Wray, Shal Ngo, Remy Bennett & Kelsey Bennett.

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  • Tribeca 2018: Fest to Celebrate Anniversaries of Schindler’s List, Scarface + Sam Rockwell, Steven Spielberg, and more on Tribeca Talks Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_27679" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Schindler’s List Schindler’s List[/caption] The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival, running April 18-29,  will celebrate the anniversaries of Schindler’s List, Scarface, and In the Soup, bringing three classics back to the big screen, and the Tribeca Talks program returns this year featuring an exciting lineup of discussions with acclaimed filmmakers, artists, entertainers, and icons. Director Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Schindler’s List, which won seven Oscars®, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a special post-screening conversation with Spielberg and actors Liam Neeson, Sir Ben Kingsley, Embeth Davidtz, and more. Scarface, one of the most referenced films in pop culture, will celebrate its 35th anniversary with a screening and conversation with director Brian De Palma and actors Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Anniversary celebrations of Schindler’s List and Scarface will take place at the Beacon Theatre, tickets go on sale tomorrow, March 20 at 10:00 a.m. Director Alexandre Rockwell’s hidden treasure, In the Soup, celebrates its 25th anniversary with the exclusive world premiere 4K restoration, followed by a conversation with the director, actors Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Beals, Sam Rockwell, and cinematographer Phil Parmet. Groundbreaking filmmakers participating in the Tribeca Talks: Directors Series include Alexander Payne, Lesli Linka Glatter, Jason Reitman, Laura Poitras, and Nancy Meyers. Tribeca Talks: Storytellers, which spotlights pioneering creators who work across mediums to tell their stories, will feature an eclectic lineup of entertainers including Bradley Cooper, Alec Baldwin, Spike Lee, John Legend, Edward Burns, and Jamie Foxx. Debuting this year is Tribeca Talks: The Journey, which will feature a conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker about her career path across multiple endeavors. “As we welcome new filmmakers to the Tribeca community, it is a great time to pause and take a look back at master filmmakers and some of their singular works that have changed filmmaking and influenced popular culture,” said Paula Weinstein, EVP of Tribeca Enterprises. “Our anniversary screenings and our Talks allow a rare behind the scenes look at the creative process – be it director, actor, songwriter – we give our audiences a window into the thoughts and inspiration of the best story tellers working today.” The Tribeca Talks: Master Class, focuses on specific sectors of the filmmaking process and this year will present Writing & Showrunning for TV from the prolific creator duo Robert and Michelle King and Executive Producers from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Steve Bodow and Jennifer Flanz. There will also be a Sound & Music Design for Film Master Class with Glenn Kiser, Director of the Dolby Institute. Tribeca Talks: The Future of Film unveils the promising intersection of storytelling and technology and how innovations like Blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence are influencing the industry. Rounding out the Talks program, and part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, is a conversation with the team from the 30 for 30 podcast series on bikram yoga. “A key component of the creative community the Festival fosters is celebrating and learning from some of the all-time greats in our industry,” said Cara Cusumano, Tribeca’s Director of Programming. “Tribeca’s Talks and Reunions expand the movies beyond the screen through these illuminating live events with some of today’s most engaging cinematic voices.”

    REUNIONS

    Schindler’s List – 25th Anniversary Steven Spielberg’s 1993 epic masterpiece Schindler’s List, remains one of contemporary cinema’s most challenging and sensitive portraits on the human toll of the Holocaust. Anchored by stunning performances from Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Embeth Davidtz, the film received near universal acclaim, going on to win seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, with an additional five nominations. Twenty-five years later, Schindler’s List continues to be widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. A Universal Pictures release. After the Screening: a conversation with director Steven Spielberg and actors Liam NeesonSir Ben Kingsley and Embeth Davidtz. Moderated by New York Times critic Janet Maslin. DATE: Thursday, April 26 TIME: 6:30 PM LOCATION: Beacon Theatre Scarface – 35th Anniversary, Sponsored by Kia Brian De Palma’s modernization of Howard Hawks’ 1932 classic Scarface is a somber consideration for the humanizing motives of evil men. It went on to receive three Golden Globe nominations and became one of the most referenced films in pop culture. Al Pacino delivers his riskiest performance in a career-defining role, garnering a cult following for the film. Revisit the gangland masterpiece thirty-five years later, a rich, harrowing, eminently quotable ride to excess and self-destruction that laid the groundwork for all the anti-hero stories to come. A Universal Pictures release. After the Screening: a conversation with director Brian De Palma and actors Al Pacinoand Michelle Pfeiffer. DATE: Thursday, April 19 TIME: 7:00 PM LOCATION: Beacon Theatre In the Soup – Restoration; 25th Anniversary Directed by Alexandre Rockwell, In the Soup portrays the story of Adolpho (Steve Buscemi), who is writing a screenplay from his crumbling NYC apartment, and falling for the girl-next-door. In a desperate attempt to get his screenplay funded, he connects with Joe (Seymour Cassel), a shady high-roller willing to play dirty. After winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1992, the film all but disappeared and only one damaged archival print remained. Through the efforts of Factory 25 and a Kickstarter campaign, the film’s print has been restored. Join us in celebrating the world premiere of the 4K restoration of In the Soup, a hidden treasure of American cinema. A Factory 25 Release, After the Screening: a conversation with director Alexandre Rockwell, actors Steve BuscemiJennifer Beals, and Sam Rockwell, and cinematographer Phil Parmet. DATE: Tuesday, April 24 TIME: 7:30 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre

    TRIBECA TALKS: DIRECTORS SERIES

    Today’s most groundbreaking filmmakers discuss their careers and highlights. Alexander Payne Academy Award-winner Alexander Payne will discuss his career as the writer/director of notable satires and dark comedies (Election, Citizen Ruth and Downsizing), as well as family comedy-dramas (The DescendantsAbout Schmidt and Nebraska). DATE: Saturday, April 28 TIME: 3:00 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre Jason Reitman with Tamara Jenkins & New York Premiere of Tully Following the New York Premiere of his film Tully, writer, director, and producer Jason Reitman will sit down with revered writer/director Tamara Jenkins (The Savages, Slums of Beverly Hills)to discuss his latest film, as well as his eminent career as the writer/director of witty, satirical indie comedies such as Thank you For Smoking and Up in the Air. Reitman’s collaborations with screenwriter Diablo Cody have produced such memorable films as Young Adult and Juno, the latter of which was Roger Ebert’s favorite film of 2007. Nominated for four Academy Awards by the age of 32, and the winner of a Golden Globe for best screenplay for Up in the Air, Reitman has established himself as a formidable voice in independent filmmaking. Tully, directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody. Produced by Diablo Cody, A.J. Dix, Helen Estabrook, Aaron L. Gilbert, Beth Kono, Mason Novick, Charlize Theron, Jason Reitman. (USA) – A harried mother of three crosses paths with a free-spirited nanny named Tully in this charming, modern take on the fairy godmother story. With Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston. A release from Focus Features  DATE: Thursday, April 19 TIME: 5:15 PM LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca PAC Laura Poitras Academy Award-winning filmmaker, journalist and artist Laura Poitras has spent her career uncovering America’s hidden truths. Her film CITIZENFOUR won an Oscar for best documentary feature, and My Country, My Country was an Academy Award nominee in 2007. Poitras received the George Polk Award for National Security Journalism and in 2014 she shared the Pulitzer Prize for public service. She is the co-creator of the visual journalism project Field of Vision. DATE: Saturday, April 28 TIME: 4:00 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre Nancy Meyers with Carrie Rickey Trailblazing writer, director and producer Nancy Meyers will discuss her illustrious body of work with the astute and distinguished film critic and writer Carrie Rickey, whose body of work explores art that reflects the female experience. Together, they will walk through Nancy’s prolific career, from her auspicious debut as the co-screenwriter of the groundbreaking film Private Benjamin, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, to her landmark work as the writer/director of such films asIt’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give and The Intern. Meyers has the uncanny ability to tap into the very heart of modern relationships, and her films have chronicled women and men, at work and in love, in a singular fashion that makes each film instantly recognizable as a Nancy Meyers movie. DATE: Wednesday, April 25 TIME: 6:00 PM LOCATION: Tribeca Festival Hub Lesli Linka Glatter with Claire Danes Virtuosic filmmaker Lesli Linka Glatter is one of the most prolific television directors in the industry, with more than 100 hours of episodic television, seven Emmy nominations and 2 DGA Awards under her belt. Her impressive and innumerable directorial credits include: Twin Peaks, Freaks and Geeks, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Mad Men andHomeland, for which she is also an executive producer. To discuss her illustrious career, Lesli will be joined by her Homeland collaborator and esteemed actress Claire Danes, whose versatility and tenacity as a performer has garnered her three Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes and two SAG Awards. These two seminal and intrepid women will discuss their impressive careers and the trails they’ve blazed for women in a profession that continues to be dominated by men. DATE: Thursday, April 26 TIME: 5:30 PM LOCATION: Tribeca Festival Hub

