Brandon Polansky as David Cohen and Samantha Elisofon as Sarah Silverstein in KEEP THE CHANGE. Photographer: Giacomo Belletti.[/caption]
Keep the Change, Son of Sofia and Bobbi Jene won the top competition awards at the 16th Tribeca Film Festival award ceremony earlier tonight.
Keep the Change won the award for Best U.S. Narrative, Son of Sofia won for Best International Narrative, and Bobbi Jene won for Best Documentary.
For the fifth year, Tribeca awarded innovation in storytelling through its Storyscapes Award for immersive storytelling, which went to TREEHUGGER: WAWONA.
“It is more important than ever to celebrate artists both in front of and behind the camera who have the unique ability to share different viewpoints to inspire, challenge and entertain us,” said Jane Rosenthal, Executive Chair and Co-Founder, Tribeca Film Festival. “The winning creators from across the Festival program shared stories that did exactly that, and we are honored to recognize them tonight. And how wonderful is it that the top awards in all five feature film categories were directed by women.”
This year’s Festival included 97 feature length films, 57 short films, and 30 immersive storytelling projects from 41 countries.
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival brings together visionaries across industries and diverse audiences to celebrate the power of storytelling. A platform for independent filmmaking, creative expression and immersive entertainment, Tribeca supports emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning filmmakers, curates innovative and interactive experiences, and introduces new technology and ideas through panels, premieres, exhibitions, and live performances.
Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2001, following the attacks on the World Trade Center, Tribeca has evolved from an annual event to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan to a gathering place for filmmakers, artists, innovators, and the global creative community. Through programs that embrace storytelling in all of its expansive forms—film, TV, online work, VR/AR, and music—TFF reimagines the cinematic experience and explores how art can unite communities.
Tribeca Film Festival started in 2002 and takes place in New York, NY, USA
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Tribeca 2017: KEEP THE CHANGE, SON OF SOFIA, and BOBBI JENE Win Top Juried Awards
[caption id="attachment_22103" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Brandon Polansky as David Cohen and Samantha Elisofon as Sarah Silverstein in KEEP THE CHANGE. Photographer: Giacomo Belletti.[/caption]
Keep the Change, Son of Sofia and Bobbi Jene won the top competition awards at the 16th Tribeca Film Festival award ceremony earlier tonight.
Keep the Change won the award for Best U.S. Narrative, Son of Sofia won for Best International Narrative, and Bobbi Jene won for Best Documentary.
For the fifth year, Tribeca awarded innovation in storytelling through its Storyscapes Award for immersive storytelling, which went to TREEHUGGER: WAWONA.
“It is more important than ever to celebrate artists both in front of and behind the camera who have the unique ability to share different viewpoints to inspire, challenge and entertain us,” said Jane Rosenthal, Executive Chair and Co-Founder, Tribeca Film Festival. “The winning creators from across the Festival program shared stories that did exactly that, and we are honored to recognize them tonight. And how wonderful is it that the top awards in all five feature film categories were directed by women.”
This year’s Festival included 97 feature length films, 57 short films, and 30 immersive storytelling projects from 41 countries.
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR COMPETITION
Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award – Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra for A Suitable Girl (U.S./India). Jury Comments: “For the top prize we chose a film that helped us to rethink the dynamics of love through a moving portrayal of a cultural tradition. With incredible access, heartfelt scenes and it’s strong verite style, The Albert Maysles Prize for first documentary feature goes to A Suitable Girl.” Special Jury Mention – Hondros. “In considering a wide range of subjects in our category we were moved by two different kinds of love stories. The film we decided to honor with a special mention delves into the fractured worlds of chaos and violence and the interconnectedness of humanity. A childhood friend carries on his legacy to show the enduring power of love. The special mention goes to Hondros.”
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Tribeca 207: JULIAN SCHNABEL: A PRIVATE PORTRAIT Opens in NY on May 5 Following World Premiere at Festival
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A film still from JULIAN SCHNABEL: A PRIVATE PORTRAIT.[/caption]
Pappi Corsicato’s documentary Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and will be followed by a New York theatrical release on Friday, May 5 at the newly launched Quad Cinema and the Lincoln Plaza Cinema. A national theatrical rollout will follow.
Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait is a vivid chronicle of the colorful personal life and public career of the celebrated painter and filmmaker. The film details the Brooklyn-born Schnabel’s formative years in Texas, the beginning of his professional career in New York City in the late ‘70s, his rise to superstar status in the ‘80s Manhattan art scene, and his move into filmmaking with 1995’s Basquiat followed by Before Night Falls and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. With a kaleidoscopic blend of material from Schnabel’s personal archives, newly shot footage of the artist at work and play, and commentary from friends, family and artists, including Al Pacino, Mary Boone, Jeff Koons, and Laurie Anderson—not to mention Schnabel himself—Italian filmmaker Pappi Corsicato creates a fascinating portrait of one of the modern art world’s true mavericks.
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Tribeca 2017: Susan Froemke’s THE RESILIENT HEART Premiered at Fest, Debuts on Amazon | Trailer
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NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 24: Host Bob Harper, Director Susan Froemke and Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital Dr. Valentin Fuster, MD, PHD during the Tribeca Film Festival premiere for the feature documentary, The Resilient Heart.[/caption]
Oscar-nominee and Grammy winning director, Susan Froemke, premiered her feature documentary film, The Resilient Heart, during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival to a packed audience. The screening event was hosted by Bob Harper, the celebrity trainer and host of NBC’s Biggest Loser, who suffered a heart attack earlier this year. Over the weekend, the film made its world premiere in competition at the acclaimed Newport Beach Film Festival.
The feature length documentary film, which centers on the work of Dr. Valentin Fuster, a world-renowned cardiologist and Physician-in-Chief at The Mount Sinai Hospital, has been picked up by Amazon Prime Video and Amazon.com for a global launch, and is available now.
Froemke announced the release of The Resilient Heart in Park City, UT following the 2017 Sundance Film Festival premiere of her documentary Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman.
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“When I first met Dr. Valentin Fuster, I thought cardiovascular disease was a rich nation’s illness, but I soon found out it was the leading cause of death across the globe,” said Froemke. “Dr. Fuster’s mission to stem the tide of this debilitating epidemic inspired me to make The Resilient Heart with the hope to bring his important story to a wide audience.”
“Every year, over 17 million people worldwide die from heart disease,” explained Dr. Fuster. “By 2030 that number is expected to be 23 million, and most of those deaths are preventable. I hope this film will help to change those statistics moving forward.”
The film, made with generous support from The Valentin Fuster Mount Sinai Foundation for Science, Health & Empowerment, Inc., focuses on Dr. Fuster’s research and travels as he discovers that the real answer to fighting chronic disease lies in early education. The Resilient Heart follows Dr. Fuster as he travels from Bogota, Columbia, to Eldoret, Kenya, the island of Grenada, Madrid, the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, and Mexico, where he encounters the profound impacts of coordinated global health initiatives, proactive public policy, and the passion of people to better the health and well-being of populations, no matter the circumstances.
The film was directed by Oscar®-nominee and Grammy® winner Susan Froemke, a non-fiction filmmaker with over 30 documentaries to her credit, including the iconic Grey Gardens (1976), the Academy Award nominated Lalee’s Kin (2001), Conversations With The Rolling Stones (1994), and Escape Fire: The Fight To Rescue American Healthcare which premiered at Sundance in 2013.
For four decades, Dr. Fuster has been a global leader in the field of cardiology, including cardiovascular medicine, translational research, and education. He has a keen interest in promoting cardiovascular health, especially for the world’s tiniest hearts — those in our children. Dr. Fuster has published more than 1,000 research studies on the prevention and treatment of heart disease, coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, and thrombosis, and is Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Fuster is the former President of the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbg0ojiNixc
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Tribeca 2017: Who Killed Marsha P Johnson “street queen” of NY’s Gay Ghetto? | Trailer
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THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON[/caption]
Marsha P Johnson, the beloved, self-described “street queen” of NY’s gay ghetto was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992, the NYPD chalked it up as a suicide and refused to investigate.
