Tribeca Film Festival

20th Tribeca Film Festival to be Held in Person.

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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Tina Fey, Tom Hanks, Richard Branson Confirmed for Tribeca Film Festival

The upcoming 2016 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) announced a new program platform, Tribeca Talks: Storytellers, a series of in-depth conversations with leading creators taking place at the Tribeca Festival Hub and other venues. Tina Fey and Tom Hanks are among the first of the featured actors, artists, musicians, and writers to be announced. The 15th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival will take place April 13 to 24, 2016 in New York City with the Tribeca Festival Hub returning to Spring Studios, which will serve as the Festival’s creative center. The Hub will host ten days of immersive storytelling experiences, musical performances, panel discussions and special guests. Among the events will be Imagination Day, powered by the Hatchery, which brings together some of the most influential, provocative and creative minds for an all-day summit that takes place on April 19. The day focuses on: “What happens when our wildest dreams become reality and what will that reality be in our not-so-distant future?” The first round of participants includes entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group, and business leader and product innovator Regina Dugan, of Google ATAP. Joining them are esteemed VR creatives and tech entrepreneurs: Second Life and High Fidelity founder Philip Rosedale, VR directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël of Felix & Paul Studios, and STRIVR founder and CEO Derek Belch. Part of the Hub’s immersive programming for the 15th Festival will be the world festival premiere of Invasion!, the first VR, interactive, animated film from Baobab Studios, co-founded by Maureen Fan (former VP of Games for Zynga) and Eric Darnell (director Antz and the Madagascar series). The project follows menacing aliens with vastly superior technology who come to claim the Earth and destroy anyone in their way. Despite incredible odds, Earth’s citizens rise up and defeat the evil aliens. Surprisingly, these Earthly citizens are not humans but a pair of the cutest, meekest and cuddliest creatures of our planet — two fluffy white bunnies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EuG8o6rUE4 Felix & Paul Studios will be the Tribeca Festival Hub “Featured Creator” for 2016. At the forefront of cinematic virtual reality, Félix and Paul combine artistic and technological innovation using Felix & Paul Studios’ proprietary VR technology platform to create original live-action virtual reality content. The VR filmmakers will appear as part of Imagination Day on April 19 and a selection of their work, including Inside Impact: East Africa with President Bill Clinton, Cirque du Soleil’s Inside the Box of Kurios, and Nomads: Maasai will be featured throughout the space. The Hub will also showcase Storyscapes, a juried section that showcases groundbreaking exhibits in technology and interactive storytelling, which returns to TFF for the fourth year. The fifth annual TFI Interactive will again assemble the brightest thinkers from the worlds of media, gaming and technology for an all-day forum. The day will also include the “interactive playground,” which gives the audience an opportunity to play and explore a range of works from VR, to games, to the future of AR.
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2016 Tribeca Film Festival Reveals Dates + Call For Submissions and Deadlines

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) will hold its 15th edition on April 13 to April 24, 2016 in New York City, and today announced a call for submissions for narrative and documentary features, short films, and exhibits in interactive storytelling. Returning for the second year is Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios, the Festival’s creative hub and destination for festivalgoers, industry and press where innovation events, select Tribeca Talks® panels, Awards night, parties, and more will take place. TFF continues to encourage women filmmakers through The Nora Ephron Prize, sponsored by Coach. For the third year, the $25,000 award will recognize a female filmmaker whose work embodies the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer Nora Ephron. For the past 14 years, TFF has provided a platform for original storytelling, creative expression, and immersive entertainment. The Festival supports and celebrates both American independent voices and established directors from around the world, and hosts screenings of feature and short length films, curated conversations, and master classes for industry and the cultural community. The 2016 Festival will continue to explore the intersection of storytelling and technology with a variety of programming, including the fourth annual Storyscapes program — a juried showcase of interactive storytelling, VR showcases, TFI Interactive, and more. Deadlines to submit U.S. and international films for the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival are as follows: September 14, 2015: Submissions open for feature films, short films, interactive storytelling projects October 16, 2015: Early deadline for feature films and short films November 25, 2015: Official entry deadline for feature films, short films, interactive storytelling projects December 23, 2015 – Late entry deadline for feature length world-premiere films only