    TRIBECA TALKS: STORYTELLERS

    Celebrating some of today’s most innovative creators who have broken from the mold and pioneered their own forms of storytelling, often mastering multiple mediums. Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper will sit down with Robert De Niro to discuss his career as an actor, producer and now director; from his early work in acclaimed comedies such as Wet Hot American SummerWedding Crashers and The Hangover trilogy, to his impactful dramatic turns in Silver Linings Playbook and American Sniper, which led to him becoming the tenth actor to receive an Academy Award nomination three years in a row. Most recently, Cooper has been working on his directorial debut, a modern adaptation of A Star is Born, which he also produced, co-wrote, and stars in alongside Lady Gaga. Cooper and De Niro have worked together on such films as Silver Linings PlaybookAmerican HustleJoy and Limitless which was their first picture together. DATE: Saturday, April 21 TIME: 6:00 PM LOCATION: Tribeca Festival Hub Alec Baldwin and Spike Lee Alec Baldwin and Spike Lee, two of the industry’s most prolific storytellers, will sit down and discuss in great detail their passionate and reverential relationship to film: their favorite movies of all time, the films that have influenced them as creators, and the power of storytelling. Spike Lee is an Academy Award-winning director, producer, writer, actor and activist and NYU Grad Film Tenured Professor, best known for his groundbreaking and acclaimed films, Do The Right ThingMalcolm X4 Little GirlsWhen The Levees Broke,25th Hour and Inside Man. Alec Baldwin is a critically acclaimed actor, writer, producer, and activist, most recognizable for his roles in BeetlejuiceThe Hunt for Red OctoberGlengarry Glen Ross30 Rock, and Saturday Night Live. He is also the hosts of his podcast, Here’s the Thing, for WNYC radio and is the author of three books. DATE: Tuesday, April 24 TIME: 8:30 PM LOCATION: The Festival Hub John Legend Celebrated singer, songwriter, actor, and producer, John Legend has been releasing billboard hits since his debut album Get Lifted in 2004. He’s earned a total of ten Grammy Awards. John Legend also formed a film and television production company, Get Lifted, in 2014, and executive produced and starred in La La Land and the hit television show, Underground. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his song “Glory” in Selma. In addition to his work in music and film, Legend is also well known for his philanthropic work in education and criminal justice reform. He founded #FREEAMERICA, a campaign designed to change the national conversation of our country’s misguided policies and to make a change in America’s criminal justice system. DATE: Thursday, April 19 TIME: 6:00 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre Edward Burns with Mike Vaccaro & World Premiere of Summertime In conjunction with the World Premiere of his film Summertime, actor, producer, writer, and director Edward Burns will sit down with award-winning journalist and lead sports columnist for The New York Post Mike Vaccaro to discuss his latest directorial effort, as well as his prolific career in front of and behind the camera. Burns launched his career as a writer/director/actor with The Brothers McMullen, the Grand Jury Prize winner at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, and went on to write, direct and act in She’s the OneSidewalks of New York, and Newlyweds. Burns is also known for his star-turning performance in Saving Private Ryan. Most recently, Burns made his mark in television, on the critically acclaimed series Public Morals for TNT and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, in which he wrote, directed, starred and executive produced. Summertime, directed and written by Edward Burns. Produced by Aaron Lubin, Edward Burns. (USA) – World Premiere. Set in the summer of 1983 in Rockaway Beach, the film follows a group of recent high school and college graduates as they work summer jobs, fall in and out of love, and prepare for their new worlds to begin after Labor Day weekend. With Pico Alexander, Edward Burns, Amadeus Serafini, Caitlin Stasey, Rita Volk, Lindsey Morgan, Anthony Ramos. DATE: Friday, April 27 TIME: 8:00 PM LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca PAC Jamie Foxx Prolific actor, musician, and comedian Jamie Foxx is a Hollywood triple threat. Perhaps his most iconic role as an actor, his portrayal of musician Ray Charles in the biopic Ray, landed him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA in 2005. The very same year, Foxx was nominated for a second Oscar for his acting in the film Collateral, making him only the second man in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different roles. In addition to film, Foxx is a GRAMMY award-winning musician, producing four albums that have charted the top ten of the US Billboard 200. Recently, Foxx has taken on the dual role of host and executive producer for the game show Beat Shazam, which will have its second season premiere in May on FOX, and he will also be appearing in Robin Hood, scheduled for theatrical release in November. DATE: Monday, April 23 TIME: 6:00 PM LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca PAC

    TRIBECA TALKS: THE JOURNEY

    Industry stalwarts take the stage to discuss the bold choices they have made throughout their careers that have pushed them towards their achievements This new series will extend year-round with TUMI taking The Journey on the road throughout 2018 with the first Talk starting at the Festival. Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker will discuss her illustrious career across multiple platforms in Broadway, film, television, fashion and the literary world. From acting and producing with her Emmy Award-winning role in Sex & the City to her current show Divorce, for which she has been nominated for a Golden Globe. She has become synonymous with New York where she lives and runs her own production company Pretty Matches. She will speak to the path she has so boldly crafted for herself to forge such achievements. DATE: Friday, April 27 TIME: 6:00 PM LOCATION: Tribeca Festival Hub MASTER CLASS Supported by The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Tribeca Talks: Master Class events featuring conversations focusing on a specific sector of the filmmaking process. These programs are free. Writing & Showrunning for TV American television writing duo, Robert and Michelle King, will sit down with The Daily Show Executive Producers Steve Bodow and Jennifer Flanz, to discuss what it takes to write and produce a compelling show and the grit required to churn out episodes that feel timely and fresh. The Kings are a Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award-nominated writing team. Their work on their two major hit series The Good Wife and The Good Fighttouch on a wide range of issues, from political corruption to cyber-security — making their shows simultaneously gripping and true to life. Bodow and Flanz have collectively won over 20 Primetime Emmy Awards for The Daily Show’s hilariously cutting political satire, garnering remarkable success and notoriety for the show. DATE: Saturday, April 28 TIME: 2:00 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre Sound & Music Design for Film Since 1927, sound has transported film audiences from the theater to the alternate realities projected on the screen in front of them. From the haunting theme of Jaws to the lightsabers of Star Wars, filmmakers know that sound has the power to surprise, uplift, and terrify. But what if you’re a low-budget filmmaker working on a documentary or narrative film without access to big studio budgets or musicians and sound teams? Join festival film creators as they discuss the art of designing sound and music that will stick with people long after watching a movie, no matter the size of your budget. Moderated byGlenn Kiser, Director of the Dolby Institute. DATE: Friday, April 20 TIME: 5:00 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre

    TRIBECA TALKS: FUTURE OF FILM

    Tribeca Talks: The Future of Film is anchored to conversations around storytelling and technology. These programs are free. Artificial Intelligence and Augmented & Reality: The Future of Immersive Storytelling Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are two tech advances with the potential to fundamentally change society. AR layers digital information onto our actual reality, while AI allows machines to learn in an unprecedented way. How are these innovative technologies being used to forge new methods of storytelling, and are they the future of immersive entertainment? Panelists include Fable Studios co-founder Edward Saatchi, and Asad Malik, the creator of Terminal 3, an interactive AR documentary which is world premiering in the Tribeca Immersive program. DATETuesday, April 24 TIME1:00 PM LOCATIONTribeca Festival Hub Education and Advocacy in VR Virtual Reality (VR) is creating new and unique opportunities for teachers, creators, advocates, and audiences to connect in meaningful ways. Leaders in the field will show how VR is forging new means to immerse its viewers in issues in order to inspire, educate, and effect change. Panelists include the creator of SPHERES: Pale Blue DotEliza McNitt, the co-creator of 1000 Cut JourneyCourtney Cogburn, Executive Producer of Oculus VR for GoodAmy Seidenwurm, and Elise Pearlstein, Executive Producer of This is Climate Change and SVP of and TV and Film at Participant Media.  DATETuesday, April 24 TIME2:00 PM LOCATIONTribeca Festival Hub Blockchain: Can Blockchain Breed Blockbusters? Blockchain was originally devised for the digital currency Bitcoin, but the tech community is now finding other potential uses for the technology, from feeding digital kittens to funding films. Blockchain-based funding has the potential to enable new and creative stories to be financed that might have otherwise been turned away by Hollywood studio executives. Blockchain technology is being positioned to disrupt the traditional method of financing and distribution in the film world, but what does this mean for the industry? Panelists include the writer/director of Braid, Mitzi Peirone. DATEMonday, April 23 TIME1:00 PM LOCATIONTribeca Festival Hub Interactive Technology in Storytelling  Entertainment media is finally evolving, and its technology which is revolutionizing it for the truly digital age. Join us in conversation with the world’s leading interactive video technology, Wirewax, and globally-renowned tastemakers Netflix, Digital Reign amongst others, to unveil how they’re poised to ride this new wave of digital entertainment. We’ll get inside the minds of those who are leading the march and using interactive video to deepen audience involvement and depart from passive video consumption. Panelists include David Shlafman, Interactive Originals at Netflix and Evette Vargas, CEO of Digital Reign. DATE: Friday, April 20 TIME: 1:00 PM  LOCATION: Tribeca Festival Hub The Game-Changer: Building Faster, Smarter Games on the Cloud  How can you game faster, build smarter and meet gamer demands through creating games on the cloud? Come and play games created by New York City game developers in a 48-hour game jam and join them as they discuss the process of designing and building games on the cloud inspired by the theme “Acceleration.” IBM will partner with Tribeca Games for a game jam for 15 of New York’s top independent game developers. The jam will bring together three teams of five developers to build three new games using IBM tools and technology. These games will be made available for play during the Festival in the Festival Lounge at theTribeca Festival Hub. DATE: Monday, April 21 TIME: 1:00 PM LOCATION: Tribeca Festival Hub