Who killed Marsha P. Johnson? When the beloved, self-described “street queen” of NY’s Christopher Street was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992, the NYPD called her death a suicide. Protests erupted but the police remained impassive and refused to investigate. Now, twenty-five years on, Academy Award® nominated director and journalist David France (HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE) examines Marsha’s death—and her extraordinary life—in his new film. Marsha arrived in the Village in the 1960s where she teamed up with Sylvia Rivera when both claimed their identities as “drag queens,” to use the vernacular of the times. Together, the radical duo fought arrests, condemned police brutality, organized street kids, battled the intolerant majority within the gay community, and helped spearhead the Stonewall Riots. In 1970 they formed the world’s first trans-rights organization, STAR (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries). Despite their many challenges over the years—bias, homelessness, illness —Marsha and Sylvia ignited a powerful and lasting civil rights movement for gender nonconforming people. Now, a quarter century later, at a time of unprecedented visibility and escalating violence in the transgender community, a dynamic activist named Victoria Cruz has taken it upon herself to reexamine what happened at the end of Marsha’s life. As the film dips in and out of jawdropping archival footage from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON follows as this champion pursues leads, mobilizes officials, and works to get to the bottom of Marsha’s death.
In an interview with director David France, he described what inspired to make the film now,”Marsha died twenty-five years ago this July and her fame—and mythology—has only increased over that quarter century. She’s become a very well-known touchstone within the LGBT movement but very little is really known about her. I wanted to fill in the historical record. In addition, I knew that her death was never thoroughly investigated by the police. In fact, as a print journalist I had begun to investigate her case back in 1992, but never did follow through on that work, so I felt a personal obligation to go back to it, and I felt that that offered an opportunity to reallyput flesh on this mythical character of Marsha P. Johnson.”
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, with additional screenings through Friday, Apr. 28th.
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Tribeca 2017: rag & bone Debuts HAIR Directed by and Starring John Turturro | Trailer
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Bobby Cannavale and John Turturro in HAIR. Photo credit: Marissa Kraxberger.[/caption]
Hair, a short film, directed by and starring Golden Globe-nominated actor John Turturro alongside two-time Emmy-winner Bobby Cannavale debuted at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Delving deeper into the medium of film, the film is as a rag & bone production, marking yet another engaging initiative under the ‘rag & bone Films’ umbrella. Hair will be available to view in full on rag-bone.com beginning May 2nd.
“For us, projects like these are about creating a paradigm shift in the way people view fashion. Film and photography are engrained in our brand DNA and we love exploring both mediums in different ways every season. This project was a joy to be part of and it was a real honor to work with John and Bobby on it.” – Marcus Wainwright, rag & bone CEO, Founder and Creative Director
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Shot by Fred Elmes (Blue Velvet, The Night Of, Broken Flowers) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn the film features an improvised conversation about a man’s particularity for his hair. Truly masters of their craft, Turturro and Cannavale deliver a lightheartedly engrossing and completely unscripted performance while dressed in the rag & bone Spring/Summer 2017 collection.
“It was fun to find the right location that would complement the rag & bone clothing. I scouted several places with Fred Elmes and we felt that this specific classic barber shop was the perfect location. Clothes and hair go together; they’re part of your social identity.” – John Turturro
Hair follows on from the 2016 Men’s Project, based on a concept that showcases the actors’ authentic personalities with each outfitted in pieces from the latest collection that are reflective of their own personal taste.
Turturro continues, “Working with rag & bone was very creative and collaborative, with this short, I wanted to convey the spirit of their brand which is fun, lively, and urban with a focus on quality and craftsmanship.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlE76iGwC8
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Tribeca 2017: Watch Animated Short Film ESCAPE that World Premiered at Festival | Video
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“Looking for a solution.” Film still from ESCAPE.[/caption]
The animated short film Escape, a sequel to two-time Daytime Emmy Award-winning short Silent, premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 22, in New York. Escape is the story of a lone space explorer who crash-lands on a desolate planet and must find a way to make her new home habitable.