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KING JACK, TRANSFATTY LIVES Win Audience Awards of 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

King Jack, directed by Felix Thompson, won the Audience Award for Best Narrative, and TransFatty Lives, directed by Patrick O’Brien, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary award at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF). “The awards go to two powerful and charming stories of young men facing their deepest fears and overcoming their own challenges,” said Genna Terranova, Festival Director, Tribeca Film Festival. “These fiction and non-fiction stories of triumph and resilience clearly resonated with audiences this year.” King Jack, directed and written by Felix Thompson. (USA) (pictured above) – World Premiere, Narrative. Growing up in a rural town filled with violent delinquents, Jack has learned to do what it takes to survive, despite having an oblivious mother and no father. After his aunt falls ill and a younger cousin comes to stay with him, the hardened 15-year-old discovers the importance of friendship, family, and looking for happiness even in the most desolate of circumstances. TransFatty Lives, directed by Patrick O’Brien, co-written by Patrick O’Brien, Scott Crowningshield, Lasse Jarvi, Doug Pray. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Director Patrick O’Brien is TransFatty, the onetime NYC deejay and Internet meme-making superstar. In 2005, O’Brien began to document his life after being diagnosed with ALS and given only two to five years to live. TransFatty Lives is a brazen and illustrative account of what it’s like to live when you find out you are going to die. The runners-up were Song of Lahore, directed by Andy Schocken and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, for the documentary audience award and Sleeping With Other People, directed by Leslye Headland, for the narrative audience award. Throughout the Festival, which kicked off on April 15, audiences were able to vote by completing nomination ballots upon exiting screenings of TFF films. Films in the World Narrative Competition, World Documentary Competition, Viewpoints, Spotlight, and Midnight sections were eligible. Song of Lahore, directed by Andy Schocken and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. (USA, Pakistan) – World Premiere, Documentary. Until the late 1970s, the Pakistani city of Lahore was world-renowned for its music. Following the Islamization of Pakistan, many artists struggled to continue their life’s work. Song of Lahore turns the spotlight on a group of stalwart musicians that kept playing and ultimately attracted listeners from around the world. In English, Punjabi, and Urdu with subtitles. Sleeping With Other People, directed and written by Leslye Headland. (USA) – New York Premiere, Narrative. Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie star as two romantic failures whose years of serial infidelity and self-sabotage have led them to swear that their relationship will remain strictly platonic. But can love still bloom while you’re sleeping with other people? Writer/director Leslye Headland’s (Bachelorette) sexy romantic comedy co-stars Amanda Peet, Adam Scott, and Natasha Lyonne. An IFC Films Release
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VIRGIN MOUNTAIN, DEMOCRATS, Among Winners of 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Awards

The 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival, which runs through to April 26, 2015, announced the winners of its competition categories last night at a party hosted by Michael Rapaport at TFF’s creative hub, Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios. The winners of the top prizes in the narrative and documentary competition were awarded from the World Narrative and World Documentary sections of the official Festival lineup. The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Virgin Mountain (pictured above), written and directed by Dagur Kári, and Best Documentary Feature went to Democrats, directed by Camilla Nielsson. The festival announced that beginning this year, the new name of the Best New Documentary Director Award going forward will be called The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award, which was awarded last night by Philip Maysles and Sara Maysles, the beloved filmmaker’s children to Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands for Uncertain. The complete list of winners, awards, and comments from the jury who selected the recipients are as follows: WORLD NARRATIVE COMPETITION CATEGORIES: The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Virgin Mountain, written and directed by Dagur Kári [Iceland, Denmark]. In Virgin Mountain, “Fúsi is a mammoth of a man who at 43-years-old is still living at home with his mother. Shy and awkward, he hasn’t quite learned how to socialize with others, leaving him as an untouchable inexperienced virgin. That is until his family pushes him to join a dance class, where he meets the equally innocent but playful Sjöfn. In Icelandic with subtitles.” Jury Comment: “With its mixture of humor and pathos, this film captured our hearts. Beyond the deceptively small frame of a mismatched love story, the film deals with the issues of bigotry, loneliness, bullying, mental illness, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit and the meaning of love.” Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film –Gunnar Jónsson as Fúsi in Virgin Mountain (Iceland, Denmark). Jury Comment: “The film was aided in no small measure by a performer whose mixture of comedy and sadness evokes Chaplin and Keaton, with a complete lack of tricks, pretense, or condescension. This performer relies instead on subtlety, timing, and naked honesty, creating an indelible portrait of a man fighting to be seen in a world that judges him by his appearance. Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Hannah Murray as Sara in Bridgend (Denmark). In Bridgend, Sara (Hannah Murray) and her dad arrive in a town haunted by a spate of teenage suicides. When she falls in love with Jamie (Josh O’Connor), she becomes prey to the depression that threatens to engulf them all. Jeppe Rønde’s debut is based on the real-life Welsh county borough of Bridgend, which has recorded at least 79 suicides since 2007. Jury Comment: “An actress who captured the hopelessness of a lost generation. With bravery and guilelessness, this young actress led us in a descent into a world gone mad, as well as a journey into the protagonist’s own inner darkness.” Best Cinematography – Cinematography by Magnus Jønck for Bridgend (Denmark). Jury Comment: “Soulful and searing images, a daring use of composition and light, and an evocative sense of place.” Best Screenplay – Virgin Mountain written by Dagur Kári (Iceland, Denmark). Jury Comment: “The writer of this film is also the director, and is credited as one of the editors, and also performed the music, and runs the director’s program at the National Film School of Denmark, leading us to wonder when he has time to go to the bathroom. His intricately designed, beautifully observed, and bravely conceived screenplay consistently defies expectations, avoids sentimentality, and never strikes a false note. Best Narrative Editing – Bridgend edited by Oliver Bugge Coutté (Denmark). Jury Comment: “Impeccable rhythms and expert balancing of many divergent narratives.” WORLD DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION CATEGORIES: Best Documentary Feature – Democrats, directed by Camilla Nielsson (Denmark). In the wake of Robert Mugabe’s highly criticized 2008 presidential win, a constitutional committee was created in an effort to transition Zimbabwe away from authoritarian leadership. With unprecedented access to the two political rivals overseeing the committee, this riveting, firsthand account of a country’s fraught first steps towards democracy plays at once like an intimate political thriller and unlikely buddy film.In English, Shona with subtitles. Jury Comments: “For its choice of an important, universal subject; for filming in conditions where simply to be present is a triumph; and for prioritizing dignity, courage, and our common struggle for humanity, we give this year’s Best Documentary Feature award to Camilla Nielsson for Democrats.” Special Jury Mention: In Transit , directed by Albert Maysles, Nelson Walker, Lynn True, David Usui, and Ben Wu. (U.S.A) [caption id="attachment_8039" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Palio 2013[/caption] Best Documentary Editing – Palio, edited by Valerio Bonelli (U.K., Italy). Jury Comments: “This film viscerally transported us into an event and turned life into art. For subtly placing us behind the scenes; and for general technical excellence, this year’s award for Best Editing in a Documentary goes to editor Valerio Bonelli for Palio.” BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR COMPETITION: Best New Narrative Director – Zachary Treitz director of Men Go To Battle (U.S.A). Kentucky, 1861. Francis and Henry Mellon depend on each other to keep their unkempt estate afloat as winter encroaches. After Francis takes a casual fight too far, Henry ventures off in the night, leaving each of them to struggle through the wartime on their own. Jury Comments: “Zachary Treitz presented us with a combination of approaches not all that easy to put together: a unique and sincere vision, alongside off-beat humor, alongside historical and emotional authenticity.” Special Jury Mention: Stephen Fingleton for The Survivalist (Northern Ireland, U.K.). BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR COMPETITION: Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award – Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands for Uncertain (U.S.A). An aquatic weed threatens the lake of the small American border town of Uncertain, Texas, and consequently the livelihoods of those who live there. As some of the men in town attempt to figure out their future, they confront a past that haunts them. Jury Comment: “This year we recognize a beautiful character study that explores violent natures, redemption, and what it takes to tame the self. A perfect balance of simplicity and mystery, this American story examines humanity, and how it can unwittingly destroy not just landscapes but livelihoods.” Special Jury Mention: Erik Shirai for The Birth of Saké(U.S.A). SHORT FILM COMPETITION CATEGORIES: Best Narrative Short – Listen, directed by Hamy Ramezan and Rungano Nyoni (Finland, Denmark). In Listen a foreign woman in a burqa brings her young son to a police station to file a complaint against her abusive husband, but the translator assigned to her seems unwilling to convey the true meaning of her words. Jury Comments: “This year’s winner for Best Narrative Short was emotionally compelling and by far the most affecting of the pieces we screened, with the filmmakers displaying a clear emotional connection with the narrative. To say that we had a healthy debate is an understatement.” Special Jury Mention: Statistical Analysis of Your Failing Relationship directed by Miles Jay (U.S.A, Canada). Best Documentary Short – Body Team 12 directed by David Darg (Liberia). Body Team 12 a team is tasked with arguably the most dangerous and gruesome job in the world: collecting the dead at the height of the Ebola outbreak. Jury Comments: “The winning film is a spiritual and inspiring story of personal courage and commitment. The filmmaking team takes us on a fearless journey that restores our faith in humanity and inspires viewers to be optimistic despite facing the most extreme challenges.” Special Jury Mention: We Live This directed by James Burns (U.S.A). Student Visionary Award – Catwalk directed by Ninja Thyberg (Sweden). Nine-year-old Ella’s classmates are playing in the schoolyard in full adult dress-up, and she wants to be part of that world in Catwalk. Jury Comments: “An effective look at peer influence not peer pressure. A creative explanation of what young people are experiencing as a result of social media threads and trends. Beautifully shot, and cast with a profound message that promotes individuality and vulnerability amongst the girls and parents, this year’s Student Visionary Award goes to Ninja Thyberg for her film Catwalk.” Special Jury Mention: Kingdom of Garbage, directed by Yasir Kareem (Iraq, U.K.). BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® STORYSCAPES AWARD BOMBAY SAPPHIRE ® Storyscapes Award: Door Into the Dark created by Amy Rose and May Abdalla at Anagram (U.K.). “This is a labyrinth.” Find out what it means to be lost in an age of infinite information. Using groundbreaking locative technology, this immersive documentary combines captivating storytelling with a visceral physical experience: feel your way into the dark—blindfolded, shoeless, and alone— along a taut length of rope that leads to a vivid aural world of real people who have been profoundly lost. Your encounter with these characters takes you deep into their sensations, risks, and illusions. To find your way into the light you must surrender to the unknown. Jury Comments: “In an overwhelming media environment in which we struggle for control, we recognize a work that viscerally reconnects us with the value of letting go. It offers a meticulously crafted storyworld that allows us to cerebrally, emotionally, and quite literally leave our baggage behind and step into the void. In that void we become disoriented, take risks, make choices and find ourselves again, changed. Ambitious, simple, and profound, this work marks a fresh and promising direction for the field of immersive theater. It evoked a euphoria that stayed with us long after we left it.” THE NORA EPHRON PRIZE The Nora Ephron Prize: Sworn Virgin, directed by Laura Bispuri and written by Francesca Manieri and Bispuri (Albania, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Switzerland). As a young woman living within the confines of a Northern Albanian village, Hana longs to escape the shackles of womanhood, and live her life as a man. To do so she must take an oath to eternally remain a virgin. Years later, as Mark, she leaves home for the first time to confront a new set of circumstances, leading her to contemplate the possibility of undoing her vow. In Albanian, Italian with subtitles. Jury Comments: “We are awarding a film that is exquisite in its broadness and its intimacy, with a truly original story that touches on oppression in a way that members of this jury have rarely seen before. The film constantly surprised us and made us question our own positions through a confident, passionate, and beautifully nuanced vision that showed a real respect for the audience.” Special Jury Mention: Being 14 directed and written by Hélène Zimmer (France).