    TRIBECA/ESPN SPORTS FILM FESTIVAL TALK

    Tribeca Talks: 30 for 30 Podcast – Bikram  ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcasts will premiere its first serialized season this spring: five episodes that delve deep into the complicated world of Bikram Yoga, a community grappling with its identity and survival and amid sexual assault allegations against its charismatic founder, Bikram Choudhury. Reporter and producer Julia Lowrie Henderson and host and editor Jody Avirgan will sit down to discuss their experience diving into this powerful story that offers timely lessons for how we think about sports, gender, power and community, as well as play an exclusive clip from the upcoming season. DATE: Friday, April 27 TIME: 6:00 PM LOCATION: SVA Theatre

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  • Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s Short Doc EARTHRISE Featuring Apollo 8 Astronauts to World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival | Trailer

    [caption id="attachment_27608" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Earthrise The original “Earthrise” image, 1968. Photo credit: Bill Anders/NASA.[/caption] In Earthrise, the short documentary film from Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, the Apollo 8 astronauts recount their memories of capturing the first image of Earth from space in 1968. The film will world premiere at the upcoming 2018 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 21, 2018. Earthrise tells the story of the first image captured of the Earth from space in 1968. Told solely by the Apollo 8 astronauts, – Bill Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell – the film recounts their experiences and memories and explores the beauty, awe, and grandeur of the Earth against the blackness of space. This iconic image had a powerful impact on the astronauts and the world, offering a perspective that transcended national, political, and religious boundaries. Told 50 years later, Earthrise compels us to remember this shift and to reflect on the Earth as a shared home. (Runtime: 29 Minutes)

    The Filmmaker

    Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee is an award-winning filmmaker, musician and composer. His work has been featured on National Geographic, PBS, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Outside Magazine, exhibited at The Smithsonian and screened at festivals worldwide including Tribeca Film Festival, New York Film Festival, SXSW and many others. He has directed numerous acclaimed films including Sanctuaries of Silence, Marie’s Dictionary, Isle de Jean Charles, Yukon Kings, Elemental, Barrio de Paz and What Would it Look Like. Prior to his work in film, Emmanuel performed with some of the biggest names in Jazz, as well as releasing two critically acclaimed records Previous Misconceptions and Borrowed Time.

    Trailer

    2018 Tribeca Film Festival Screening Info

    Public Screenings of Earthrise at Tribeca Film Festival 2018 Screening in the Shorts Program: Home Sweet Home Saturday, April 21, 2018 – 6:30 PM Regal Cinemas Battery Park Tuesday, April 24, 2018 – 5:30 PM Regal Cinemas Battery Park Wednesday, April 25, 2018 – 5:00 PM Regal Cinemas Battery Park Saturday, April 28, 2018 – 3:45 PM Cinépolis Chelsea

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  • Tribeca 2018: James Gardner’s JELLYFISH Acquired by Bankside Films

    [caption id="attachment_27560" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Liv Hill as Sarah Talor in JELLYFISH. Photo credit: Dan Atherton. Liv Hill as Sarah Talor in JELLYFISH. Photo credit: Dan Atherton.[/caption] Jellyfish which will have its world premiere screening in the View Points section at the forthcoming Tribeca Film Festival in New York, has been acquired by Bankside Films. Directed by James Gardner, from a script which he co-wrote with Simon Lord, Jellyfish tells the story of a teenage carer who discovers a hidden talent for stand-up comedy. James Gardner’s previous work includes short films Barry Glitter and Ferris and The Fancy Pigeon. Between being bullied at school, put upon by her overbearing boss at the local amusement arcade and having to look after her younger brother, sister and emotionally unstable mother, life isn’t easy for Sarah Taylor. However, when Sarah’s drama teacher channels her ferocious and volatile energies in to a stand-up comedy routine for the graduation showcase, Sarah discovers that she may have a hidden talent. As her love for comedy grows and the showcase draws nearer, the delicate balance in her life becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. Little by little the walls start to close in, ultimately forcing her to choose between her responsibilities as a carer and her newfound passion for comedy. Jellyfish stars newcomer, Liv Hill (The Little Stranger) who delivers a mesmerizing performance as Sarah which is bound to announce her as one of the UK’s most exciting new talents. Additional cast includes Sinead Matthew (Mr. Turner) and BAFTA award nominee, Cyril Nri (Cucumber). Nikolas Holttum serves as producer and arranged production finance. James Gardner, the director, said “Little films can do big things and little films matter. Since finding us on the Edinburgh works-in-progress lab last year, the team at Bankside have shown nothing but unrelenting enthusiasm for Jellyfish, respecting the integrity of my vision for the film, while enabling it to find its biggest possible audience. To be working with such a well-respected sales company on my first feature film, and for it to be premiering at Tribeca, still feels a bit surreal, but I’m thrilled it’s happening and I look forward to continuing to develop our relationship with my next feature-film projects.” Stephen Kelliher, Director at Bankside Films, added, “We were blown away by James Gardner’s intensely moving debut feature which announces him as compelling new voice in British cinema as well as introducing a super star in the making in Liv Hill. The film speaks directly to the times in which we live and we are thrilled to be introducing the film to the world at the forthcoming Tribeca Film Festival.”

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  • 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Reveals Short Film Lineup of 55 Films incl. Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi G

    [caption id="attachment_27549" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The River of the Kukamas The River of the Kukamas[/caption] The 17th Tribeca Film Festival today revealed its lineup of 55 diverse and engaging short films in competition, including 29 world premieres.  For the second year running, 40% of the selections are directed by female filmmakers. The short films will be presented in 10 distinct competition programs, which consist of five narrative, three documentary, one animation, and one hybrid program. The program will also include special screenings and the 12th annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. A spotlight shines locally as the popular New York shorts program returns this year with HOMEMADE, a section that features world premiere documentaries directed by New York-based filmmakers. The timely hybrid program entitled AFTERMATH will focus on compassion and humanity as vital tools in coping with gun violence, and will include extended Q&A’s with the filmmakers of both the narrative film Surviving Theater 9 and the documentary film Lessons from a School Shooting. The 2017 Oscar® winner Dear Basketball, directed by Glen Keane, written and narrated by Kobe Bryant, world premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and is the latest in the festival’s long tradition of curating films that have been nominated or won an Oscar. Recipients of the Tribeca Film Festival awards for Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short and, for the first time, Best Animated Short will qualify for consideration in the Academy Awards’ Short Films category, provided the film complies with Academy rules. Tribeca Film Festival also gives out a Student Visionary Award to a student filmmaker.

    2018 Tribeca Film Festival Shorts Program

    Aftermath

    The impact of gun violence is explored in this unique hybrid program. Followed by an extended Q&A. Surviving Theater 9, directed and written by Tim McGrath. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. After the mass shooting at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, filmmaker Tim McGrath and his fellow survivors offer an inside look in this intriguing and inspiring movie. With Corben Bernsen, Chelsey Crisp, Brittany Ishibashi, Luke Columbero, Tim McGrath, Stacey Oristano. Lessons from a School Shooting, directed by Kim Snyder. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Following the Sandy Hook Massacre, a priest from Dunblane, Scotland reaches out to Father Bob offering support 16 years after a school shooting in his own town. The men bond over personal trauma and responsibilities… In the aftermath the UK reformed its gun laws; the US responded with inaction. With Monsignor Bob Weiss, Monsignor Basil O’Sullivan.

    Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi G

    Showcasing imaginative storytelling and captivating craft. This program is suggested for those 14 and older. Brooklyn Breeze, directed and written by Alex Budovsky. (USA) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. Brooklyn Breeze is a visual journey through different parts of Brooklyn, some of the iconic spots and others not often seen by the visitors, based on a tune recorded by New York based Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra. Late Afternoon, directed and written by Louise Bagnall. (Ireland) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Disconnected from the world around her, Emily drifts back through her own memories, looking to her past in order to fully embrace her present. With Fionnula Flanagan, Niamh Moyles, Lucy O’Connell, Michael McGrath. The History of White People in America, directed by Jonathan Halperin, Clementine Briand, Ed Bell, Aaron Keane, Pierce Freelon, Drew Takahashi, written by Pierce Freelon and Jon Halperin. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. The invention of race in America gets an animated, musical treatment. Two Balloons, directed by Mark Smith, written by Mark C. Smith. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Two travelers return to a place crossed by stars and clouds where love is at the beginning of everything. Surpresa, directed and written by Paulo Patrício. (Portugal) – US Premiere, Short Documentary. A recorded conversation between a mother, Joana, and her three-year-old daughter, Alice, who is recovering from kidney cancer, forms the heart of this short experimental-documentary animation. With Daniela Duarte, Carina Beringuilho, Joana Amorim, Ana Sofia Gueifão, Inês Almendra. In Portuguese with English subtitles. The Velvet Underground Played at My High School, directed by Robert Pietri, Tony Jannelli, written by Marina Donahue. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. This animated short recounts the Velvet Underground’s first gig—in 1965, in front of a crowd of shocked kids at a suburban New Jersey high school. Fire in Cardboard City, directed by Phil Brough, written by Phil Brough, Matt Heath. (New Zealand) – US Premiere, Short Narrative. When a city made entirely of cardboard catches fire, it’s up to the local fire chief and his brave deputies to save Cardboard City and its citizens from impending doom. Bao, directed and written by Domee Shi. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. An empty-nesting Chinese mom gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life. But she must come to terms with the bittersweet revelation that nothing stays cute and small forever.

    Bold Moves

    Risk takers tell true tales. Hula Girl, directed by Amy Hill, Chris Riess, written by Amy Hill. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Hula Girl is the untold story behind one of the biggest fads in modern American history. At 94 years of age, Joan Anderson has waited 50 years to prove that “a gentleman’s handshake ” was hardly a deal and it’s time to set the record straight. With Joan Anderson, Richard Burton, James DiLullo, residents of La Costa Glen retirement home. Cosmic Debris, directed and written by Patrick Waldrop. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. This documentary depicts the friendship between animator and creator Gabor Csupo (The Simpsons, Rugrats) and the legendary musician Frank Zappa. With Gabor Csupo. 9 at 38, directed by Catherine Lee. (South Korea, USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. Juilliard-trained violinist Hyungjoon Won is about to realize a dream seven years in the making: a joint concert by North and South Korean musicians straddling the 38th parallel. But military aggression and apathy soon threaten to derail his plan. With Hyungjoon Won. In English, Korean with English subtitles. The Last Storm, directed and written by Liam Saint-Pierre. (UK, USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Mark, a 60-year-old fledgling storm chaser who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, sets out across the Midwest with his friend’s nephew to search for a twister before the two- month season comes to an end. With Mark Zabawa, Mike Marz. Adventure Not War, directed by Max Lowe. (Iraq, USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. Three U.S. veterans travel back into the mountains of Iraq on a mission to heal wounds and to experience the country and its culture, relieved of the shadow of war. With Stacey Bare, Robin Brown, Matthew Griffin.

    Home Sweet Home

    From small towns to planet Earth, docs that celebrate home. Hey Ronnie Reagan, directed by Maurice O’Brien. (Ireland) – International Premiere, Short Documentary. When U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes a visit to his ancestral home in Ireland, the tiny, anonymous Tipperary village is thrust into the world spotlight. Ballyporeen would never be the same. Wendy’s Shabbat, directed and written by Rachel Myers. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. After mourning the loss of her husband Jack of nearly 60 years, Roberta Mahler sought to connect with her Jewish community to ease the loneliness. She did so, surprisingly, at her local Wendy’s. With Roberta Mahler, Sharon Goodman, Michael Goodman, Lou Silberman, Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, Gerrie Gussman, Winston Bannister. Destination Park, directed by Andrew Cohn. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Deep within Trump’s America, a camp of destitute truck drivers confide their anxieties, frustrations, hopes, and fears in the chaplain of a Midwest mobile chapel. With Chad Roedema. Homeless: The Soundtrack, directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Thirty years after being taken away from her parents by the state and given up for adoption, singer-songwriter Jenni Alpert went searching for her father. She finally finds him: homeless, toothless, addicted. And a musician, just like her. With “Cami” Jenni Alpert, Don Logsdon, Jill Alpert. The River of the Kukamas (The El Río de los Kukamas), directed and written by Nika Belianina. (Peru) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. This film takes a tranquil journey through the waters and history of Kukama people, who inhabit the Amazon basin in Peru. With Pablo Taricuarima Pinedo. In Spanish with English subtitles. Earthrise, directed by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, written by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Adam Loften. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. The Apollo 8 astronauts recount their memories of capturing the first image of Earth from space in 1968 and evokes the awe of seeing Earth framed against the blackness of space. With Frank Borman, James Lovell, Bill Anders.

    Into the Void

    Sci-Fi shorts that will rock your multiverse. The 716th, directed and written by Andrew Bowen. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Left to die at the hands of her enemies. When a small shuttle piloted by an unlikely hero arrives to save them, a poorly planned, at times comical rescue sends these outcasts on an unexpected adventure. With Andrew Bowen, John Asher, Lauren McFall, Taj Speights. Bad Peter, directed and written by Zach Strauss. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. An expectant mother is forced into a humiliating birthing regimen by her automated personal assistant, which thinks it knows what’s best for her and her unborn child. With Frankie Shaw, Ross Partridge. Exit Strategy, directed and written by Travis Bible. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A man who is trapped in a time loop must work with his brother to prevent a catastrophic fire. With Christopher O’Shea, Richard Kohnke. Let Them Die Like Lovers, directed by Jesse Atlas, written by Jesse Atlas, Aaron Wolfe. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A body-jumping soldier grapples with the morality of her missions in this emotionally charged sci-fi thriller. With Mustafa Shakir, Angela Lewis, Bradley Fisher. UI – Soon We Will All Be One, directed by Johannes Mücke, Patrick Sturm, written by Johannes Mücke. (Austria) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. When hard-bitten ranger Kira is sent out to retrieve a drone that has gone astray, she discovers a mysterious, large object in the vast ice lands of Antarctica. Little does she know that inside this object waits a lethal trap not only for her, but for mankind. With Tanja Petrovsky, Dennis Kozeluh, Michael Smulik. Laboratory Conditions, directed by Jocelyn Stamat, written by Terry Rossio. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A physician investigating a missing body disrupts an unlawful experiment. With Marisa Tomei, Minnie Driver, Paulo Costanzo, Lisa Renee, Robert Scheid, John Kearney.

    Lighten Up!

    Have some fun with comedic & off-beat stories. The Last Romantic (El Último Romántico), directed by Natalia García Agraz, written by Natalia García Agraz, Gerardo Lechuga. (Mexico) – International Premiere, Short Narrative. Hector, the employee of the month at a bowling alley, is in love with Magda, his co-worker. With Ulises Galván, Lorea Montemayor, Enrique Arreola, Raúl Briones. In Spanish with English subtitles. Five Minutes, directed and written by Justine Bateman. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A “parenting class” at a progressive elementary school takes an unexpected, dramatic turn. With Rob Benedict, Rae Dawn Chong, Bre Blair, Aimee Graham, Steve Agee, Seana Kofoed. Love-40, directed and written by Harry Israelson. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A friendly tennis match between Alice and Andy takes an abrupt turn when Alice goes to retrieve a stray tennis and is bitten by a rattlesnake. With Lola Kirke, Jack Henry Robbins. Ugh!, directed by Jimmy Marble, written by Jimmy Marble, Doug Sacrison. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. 1990s. Los Angeles. The Future Is Repeating Itself. Oh My God. With Nika de Carlo, Carly Foulkes. Black Label (Etiqueta negra), directed by David Vergés, written by Guillermo Tato, David Vergés. (Spain) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. Erik is a night-shift employee from a lonely gas station; Alex is a regular at the shop. One night, something happens that gives them the opportunity to discover who they really are. With Úrsula Corberó, Marcel Borràs, Andrés Herrera, Macarena Gomez, Cristina Brondo. In Spanish with English subtitles. Welcome Home (Velkommen til oss), directed and written by Armita Keyani. (Norway) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. An Iranian refugee couple living in the North of Norway invite in two Jehovah’s Witnesses when they knock on their door. With Ashkan Ghorbani, Elnaz Asgari, Marianne Lauritsen, Ole Jorgen Farstad. In English, Farsi, Norwegian with English subtitles. So You Like the Neighborhood, directed and written by Jean Pesce. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. After Wendy gets dumped and then evicted from her Brooklyn apartment, she befriends some locals, who offer to help her with the eviction. The thing is, they’re mafia members, and by “help,” they mean something rather more nefarious. With Sarah Stiles, Carmine Raspaolo, Ernest Mingione, Vince Bandille, Corey Sullivan, Matt Hopkins, Joe Corrao, Chuck McMahon, Jason Nuzzo, John Forde, Hillary Hamilton, Matt Casuccio.