Dolby Laboratories united the creative talents of Emmy® winning director Limbert Fabian and Academy Award® winning co-director Brandon Oldenburg, who represent the creative leadership of the newly formed Flight School Studio, with the musical talents of Imogen Heap, the only solo recording artist and also the first woman to win a Grammy for engineering. In addition, Dolby’s Angus McGilpin and Vince Voron, the team behind Silent, collaborated to bring visual design and audio expertise to Escape.
Combining techniques such as miniatures and animation with the spectacular imaging of Dolby Vision and the moving audio of Dolby Atmos, Escape invites the audience to experience a joyous vision of the future. With her love of technology and her passion for the project, the Grammy-winning solo recording artist Imogen Heap composed, performed and produced the song Magic Me for the film. Heap added her amazing voice and music to an original soundtrack, working alongside BAFTA winning sound designer Nick Ryan to mesh the sound fx into the music, creating a truly unique listening experience to complement the animation. Heap will release Magic Me in conjunction with the film’s premiere.
To create the beautiful and dynamic world, the team developed a model of the planet’s landscape that was designed to combine purposeful structures with organic, vine-like elements in a way that permitted light to flow throughout the space. The film avoids dialogue and instead uses facial expressions, visual effects and music to communicate with a global audience, making sound an integral part of the movie experience.
“The film is a cinematic poem about the world-changing power of invention and is a fitting sequel to Silent in which our character experienced the evolution of film technology from the silent-film era to the present day,” said Vince Voron, the film’s Executive Producer and Vice President and Executive Creative Director of Dolby Laboratories. “We have been investing in original branded content to inspire our consumers, filmmakers and partners and celebrate the powerful storytelling possibilities when art and science come together.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H46Kil1k-m8
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Tribeca 2017: Rapper Common Joined Director Nelson George for a Tribeca Talk: Storytellers Conversation
Academy Award, Golden Globe, and three time Grammy winner Common joined director/screenwriter Nelson George on stage Sunday night, April 23, for a Tribeca Talk: Storytellers conversation, as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.
A never-before-seen extended version of Letter to the Free from director Bradford Young debuted prior to the conversation. Common closed out the sold-out event with a live performance, during which the renowned hip-hop artist and actor debuted a new song, “Black Kennedy,” in front of a standing room only crowd.
The conversation spanned musical influences of the 80s and 90s, social justice flashpoints, Common’s first acting gig on Tracee Ellis Ross & Mara Brock Akil’s Girlfriends, his respect for director Ava DuVernay, and activism in hip-hop today, name-dropping Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar.
Excerpts from transcript of the conversation:
Question: Do you believe that when artists, rappers, musicians face some sort of social injustice flashpoint like a Donald Trump or the LA riots to react to, that it drives up the creativity and the timelessness of art, as opposed to when things are going well and the art suffers?
Nelson George: Every historical epoch where there’s conflict, it does help certain artists. Some people can be explicitly political but for others, it becomes an internal journey that can also be just as powerful. One of the best eras of hip hop was the crack era, which was terrible time in the country and under Reagan. And some great art came out of that. Often artists respond with some of their best work because it touches their friends and their community in a way that’s inspiring. And anger, as much as love, inspires art.
Common: Artists, when we have something we’re passionate about, we speak up. It’s the truth that comes out at that time. But you have to be passionate about it. I think this era we’re in now is just as tough as the Reagan era in many instances, but the artists are speaking up. They feel it. They feel it in their spirits. I think the one thing we have in hip hop that you had in that 80s era is a lot of people were kind of educated politically to a certain degree; socially and politically so they knew what to talk about. I was learning about things from Chuck D and from KRS-One and I learned from them. They had something to say. They knew what was going on. I don’t know if it was age or whatever the case, but they knew. And even in this crucial era, I think that the music can be more powerful, the art can be more powerful when people are passionate about it and they really do care.
Nelson George: Ava [DuVernay]has had a profound effect on you. This film is dedicated to her. Can you talk a little bit about her impact? Tell me a little bit about how that relationship has shaped your thinking.