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Rapper & “Fast & Furious” Actor, Ludacris, to Perform at Opening Night of 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

Rapper/actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges will perform at the opening night of the 14th Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, April 15, at the Beacon Theatre. The concert will follow the world premiere of the documentary Live From New York!, which explores 40 years of American politics, tragedy and popular culture through the comedic lens of SNL, directed by Bao Nguyen and produced by JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker. The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 15 to April 26, 2015. “Appearing on “Saturday Night Live”– both as a host and a musical guest –were some of the most thrilling moments of my career,” said Ludacris. “I’m excited to be a part of this premiere and the Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night. As a storyteller through music and acting, it is especially meaningful for me to participate in an event that is centered on spotlighting great stories.” Ludacris, a multitalented recording artist and acclaimed actor, has sold more than 15 million albums domestically, thanks to the blockbuster success of such singles as “Stand Up,” “Get Back,” “Southern Hospitality,” “Number One Spot,” “Money Maker” and “My Chick Bad.” All of these records were accompanied by ingenious videos that demonstrated Bridges’ far-reaching imagination, and his willingness to stretch the boundaries of what rap videos should look and feel like. He recently released his 8th studio album, Ludaversal and starred in Furious 7, the seventh installment in the global box-office hit franchise. His other feature film credits include Universal Pictures’ Fast & Furious 6; Fast Five; 2 Fast 2 Furious; Garry Marshall’s ensemble comedy New Year’s Eve; and Ivan Reitman’s romantic comedy, No Strings Attached, opposite Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, and he has given acclaimed performances in film, (Crash, Hustle & Flow), and television, (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit). https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=3saskvQKfx0
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Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Rapaport, Steve Buscemi Among Jurors for 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 34 industry leaders, including award-winning filmmakers, producers, acclaimed actors, authors and entrepreneurs. The jury will be divided among the seven competitive Festival categories. The winning films, filmmakers and actors in each category will be announced at the TFF Awards Night ceremony on April 23 at Spring Studios. The 2015 Festival runs from April 15 –26. “The group of unique voices and perspectives that make up this year’s jury are sure to spark thoughtful discussion – and perhaps some friendly debate – around this year’s films,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. The seven TFF juries will award $150,000 in cash and prizes. Announced earlier this year, eight of the winners will also receive a work of original art by an acclaimed artist as part of the Tribeca Film Festival Artists Awards program, sponsored by CHANEL. In addition to the Festival’s main competition juries, the five jurors for the third annual $25,000 Nora Ephron Prize, sponsored by Coach, recognizing a female writer or director, were also announced. Following is a list of all 2015 Festival jurors and their respective categories. World Competition Categories The jurors for the 2015 World Narrative Competition, sponsored by AKA, are: Paul Attanasio: Paul Attanasio is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and producer whose credits include Quiz Show, Donnie Brasco, The Good German, and House: MD. Sophie Barthes: Sophie Barthes is a French-American director and screenwriter best known for her directorial feature film debut Cold Souls. Whoopi Goldberg: One of an elite group of artists who have won an Academy, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Awards. Film and television credits include The Color Purple, Ghost, Sister Act, Boys on the Side, The Lion King,For Colored Girls, and The View on ABC. She made her directorial debut with the 2013 TFF selection Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley. Dylan McDermott: Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee, Dylan McDermott currently stars in the CBS drama Stalker. Other projects he has starred in were American Horror Story, and the films Olympus Has Fallenand The Campaign. Burr Steers: Burr Steers is a filmmaker best known for his writing and/or directing Igby Goes Down, 17 Again and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The jurors for the 2015 World Documentary Competition, sponsored by Santander Bank, N.A., are: Diego Bunuel: Diego Buñuel, the grandson of the legendary Spanish film director Luis Buñuel, is a Franco-American filmmaker and the new Head of Documentaries on Canal Plus since October 2014. Tine Fischer: Tine Fischer is the founder and CEO of one of the leading international documentary film festivals CPH:DOX as well as the director and founder of CPH:LAB and CPH:FORUM. David Gelb: David Gelb has directed a variety of both fiction and non-fiction projects, most