    Loose Ends

    Life is unravelling. The Goodnight Show, directed by Charlie Schwan, written by Charlie Schwan and Wyatt Miller. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Being a virgin isn’t the end of the world, but when the world is actually ending, the stakes are raised so tragic hero Samuel embarks on a quest to lose his virginity before it’s too late. With Spencer Flynn, Ellie Dubin. Paper Roof, directed and written by Judith Tong. (Singapore) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Two young sisters, Pamela and Abigail, decide to run away from trouble at home to build a cardboard house together. However, reality soon catches up with them and threatens to put an end to their escapade. With Lee Min Xin, Zhang Zhirou We Were Three (Vi var tre), directed by Caroline Ingvarsson, written by Caroline Ingvarsson, Gunnar Järvstad. (Sweden, Norway) – International Premiere, Short Narrative. In this true story, three young girls arrive at the airport after a long night of partying during a parent-free trip to England. But a naive joke in the wrong place shatters their friendship. With Selma Modéer Wiking, Sofie Nilsask, Livia Liedholm. Phone Duty (Дежурство), directed and written by Lenar Kamalov. (Russia) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A Donbass rebel fighter, whose nom de guerre is Cat, receives orders to sit on phone duty—which, he quickly learns, is not as easy as it first seems. With Zakhar Prilepin, Oleg Chernov, Gleb Kornilov, Mikhail Sivorin, Yuriy Maslak. In Russian with English subtitles. Salam, directed and written by Claire Fowler (USA, Wales) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A female Lyft driver navigates the night shift in New York City while waiting to hear life-or-death news from her family in Syria. With Leslie Bibb, Hana Chamoun, Khaled Al Maleh, Jessica Damouni. In Arabic, English with English subtitles. The Motion of Stars (Die Bewegung der Sterne), directed and written by Jan Prazak. (Austria) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. Eight-year-old Lena’s favourite book, about the secret relationship between stars and humans, gains special significance when she watches a solar eclipse with her father, an even that changes both their worlds forever. With Ulrich Reinthaller, Lena Madsen, Rainer Doppler, Martina Spitzer, Aaron Friesz, Vivienne Causemann. In German with English subtitles. Souls of Totality, directed by Richard Raymond, written by Kate Trefry, Ben Bolea. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. Set during the Great American Eclipse, Souls of Totality is a relationship story about the sacrifices we make, the things we don’t say, and love’s seemingly supernatural ability to conquer all. With Tatiana Maslany, Tom Cullen, Helen Shaver, Mike Tague.

    Magic Act

    Everyone can enjoy these family-friendly films. How Tommy Lemenchick Became a Grade 7 Legend, directed by Bastien Alexandre, written by Nicolas Billon. (Canada) – US Premiere, Short Narrative. Eleven-year-old Ophelia has never been kissed, but she has the perfect plan to remedy that. She finds a suitable candidate—Tommy Lemenchick—and at school the following day, he describes how he became a seventh-grade legend. With Charlie Birdgenaw, Sam Ashe Arnold, Caroline Dhavernas. Mirette, directed and written by Helen O’Hanlon. (UK) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. In 20th-century Paris, a young girl’s life is changed by the arrival of a mysterious man, who she discovers is a wirewalker, in this adaptation of the much-loved, Caldecott Medal-winning book. With Tom Conti, Miriam Margolyes, Dixie Egerickx, Jean-Marc Desmond, Bebe Cave. Earthy Encounters, directed and written by Sam Johnson. (UK) – North American Premiere, Short Narrative. Fifteen-year-old Kyle believes he can save his dying older brother with a plant he found in the garden center where he works—the problem is, a shadowy government agency is out to destroy it first. With Fionn O’Shea, Jessica Barden, Pete Sullivan, Luke Baverstock, Nathalie Armin, Johnny Palmiero.

    Make or Break

    Aspirations and complications. The Love Letter (Michtav Ahava Lam’em Sheli), directed by Atara Frish, written by Atara Frish. (Israel) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. When Noa finds a special love letter in her locker, she struggles to reconcile her safe, restrained world and her urge to feel—at least for a brief moment—loved. With Gili Beit Hallahmi, Ravit Dor, Shir Abramov. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Time Traveller, directed and written by Steve Kenny. (Ireland) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. A Back to the Future-obsessed young Irish Traveller strives to finish building his own DeLorean replica before he and his family are evicted from their halting site. With Barry Ward, Tom Doran, Liam Doran, Denise McCormack, Barbara Bergin. Knuckles, directed and written by Laura Groombridge. (Australia) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. A man entangled in the violent criminal underworld of bare-knuckles fighting pursues a misguided attempt at redemption. With Tim Phillipps, Mirko Grillini, Simon Todman, Laura Jane Turner. Blind Audition, directed by Andreas Kessler, written by Linda Kokkores. (Germany) – New York Premiere, Short Narrative. When violinists and partners Ari and Ron both get invited to audition for the same solo part in an orchestra, their relationship is put to the ultimate test. With Han Nguyen, Simon Kluth, Horst Kotterba, Sven Gielnik, Tine Kiefl. In German with English subtitles. The Life of Esteban (Het Leven van Esteban), directed and written by Inès Eshun. (Belgium) – International Premiere, Short Narrative. Esteban, a future Olympic swimmer, has grown up with a single mother and doesn’t know who his father is. As he searches for his identity in this poetic short film, he determines swimming is a metaphor for life itself. With Noah Mavuela, Mathis Mavuela, Joshua Tassin, Tine Cartuyvels, Goua Grovogui, Lamine Diouf. In Dutch with English subtitles. Rise of a Star (Naissance d’une Étoile), directed by James Bort, written by Stéphane Landowski. (France) – World Premiere, Short Narrative. Emma is about to be the new Ballerina at Paris Opera. But something upsets her. A secret. A secret liable to undermine what she has spent a whole life on. With Dorothée Gilbert, Catherine Deneuve, Antonia Desplat, Pierre Deladonchamps. In French with English subtitles.

    NY Shorts: Homemade

    World Premiere docs from our New York-based filmmakers. I Heart NY, directed by Andre Andreev, written by Dan Covert. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. This documentary short examines the life of the creator of the infamous I Heart NY symbol and his struggle to find love for the city during a trying time. With Milton Glaser. Saul’s 108th Story, directed and written by Joshua Carlon. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Wherein Saul recalls fixing a window. With Saul Moroz. Into My Life, directed by Sarah Keeling, Grace Remington, Ivana Hucikova. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. From 1965 to the present, M. Elaine and Cassandra Bromfield, two African-American women, made joyful documents of their lives in Brooklyn’s Lindsay Park Housing Cooperative on 8-mm film. Into My Life pays tribute to their drive for self-preservation and self-representation, highlighting the memories, identities, and relationships housed within their archive. With Cassandra Bromfield. Big Elvis, directed by Paul Stone, written by Mark Winegardner. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. A 960-pound Elvis impersonator becomes convinced he is Elvis Presley’s secret love child. With Pete “Big Elvis” Vallee, Brendon Paul, Ron Decar. Sidelined, directed by Galen Summer. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. In 1978, several NFL cheerleaders posed in Playboy magazine, having received approval from team management. But when the issue hit newstands, it unleashed a wave of repercussions for the women themselves—and their team.

    Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival: Sports Shorts

    A spectrum of stories, styles, and sports, this collection of athletically-minded short films will take audiences on the exciting personal journeys of four athletes. Locked In, directed and written by Alison Ellwood. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. After falling victim to a pair of illnesses at age 11, Victoria Arlen lived with locked-in syndrome for four years. Locked In, directed by Alison Ellwood (No Limits, American Jihad), tells the story of her recovery and eventual gold-medal victory in swimming at the 2012 London Paralympics. With Victoria Arlen. A Mountain to Climb, directed by Kristen Lappas, written by Tom Rinaldi. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. A Nepali teen, Pratima Sherpa, works to become her country’s first golf star With Pratima Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, Kalpana Sherpa. Run: The Robert Young Story, directed by Todd Kapostasy (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Ultra-marathon runner Rob Young attempts to set a record running across the United States, but his efforts are marred by allegations of fraud. Sonic Break, directed by Stevan Riley. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Directed by Stevan Riley (Listen to Me, Marlon), Sonic Break explores the sports psychology and mental training that helped Felix Baumgartner to jump from the Earth’s stratosphere. With Felix Baumgartner, Joe Kittinger.