Common: Well, one day my daughter hit me and was like “You know if Ava is Malcolm X, you Martin Luther King” She’s at Howard now and she was trying to say I was softer than Ava I when it comes to the revolutionary aspect. And I was like embarrassed that she would say that about me. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel like Ava does have an unapologetic and unashamedly Blackness about her and she embraces that and does it universally but I was like DAMN. I do that too. But I think I’m always talking about love and extending the hand of love and embracing people. I’ve learned to embrace people that may not think the way I think or may be on the opposite side when it comes to politics. They may be on the opposite side of many things but my first step is to do what our former First Lady says “Go high when they go low” so that’s my mentality. So when my daughter said that, I said this is what it really is- I tried to explain to her. My relationship with Ava is really inspiring. She’s like for me…through working with her. And talking with her, I see somebody who is dedicated to putting Black culture and Black faces out in the world in the purest way. In a truthful way. In a way we don’t get to see all the time. And it reminds me – you know when you get around those friends, Nelson? well you Black like that so…but you know when you get around friends who just remind you of like who you are and what your mission is and to not be afraid. I think she has a lot of that in her and she’s very talented. And to me, one of her biggest gifts is knowing how to put people together. Because I’ve met some of the most talented and some of my best friends in the industry are people that I’ve met working on projects with Ava.
Common: I definitely have to first say that it was music in the late 80s and 90s was truly reflective of a movement. It was the movement of Black empowerment, Black love, consciousness, just being aware. It was all of the above and obviously, things go through evolutions, it changes. I don’t think right now as a whole, that we have that in hip hop. At that time, the majority of hip hop was a pro-Black movement. We had PE. We had Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubians, Big Daddy Kane would do his pro-Black song. Moe Dee, N.W.A. had stuff that was saying something too. So, I don’t feel like we have that as a whole. I don’t think hip hop is the place we go to listen to that voice of ‘ok this is the revolution. this is how we’re changing things,’ but there are artists that do it, like Kendrick Lamar.
And I also think that the chance that we may not speak about like ‘ok this is Black consciousness. He has a Black consciousness about him, a self-awareness and spirituality,’ and I don’t want to overlook that because spirituality is something that is powerful in hip hop, whether it’s Islamic, the five percenters.
In hip hop, we don’t have it as much, but it still exists. I still can’t go to some hip hop but now, you know, I go to great speakers like Brian Stevenson or books to learn or listen to the people who talk about politics and I honestly try to give my own discernment to decide where I think the world is.
Image Credit: Carolyn Amuaro for Street Dreams
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Tribeca 2017: 80’s NY Street Artist Richard Hambleton is Still Here in SHADOWMAN | Trailer
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Richard Hambleton in SHADOWMAN. Photographer: Hank OíNeal.[/caption]
Richard Hambleton is not here for your consumption, you consumer. Richard is here to paint, and get your money so that he can be happy with his best friend “his drugs.” Yes you the consumer thought you were playing Richard by commissioning and controlling him with your promises of fame, apartments, and money, but in the end it’s Richard the addict that’s pulling the strings, he is the puppet master.
Richard Hambleton is the subject of the documentary Shadowman, directed by Oren Jacoby, that world premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
As an artist, I connected with Richard; he ran within the circles of Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat and now he’s the only living legend that comes to my mind from that era. Everybody wanted and wants a piece of that art era, which tormented the soul of Basquiat and Harring, and they both verbally expressed their distaste at being commissioned and controlled by the money. But, unlike Haring and Basquiat, at the height of his career Richard QUIT, yes he quit and traveled the world. Richard is a non conformist, he knows his talent, he knows his value, and just like he knows his drugs, he also knows that to the art dealer his art is their drug. He dangles his best work in front of their greedy faces, but refuses to sell that painting – once again showing he is in control. In the film, an art dealer offers Richard an apartment in the Trump Hotel, and in return Richard had to give him only one painting a month. The gallery that brokered that deal called Richard to check the status of the painting and explained to him that the dealer was being generous by letting him stay at the Trump Hotel for free because the rooms go for $40,000 a month, Richard’s response was yes but I’m giving him one painting a month and my paintings sell for over a million dollars each – leaving the gallery rep speechless. As I stated before Richard knows his drug, but he also knows theirs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUPXecA3Isg
I give Shadowman 5 stars and would highly recommend this documentary I felt a range of emotions as I watched it from sadness, empathy to victory because as an artist I definitely related. Great job to the entire team.