    Special Screenings

    Lessons from a School Shooting, directed by Kim Snyder. (USA) – World Premiere, Short Documentary. Following the Sandy Hook Massacre, a priest from Dunblane, Scotland reaches out to Father Bob offering support 16 years after a school shooting in his own town. The men bond over personal trauma and responsibilities… In the aftermath the UK reformed its gun laws; the US responded with inaction. With Monsignor Bob Weiss, Monsignor Basil O’Sullivan. Following the screening there will be a conversation with director Kim Snyder, producer Maria Cuomo Cole along with Sandy Hook surviving teacher Mary Ann Jacob, and Parkland, Florida student Ryan Deitsch. Moderated by actor & director John Slattery. RX: Early Detection A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee¸ directed and written by Cathy Chermol Schrijver. (USA) – New York Premiere, Short Documentary. RX Early Detection A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee follows the intense and intimate journey of a woman whose life becomes dramatically altered when her routine medical check-up delivers a cancer diagnosis. Executive Produced by Sandra Lee and Sheila Nevins. After the screening: a conversation with director Cathy Chermol Schrijver and subjects Sandra Lee, Kimber Lee, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

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  • 5 Scientists Explore Some of the Most Spectacular Places on Earth in Trailer for “The Serengeti Rules”

    [caption id="attachment_27521" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]"Bob Paine (played by Matthieson McCrae) explores the Pacific Northwest in search of a natural laboratory." From THE SERENGETI RULES. Photo credit: Nicolas Brown. “Bob Paine (played by Matthieson McCrae) explores the Pacific Northwest in search of a natural laboratory.” From THE SERENGETI RULES. Photo credit: Nicolas Brown.[/caption] Check out the beautiful and breath-taking trailer for The Serengeti Rules, a film that follows five pioneering scientists exploring some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth. Directed by Emmy and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Nicolas Brown, The Serengeti Rules, will world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Beginning in the 1960s, a small band of young scientists headed out into the wilderness, driven by an insatiable curiosity about how nature works. Immersed in some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth—from the majestic Serengeti to the Amazon jungle; from the Arctic Ocean to Pacific tide pools—they discovered a single set of rules that govern all life. Now in the twilight of their eminent careers, these five unsung heroes of modern ecology—Bob Paine, Jim Estes, Mary Power, Tony Sinclair, and John Terborgh—share the stories of their adventures, and how their pioneering work flipped our view of nature on its head. Across the globe, they discovered that among the millions of species on our planet, some are far more important than others. They called these species “keystones,” because they hold the natural world together.  The role of keystones is both revelatory and surprising: sea otters help kelp forests flourish, supporting everything from salmon to eagles; wolves enable rivers to run clear and help forests thrive; and the humble wildebeest controls the numbers of trees, butterflies, elephants, and even giraffes on the savanna. Unfortunately, these deep connections also work in reverse. When keystones are removed, ecosystems unravel and collapse—a phenomenon no one had imagined—or understood until their  revolutionary discoveries. But with new knowledge also comes new hope, and these same visionaries reveal the remarkable resilience of nature—and how the rules they discovered can be used to upgrade and restore the natural world. They give us the chance to reimagine the world as it could and should be. Based on the book by Sean B. Carroll, The Serengeti Rules will forever change the way we see nature. The film will be accompanied by a media and impact campaign to shine a light on restoration projects across the world.

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  • 4 Netflix Films incl. “The Rachel Divide” to Premiere at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival | Trailer

    [caption id="attachment_27460" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]THE RACHEL DIVIDE THE RACHEL DIVIDE[/caption] Netflix has dropped the trailer for the “The Rachel Divide” – the documentary on delf-described “trans racial” activist Rachel Dolezal, which along with three other films will premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. The films include the North American debuts of Cargo and Sunday’s Illness (aka La Enfermedad Del Domingo); and world premieres of documentaries The Rachel Divide and The Bleeding Edge. Cargo (Netflix Launch: May 18, 2018) Stranded in rural Australia in the aftermath of a violent pandemic, an infected father desperately seeks a new home for his infant child, and a means to protect her from his own changing nature. Directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke and written by Yolanda Ramke, Cargo boasts a top-line international cast including Martin Freeman, Anthony Hayes, Susie Porter, Caren Pistorius, Kris McQuade, Natasha Wanganeen and David Gulpilil. Cargo is produced by Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films (The Babadook). Russell Ackerman, John Schoenfelder and Mark Patterson also serve as producers. Sunday’s Illness (aka La Enfermedad Del Domingo) (Netflix Launch: June 15, 2018) In Sunday’s Illness (aka La Enfermedad Del Domingo), Anabel abandoned her daughter Chiara when she was barely eight years old. Thirty-five years later Chiara returns with a strange request for her mother; she asks to spend ten days together. Anabel sees this trip as a chance to get her daughter back, but she doesn’t know that Chiara has a hidden purpose and she’ll have to face the most important decision of her life. Written and Directed by Ramón Salazar, the film stars Bárbara Lennie and Susi Sánchez. Sunday’s Illness is produced by Francisco Ramos and executive produced by Rafael López Manzanara.

    DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

    The Rachel Divide (Netflix Launch: April 27, 2018) Self-described “trans racial” activist Rachel Dolezal ignited an unprecedented media storm when a local news station in Spokane, WA outed her as a white woman who had been living as the black president of the NAACP. Since the controversy erupted, director Laura Brownson and team exclusively filmed with Rachel, her sons and her adopted sister Esther, capturing the intimate, vérité life story of a damaged character who lands squarely in the cross-hairs of race and identity politics in America – and exploring how that character still provokes negative reactions from millions who see her as the ultimate example of white privilege. A Netflix original documentary, The Rachel Divide, is executive produced by Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyhOTvC1v-A The Bleeding Edge (Netflix Launch: 2018) America has the most technologically advanced health care system in the world, yet medical interventions have become the third leading cause of death, and the overwhelming majority of high-risk implanted devices never require a single clinical trial. In The Bleeding Edge, Academy Award nominated filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (The Invisible War, The Hunting Ground) turn their sights on the $400 billion medical device industry, examining lax regulations, corporate cover-ups, and profit driven incentives that put patients at risk daily. Weaving emotionally powerful stories of people whose lives have been irrevocably harmed, the film asks: what life-saving technologies may actually be killing us?

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  • Showtime Documentary Series “THE FOURTH ESTATE” to World Premiere as Closing Night Film of Tribeca Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_27371" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Fourth Estate The Fourth Estate[/caption] The new Showtime original documentary series, The Fourth Estate, directed by award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), will have its world premiere as the closing night film of the prestigious 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.   In these times when journalism is being questioned and attacked as “fake news,” Garbus turns her lens on The New York Times in The Fourth Estate, revealing the challenges, triumphs and pitfalls of covering a president who has declared the majority of the nation’s major news outlets “the enemy of the people.” Embedded for the past year with The Times and granted unprecedented access and interviews with editors and reporters on the front lines, the docuseries presents a groundbreaking portrait of the men and women who are fighting for freedom of the press. Viewers will witness the inner workings of journalism and investigative reporting during this administration’s first history-making year. Following the screening on Saturday, April 28, Tribeca Film Festival will host a panel discussion with some of the subjects of the documentary including The New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet, Washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller, White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, Washington investigative correspondent Mark Mazzetti and Garbus. The Fourth Estate will premiere on Showtime, on Sunday, May 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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  • 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Immersive Program Featuring Lupita Nyong’o, Alicia Vikander and More..

    [caption id="attachment_27429" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]My Africa My Africa[/caption] The Tribeca Immersive program at the upcoming 2018 Tribeca Film Festival showcases works by artists who are pushing boundaries, using technology to tell stories and create new experiences. The Virtual Arcade lineup includes 21 world premiere VR/AR exhibits as well as five Storyscapes experiences in competition. The program takes place at the Tribeca Festival Hub from April 20 to 28. A new addition to Tribeca Immersive is Tribeca Cinema360, a VR theater featuring four curated screening programs of 360° mobile content, running April 21-28. The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18 to 29, 2018. As one of the first festivals to champion VR as a dynamic form of storytelling, this year’s offerings include 33 virtual reality (VR) innovative exhibitions and experiences from top creators such as Jeremy Bailenson, Chris Milk, Eliza McNitt, Eugene YK Chung, Gabo Arora, and Saschka Unseld, and emerging artists Asad J. Malik, Gabriela Arp, and Lucas Rizzotto. Other acclaimed creators include: Angel Manuel Soto, Lindsay Branham, and Navid Khonsari. Established directors, actors, and musicians with projects this year include: directors Terrence Malick (Together), Laurie Anderson (Chalkroom); actors Rosario Dawson (BattleScar), Lupita Nyong’o (My Africa), Alicia Vikander (Arden’s Wake: Tide’s Fall); and GRAMMY® award winning band OK Go (Untitled OK Go & WITHIN Project). Several Immersive projects featured in the program tackle timely cultural issues, including racism (1,000 Cut Journey), climate change (This is Climate Change), immigration and xenophobia (Terminal 3), nuclear war (The Day The World Changed) and HIV/AIDS (Queerskins: a love story). In addition, the lineup includes programming that allows visitors to become active participants in astonishing experiences, such as swimming with sharks (Into the Now), caring for a baby elephant (My Africa), being caught in the bombing raid of a town square (Hero), and participating in a groundbreaking collaboration of AR and Immersive Theater from creators Graham Sack, Sensorium Works and NY Theater Workshop (objects in mirror AR closer than they appear). Tribeca Cinema360 spotlights four immersive screening programs: VR for Good Creators Lab, This is Climate Change, horror themed It’s Right Behind You, and the breathtaking experimental visions of Horizons.  

    VIRTUAL ARCADE

    20 projects from five countries, with 17 world premieres, make up this dynamic program. #WarGames VR (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Sam Barlow, Eko Key Collaborators: MGM, m ss ng p eces Kelly, an ex-military brat-turned-hacker activist, teams up with international hackers in an attempt to bring about peace. But, as events escalate, it begins to appear that they may have done more harm than good. #WarGames puts viewers in the middle of the convergence of hacktivism, modern-day espionage, and military intrigue. 1000 Cut Journey (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Courtney Cogburn, Elise Ogle, Jeremy Bailenson, Tobin Asher, Teff Nichols Key Collaborators: Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Cogburn Research Group In this immersive virtual-reality experience, the viewer becomes Michael Sterling, a black man, encountering racism as a young child, adolescent, and young adult. 1,000 Cut Journey highlights the social realities of racism, for understanding racism is the essential first step in promoting effective, collective social action and achieving racial justice. Arden’s Wake: Tide’s Fall (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Eugene YK Chung, Jimmy Maidens Key Collaborators: Devon Penney, Annmarie Koenig, Bruna Berford, Christina Tasooji, Adrian Ochoa, Jessica Douglas, Terry Kaleas, Kinga Vasicsek Tide’s Fall continues the journey of Meena, a young woman living in a post-apocalyptic world and searching for her father in the depths of the ocean after his unexpected disappearance. Featuring the voice of Academy Award-winner Alicia Vikander, this expansion of Penrose Studios’ award winning Arden’s Wake embraces the art of long-form storytelling in virtual reality. Cast: Alicia Vikander (narrator) BattleScar (New York Premiere) – USA, France Project Creator: Nico Casavecchia, Martin Allais Key Collaborators: Arnaud Colinart, Andrew Geller, Raphael Penasa, René Pinnell After Lupe, a Puerto Rican runaway, meets Debbie in the cell of a juvenile detention center, she is introduced to the punk scene of the Lower East Side and the secret world of Alphabet City. BattleScar is a coming of age drama set in 1978 New York that explores identity and empowerment through stunning animation and immersive environments. Cast: Rosario Dawson (narrator) Campfire Creepers: Midnight March (World Premiere) – France, USA Project Creator: Alexandre Aja Key Collaborators: Casey Cooper Johnson, Martin Andersen When the kids at Camp Coyote are forced on a brutal midnight march by their sadistic counselors, one boy reaches his breaking point. He turns the tables on the bullies, revealing a surprising secret about himself in the process. Master of horror Alexandre Aja invites viewers on a thrilling ride that will leave them gasping. Cast: Archie Lewis, Chloe Hawthorne, Kai Czuplak, Lara Karbritz, Lola Martin Chalkroom (New York Premiere) – Taiwan R.O.C., USA Project Creator: Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang Chalkroom is a virtual reality work by celebrated artist Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang in which the reader—the viewer—flies through an enormous structure made of words, drawings, and stories. Inside the experience, the reader is free to roam and fly, while words sail through the air like emails, fall into dust, and form and reform. Coral Compass: Fighting Climate Change in Palau (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Tobin Asher, Elise Ogle, Jeremy Bailenson Key Collaborators: Rob Dunbar, Bob Richmond Palau, like many other small countries, is powerless to curb global carbon dioxide emissions. Nevertheless, the tiny island nation is adapting to climate change: In its clear, warm waters exist resilient coral reefs safeguarded by a strong-willed people fighting to keep them alive. The Day the World Changed (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Gabo Arora, Saschka Unseld Key Collaborators: Nathan Brown, Tom Lofthouse, Jennifer Tiexiera, Nate Robinson, Igal Nassima This virtual-reality experience situates participants in the ruins of Hiroshima after the bomb, allowing them to witness testimony from survivors and survey the nuclear arms race through immersive, interactive data visualization. The Day the World Changed, from acclaimed creators Gabo Arora & Sachka Unseld, brings the harrowing impressions of the victims of atomic bombings and nuclear tests to viewers through innovative use of 3-D scanning and photogrammetry. Dinner Party (New York Premiere) – Puerto Rico, USA Project Creator: Angel Manuel Soto, Charlotte Stoudt, Laura Wexler Key Collaborators: Rachel Skidmore, Bryn Mooser, Erik Donley Dinner Party tells the incredible story of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple who made the first report of a UFO abduction in America in 1961. Having sought hypnosis to recover memories of their inexplicable experience, the Hills decide to listen to the recording of their session during a dinner party—and what they hear could change their lives forever. Cast: Malcolm Barrett, Sarah Sokolovic Firebird: The Unfinished (World Premiere) – France Project Creator: Balthazar Auxietre Key Collaborators: Hadrien Lanvin The curator of a museum dedicated to the famous sculptor Auguste is making a last inspection the night before the grand opening when a storm breaks out. Suddenly, the statues populating the grounds are not quite as still as one might expect—but it’s not clear whether the storm outside is playing mind games, or whether, perhaps, the ghost of Auguste has appeared to ask for help finishing his masterpiece. Cast: Tarek Aitmeddour, Raphaelle Boitel, Augustin Jacob, Pauline Journe, Myriam Kerkour, David Negroni Fire Escape (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Vassiliki Khonsari, Navid Khonsari, Andres Perez-Duarte, Sam Butin Key Collaborators: Lulu LaMer, Maria Essig, iNK Stories This innovative, interactive thriller invites the participant to peer into the private lives of eight diverse New Yorkers from the vantage of a fire escape, where suspicion and deception unfold in real time. Set against the shadowy backdrop of gentrification in contemporary Brooklyn, Fire Escape depicts a contingent of disenfranchised tenants who soon become entangled in a string of dark mysteries and murder. Cast: ASMR Darling, Ethan Rains, Edward Jackson, Michelle Lukes, Olivia Preciado, Tanya Henderson, Giselle Gilbert The Hidden (World Premiere) – India, USA Project Creator: Lindsay Branham Key Collaborators: International Justice Mission, Oculus VR for Good There are currently more people living in slavery than at any other time in human history. One such family has been enslaved in a rock quarry in southern India for 10 years—over a paltry debt of $70 USD. Indian government representatives, supported by the human rights group International Justice Mission, plot a daring raid to free the family. Also playing as a part of Cinema360: VR For Good Creators Lab Into the Now (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Michael Muller Key Collaborators: Michael Smith, Morne Hardenberg Director and legendary shark photographer Michael Muller’s lifelong fear of sharks eventually led him to discover the tranquility and peace of mind that is possible underwater, engaged with these curious and intimidating creatures. This stunning documentary, a revolutionary, stereoscopic virtual-reality experience, explores marine life and ocean conservation via Muller’s own internal journey. My Africa (World Premiere) – USA, UK Project Creator: Conservation International, Passion Planet, Vision3 In Northern Kenya, the futures of wildlife and people are intertwined. Stand in the midst of a thundering wildebeest migration, witness a lioness snatch her prey—and meet a community dedicated to saving Africa’s wildlife in My Africa. The mixed-reality, companion experience puts paticipants in the shoes of a Reteti Elephant Sanctuary keeper caring for the newest arrival, a baby elephant named Dudu. Cast: Lupita Nyong’o (narrator), Naltwasha Leripe SPHERES: Pale Blue Dot (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Eliza McNitt Key Collaborators: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Jess Engel, Arnaud Colinart, Dylan Golden In this cosmic journey from the edges of the universe to our “pale blue dot,” the viewer uncovers echoes of the Big Bang; gazes back in time; traces the history of sound across the cosmos, uncovering the strangest song of all; and traverses the universe, ultimately finding a path home. Star Child (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Paul Bettner Key Collaborators: Mia Goodwin This cinematic platforming adventure follows the journey of Spectra and her companion on an important mission to an alien planet. After they are stranded, they uncover a hostile, overwhelming force that threatens to destroy everything. Inspired by countless science fiction adventure classics—games, books, and movies alike—Star Child is, at its heart, both a mystery and a journey of self-discovery. Untitled OK Go & WITHIN Project (World Premiere) – USA, UK Project Creator: Chris Milk, Damian Kulash Key Collaborators: WITHIN, OK Go, Oculus Innovative creators Chris Milk and OK Go’s Damian Kulash invite pairs of participants into a wondrous environment where they can experience the joy of creating music through collaboration. In this virtual world, replete with magical music-making contraptions, friendly animals, robots, and audience members work together to create an original song. Vacation Simulator (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Owlchemy Labs Key Collaborators: The follow-up to the wildly popular virtual-reality game Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator returns participants to the world of Owlchemy Labs, where they can visit Vacation Island and experience “recreation,” optimal “relaxation,” and classic human pastimes like “sunburn.” Vacation Island offers all this and more, helping visitors rediscover the lost art of “time off.” Vestige (World Premiere) – UK, USA, France Project Creator: Aaron Bradbury Key Collaborators: Paul Mowbray, Antoine Cayrol, Jill Klekas Basmajian This creative nonfiction experience uses multi-narrative and volumetric capture to journey through the mind of Lisa as she remembers her lost love, Erik. Fragments of memories of their life together appear inside a void and, over time, become entangled with a haunting vision, culminating in the shocking moment of Erik’s death. Cast: Lisa Elin Where Thoughts Go : Prologue (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Lucas Rizzotto Key Collaborators: Tarik Merzouk, Steven Hodgson An intimate social virtual-reality experience, Where Thoughts Go is set in a world where all human thoughts exist as sleeping creatures, each holding a voice message left by a previous visitor. As they awake, they reveal the dreams, experiences and fears of other people—and give the participant the opportunity to leave their own for others to find.