Director: Oren Jacoby
Cinematographer: Oren Jacoby, Tom Hurwitz, Bob Richman
Editor: Abhay Sofsky
Composer: Joel Goodman
Executive Producer: Andy Valmorbida, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn,
Producer: Oren Jacoby
Co-Producer: Hank O’Neal, Eric Forman, Clayton Patterson
Field Producer: Maria Gabriella Pezzo
Coordinating Producer: Sam Jinishian
Cast: Richard Hambleton
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Tribeca 2017: A RIVER BELOW Documents the Efforts to Save the Pink River Dolphin in the Amazon | Trailer
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The Amazon River. Film still from A RIVER BELOW. Photo credit: Helkin RenÈ Diaz.[/caption]
A River Below directed by Mark Greico is an investigative journey into the Amazon that follows a TV star and a renowned marine biologist as they each attempt to save the endangered pink river dolphin from being hunted to extinction.
The film has its World Premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in the Documentary competition.
A River Below captures the Amazon in all its complexity as it examines the actions of environmental activists using the media in an age where truth is a relative term. The film follows a reality TV star and a renowned marine biologist as they each attempt to save the Amazon pink river dolphin from being hunted to extinction. With gorgeous, sweeping aerial views we gain perspective from above, but as the film plunges deep into the murky, tangled rivers, we uncover a scandal that has no simple solution. A RIVER BELOW is a completely unexpected film – a knotty poem of duality and dissonance and a journey into ourselves as we attempt to better this world.
Director Mark Greico’s last film MARMATO was an official selection at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and went to win numerous awards.
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Tribeca 2017: Hillary Clinton Makes a Surprise Appearance as a Panelist for Kathryn Bigelow’s VR Short Premiere
Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday to participate in the world premiere of Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s virtual reality short, The Protectors: Walk in the Rangers’ Shoes. National Geographic’s The Protectors: Walk in the Ranger’s Shoes, is a documentary short shot in Virtual Reality that chronicles a day in the life of a ranger in Garamba National Park, managed by African Parks, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These rangers are often the last line of defense in a race against extinction as poachers continue to slaughter elephants for their ivory tusks. The rangers face constant danger and even death at the service of these sentient, noble creatures and can therefore truly be called the unsung heroes in this race against time. Clinton was an unannounced panelist, alongside directors Bigelow and Imraan Ismail, African Parks’ Andrea Heydlauf, and National Geographic’s Rachel Webber.
In her remarks, Clinton spoke about her work to save elephants from poachers slaughtering them for their ivory tusks, saying “I’m proud we passed a near total ban of ivory and proud that the Chinese made a very important announcement last year on the ivory trade. Large mammals like elephants have a large role to play both in reality and in our imaginations. China had been the number one market, but the US is the second biggest market for illegal ivory.” Clinton also referenced march Earth Day and the marches taking place earlier in New York City, Washington DC, other US cities and around the world, saying, ‘It is Earth Day and we are marching on behalf of science, and part of science is understanding the intricate relationships we share with those on this planet.”.@NatGeo @AnnapurnaPics We are honored to announce a special, surprise panelist for this virtual reality #Tribeca2017 Talk: Madame Secretary @HillaryClinton! pic.twitter.com/VaxdJglOzm
— Tribeca (@Tribeca) April 23, 2017
image via Twitter#marchforscience shoutout from @HillaryClinton! What an amazing #earthday surprise at #Tribeca2017 pic.twitter.com/vJPvp5OEGZ
— Tribeca (@Tribeca) April 23, 2017
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Tribeca 2017: COPWATCH Profiles WeCopwatch whose Mission is to Film Police Activity and Brutality | Trailer
Copwatch, directed by Camilla Hall, is a true story of WeCopwatch, an organization whose mission is to film police activity as a non-violent form of protest and deterrent to police brutality. The documentary will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, April 23rd.