    STORYSCAPES

    The competition includes four world premieres and one New York premiere. One Storyscapes nominee will be selected by a jury to receive the Storyscapes Award, presented by AT&T, which recognizes groundbreaking approaches in storytelling and technology. The five projects come from Canada, Pakistan and USA. Biidaaban: First Light (World Premiere) – Canada Project Creator: Lisa Jackson, Mathew Borrett, Jam3 and the National Film Board of Canada Key Collaborators: Rob McLaughlin, Dana Dansereau The town square has flooded, buildings and subways have merged with local flora, and indigenous languages and knowledge are thriving in a radically different future Toronto. Here, in the future, people have found a connection to the past. As a work of indigenous futurism, Biidaaban explores how the languages of native peoples can provide a framework for understanding our place in the world and open up a space for new imaginings of the future. Hero (New York Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, Brooks Brown Key Collaborators: Mark Harwood, Sinclair Fleming, Andres Perez-Duarte, Sam Butin, iNK Stories, Starbreeze Studios This powerfully immersive, large-scale, multi-sensory installation explores humanity in our modern era of civilian warfare. When everyday life is disrupted by a barrel bomb falling from the sky, provoking a profound crisis in this vérité virtual-reality experience, only connection among humans can inspire hope, and participants must embark on a visceral hero’s journey. Cast: Masoume Khonsari, Perla Daoud, Samer Sakka, Sam Sako, Said Faraj, Sue Shaheen [caption id="attachment_27428" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]objects in mirror AR closer than they appear objects in mirror AR closer than they appear[/caption] objects in mirror AR closer than they appear (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Graham Sack, Geoff Sobelle, John Fitzgerald, Matthew Niederhauser Key Collaborators: Sarah Hughes, Steven Dufala, Steve Cuiffo, Jecca Barry, The Molecule, New York Theatre Workshop, SilVR Based on the critically acclaimed theatrical performance The Object Lesson, objects in mirror AR closer than they appear fuses augmented reality technology with an immersive theater installation, inviting audiences to reflect on the relationship between new media and archaic objects; 21st-century technology and 19th-century magic; and memory and optical illusion. The piece creates a philosophical playground to explore the shifting relationship between images, memories, and things. Cast: Geoff Sobelle Queerskins: a love story (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Illya Szilak, Cyril Tsiboulski In Missouri in the early ’90s, a diary and a box of belongings offers a devoutly Catholic mother—and participants of this haptic virtual-reality experience—a chance to know Sebastian, the estranged son she has lost to AIDS. Sitting in the back seat of a car, behind Sebastian’s parents, you take an emotionally charged journey down a country road, a memory lane populated with scrapbook artifacts that present an archive of Sebastian’s life. Cast: Hadley Boyd, Drew Moore, Michael DeBartolo Terminal 3 (World Premiere) – USA, Pakistan Project Creator: Asad J. Malik Key Collaborators: Kaleidoscope VR, Anita Gou, RYOT, Philipp Schaeffer, Viva Wittman, Jack Daniel Gerrard, Musa Ghaznavi Terminal 3 is an interactive, augmented-reality documentary that explores contemporary Muslim identities in the U.S. through the lens of an airport interrogation. As viewers put on the Hololens, they step into the uncanny to directly interrogate, and determine the fate of, the hologram passenger before them. These interrogations become strikingly personal encounters that only end when the participant decides if the hologram should be let into the country or not—but there is a twist. Cast: Aisha Yousaf, Ahmad Cory Jubran, Fereydoun Vakhshoury, Ani Zonneveld, Helya Salarvand

    TRIBECA CINEMA360

    The Cinema360 includes four programs that play twice daily, including:

    Horizons:

    02:09 (World Premiere) – Sweden, China Project Creator: Svante Fjaestad In three minutes, the world will end. The rich have already left Earth for the New Colonies; those who couldn’t afford private shuttles into orbit remain stranded, like the now-worthless banknotes on the streets. A couple wait together on a rooftop, contemplating their fate, while, in front of them, the last human refugees leave the planet before it is too late. Cast: Chen Dong Hong, Xie Hong Together (New York Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Terrence Malick, The Factory at Facebook, Movement Art Is Together fuses storytelling, dance and technology, placing the viewer in the center of a stirring, emotional narrative that explores the power of human connection. Working with Movement Art Is co-founders Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, Palme d’Or winning director Terrence Malick has crafted an immersive experience about breaking down barriers that is brilliantly brought to life through choreography.

    It’s Right Behind You:

    Campfire Creepers: The Skull of Sam (North American Premiere) – Spain, USA Project Creator: Alexandre Aja Key Collaborators: Casey Cooper Johnson, Martin Andersen French horror auteur Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension) directs this creepy tale of a couple who encounters a vicious stranger in the woods, who has plans to add them to his rather unique collection. But by injecting humor into this horrific scenario, the experience invites audiences to laugh between the screams. Cast: Robert Englund [caption id="attachment_27430" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Caretaker The Caretaker[/caption] The Caretaker (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Jacob Wasserman, Nicolas Pesce, Adam Donald Key Collaborators: Hidden Content, RealMotion VFX After their car breaks down on the side of the road on a cold winter night, a couple checks into a strange hotel while they wait for a mechanic to arrive. When the woman’s boyfriend suddenly goes missing—the latest in a series of unsettling occurrences within the hotel—she begins to suspect that something more sinister is at work. An Obituary (boogo) (US Premiere) – South Korea Project Creator: Jean Yoon Key Collaborators: Kuk- seok Yang, Jin-hee Kim A young man travels alone deep into the countryside to pay his respects after hearing of a friend’s untimely death. Upon his arrival, he finds himself to be the sole mourner at the funeral. Alone in the country, save for the elderly mother of his deceased friend, he begins to wonder why they seem to be the only two people left in the village. Cast: Tae-kyung Oh, Yong-nyeo Lee.

    This is Climate Change:

    This is Climate Change (World Premiere) – Åland Islands, Brazil, Greenland, Somalia, USA Project Creator: Eric Strauss, Danfung Dennis Key Collaborators: Diana El-Osta (Producer), Catherine Yrisarri (Producer), Jeff Skoll (Executive Producer), Elise Pearlstein (Executive Producer), Kathy Davidov (Executive Producer), Casey Brown (Executive Producer) In this expansive new four-part virtual reality docu-series from Participant Media and Condition One, journey to the far corners of the earth to discover the people and places being hit hardest by climate change. This Is Climate Change offers an immersive look into our new reality of catastrophic weather events that are displacing communities and transforming landscapes with alarming speed.

    VR For Good Creators Lab:

    Meeting a Monster (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Gabriela Arp Key Collaborators: Oculus VR for Good, Life After Hate Through audio recordings and re-enactments, former white supremacist Angela King relives the memories of, and motivations behind, the eight years she spent inside the white power movement—and the path she took to get out. While the monsters of Angela’s past define the years she spent mired in hate, she finds redemption only after acknowledging the ultimate monster: herself. Cast: Belle Emilie Gold, Jerry Edwards, Diana Mitchell, Skye Waller, Aidan Shields, Toia Johnson She Flies by Her Own Wings (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Jesse (Jesus) Ayala Key Collaborators: Oculus VR for Good, Pride Foundation, Fovrth Studios, Flight School She Flies by Her Own Wings depicts the inspiring story of Shannon Scott, who chose to stand up when her community, the U.S. armed services’ proud transgender service members and veterans, was under attack by President Donald Trump. Having enlisted before she could vote, Shannon has dedicated her entire adult life to defending and safeguarding American citizens at home and abroad. Cast: Shannon Scott The Hidden (World Premiere) – India, USA Project Creator: Lindsay Branham Key Collaborators: International Justice Mission, Oculus VR for Good There are currently more people living in slavery than at any other time in human history. One such family has been enslaved in a rock quarry in southern India for 10 years—over a paltry debt of $70 USD. Indian government representatives, supported by the human rights group International Justice Mission, plot a daring raid to free the family.

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