The Copwatch documentary profiles several WeCopwatch members – revealing how their mission to film police activity and brutality has impacted their lives. “Copwatch is not about what happened in front of the cameras, but it’s about those who stood behind them. It’s about a sense brotherhood that developed through the shared trauma of standing up to police brutality,” shares Camilla.
Some of the people featured in the documentary include:
Jacob Crawford (co-founder) who has spent the last 15 years with a camera in his hand documenting police activity.
David Whitt (co-founder) a young father who lived in Ferguson and started filming after Michael Brown’s “Hands Up” shooting.
Kevin Moore (Baltimore) awoke to the screams of his friend and neighbor Freddie Gray. He grabbed a camera and ran outside, filming as police dragged the injured young man into the back of a paddy wagon. Freddie Gray would die from the injuries and Kevin’s video, like those before his, were shown to the entire world by news broadcast and online. Like Ramsey, Kevin became a target for making his voice heard and was arrested shortly after he filmed the video while attending a protest.
Ramsey Orta who captured Eric Garner’s final words “I Can’t Breathe” on his cell phone in currently incarcerated, however we’re looking into phone opportunities for him. Capturing Garner’s death was life changing for Ramsey, the only person from the scene of the fatal Staten Island arrest to go to jail.
The director Camilla Hall explains the inspiration for Copwatch: “The idea for COPWATCH came out of a call I had with an ex-cop some time ago. He told me how it was normal to go after people who had filmed the police, whether looking up warrants or enforcing traffic stops, anything possible to harass people who had tried to film them. I had been reading about Ramsey Orta and Kevin Moore, who had both been arrested after they filmed their videos. I tried to get in contact with Ramsey, only to be shut down by his lawyers, but refused to give up and managed to reach him through Jacob Crawford, the founder of WeCopwatch. Those initial conversations started a bigger conversation about how to tell the story of the group as a whole. I couldn’t understand why no one was telling the story behind people who film the police. I started to raise the money from friends and family to scrape through shoots with a young DP, Adriel Gonzalez. We’d borrow lavalier mics and anything we could to make sure we didn’t miss a moment. The story moved very fast but we had to keep shooting. Bow and Arrow Entertainment jumped on board and helped us to take the film to the next level.”
“In many ways, I am an unlikely director for this film, but at the time, there were no other options. I spent weeks at the start looking for others to direct but the story moved faster and faster; the story mattered more to me than the role. I had the access and, for whatever reason, the group trusted me as I was willing to go through hell to shoot what I needed to get. We were shot at on numerous occasions, spent a week without running water, and dealt with situations where we had no idea what was going to play out. In many ways, I became a confidant for each person in WeCopwatch, they opened up and revealed themselves in a way that seemed to be part of a process for them. I was drawn to them because they had allowed me to understand – for the first time – what it was like to grow up hounded and harassed by the cops because of where they’d been born or what they looked like. As a journalist, I knew that if they were communicating this to me, then others would also be able to learn from them.”
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Tribeca 2017: Watch a Clip from THE PUBLIC IMAGE IS ROTTEN Documentary on Sex Pistols’ John Lydon | Trailer
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John Lydon in THE PUBLIC IMAGE IS ROTTEN. Photographer: Yamit Shimonovitz.[/caption]
The documentary The Public Image Is Rotten directed by Tabbert Fiiller on John Lydon formerly of Sex Pistols is World Premiering tonight, Friday April 21, at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
After the breakup of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), formed Public Image Ltd (PiL)- his groundbreaking band which has lived on nearly ten times as long as his first one. He has struggled to keep the band alive ever since, through personnel and stylistic changes, fighting to constantly reinvent new ways of approaching music, while adhering to radical ideals of artistic integrity. John Lydon has not only redefined music, but also the true meaning of originality.
Former and current bandmates, as well as fellow icons like Flea, Ad-Rock and Thurston Moore, add testimony to electrifying archival footage (including stills and audio from the infamous Ritz Show). With his trademark acerbic wit and unpredictable candor, Lydon offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of music’s most influential and controversial careers.