notable the critically acclaimed documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Joshua Rothkopf: Joshua Rothkopf, film critic who is currently the Film Editor at Time Out New York. Gloria Steinem: Gloria Steinem is a writer, lecturer, editor, feminist activist, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is the frequent media spokeswoman on issues of equality. Emerging Competition Categories The jurors for the 2015 Best New Narrative Director are: Mark Boal: Mark Boal is a two-time Oscar winner for producing and writing Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, and a two-time Oscar-nominee for producing and writing Best Picture nominee Zero Dark Thirty. Minnie Driver: Minnie Driver is an accomplished recording artist and Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Emmy Award nominee who currently stars on NBC’s comedy, About a Boy. Don Hertzfeldt: Don Hertzfeldt is an Oscar-nominated American independent filmmaker whose animated films include It’s Such a Beautiful Day, The Meaning of Life, Rejected, and World of Tomorrow. Cobie Smulders: Cobie is a Canadian actress better known for her roles as Robin Sherbatzky in How I Met Your Mother and Agent Maria Hill in the Avenger Series. Joana Vicente: Joana Vicente is an award winning producer who has collaborated with filmmakers such as Jim Jarmush, Todd Solondz, Alex Gibney & Brian De Palma. The jurors for the 2015 Best New Documentary Director are: Rachel Boynton: Rachel Boynton is an award winning producer and director best known for the documentaries Our Brand is Crisis and Big Men. Lola Kirke: Lola Kirke is a British-American actress known for her roles in Gone Girl, Mistress America, Free the Nipple, to name a few and soon to be seen in Fallen. Will Patton: Will Patton is an American actor starring in over 60 feature films and best known for his roles in Remember the Titans, Armageddon, The Mothman Prophecies, and No Way Out. Alison Pill: Alison Pill is a critically acclaimed film and stage actress who most recently starred in the Joon-ho Bong directed, Snowpiercer. Michael Rapaport: Native New Yorker Michael Rapaport is an actor and director who has appeared in over 50 feature films including True Romance, Beautiful Girls, Mighty Aphrodite, and Higher Learning. Short Film Competition Categories The jurors for the 2015 Narrative Short Film Competition are: Hank Azaria: Hank Azaria, a New York Native, best known for the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu, Chief Wiggins and many others on The Simpsons. He won a SAG Award for his break out role in The Birdcage. Mamie Gummer: A Native New Yorker, Mamie Gummer is a film, television and stage actress featured inEvening, John Adams, Off the Map, and many more. André Holland: André Holland stars in the hit Cinemax series, THE KNICK, and was most recently seen in theaters in the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated feature, SELMA. Arian Moayed: Arian Moayed is a Tony nominated actor, Artistic Director of Waterwell, and a writer/director for film. Sheila Nevins: Since 2004, Sheila Nevins has been president of HBO Documentary Films, responsible for overseeing the development and production of all documentaries for HBO, HBO2 and Cinemax. Dan Silver: Dan Silver is the Senior Director of Development for ESPN FILMS and an Emmy winning producer of series such as 30 for 30 Shorts. The jurors for the 2015 Documentary and Student Visionary Competitions are: Steve Buscemi: Steve Buscemi is an American actor and director best known for his role in Boardwalk Empire, which garnered him a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy nominations as well as directing many TV credits including The Sopranos and 30 Rock. Debi Mazar: Debi Mazar, actress and native New Yorker made her film debut in Scorsese’s Goodfellas and is better known for her role as the hard charging publicist “Shauna” on HBO’s Entourage. Katherine Oliver: Katherine Oliver is currently a principal at Bloomberg Associates; prior to this role she served as Commissioner of NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment from 2002-2013. Theo Rossi: Theo Rossi is an actor, producer, and philanthropist best known for his portrayal of Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz on the FX series Sons of Anarchy. Vanessa Williams: Having sold over 25 million records worldwide, Vanessa is one of just a few artists to score #1 and Top 10 hits on various Billboard Album and Singles charts and her work in film, television, recordings, and the Broadway stage has been recognized by every major industry award. Storyscapes presented in collaboration with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE^® Gin The jurors for the 2015 The BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® Storyscapes Award are: Andrew Golis: Andrew Golis, previously the Director of Digital and Senior Editor at FRONTLINE, is the founder & CEO of This. Shari Frilot: Shari Frilot is the curator of New Frontier at Sundance and senior programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, focusing on American and World Cinema dramatic features, as well as films that push the boundaries of conventional storytelling Charlie Phillips: Charlie Phillips is the Head of Documentaries at The Guardian. Nora Ephron Prize The jurors for the 2015 Nora Ephron Prize are: Rachael Harris: Rachael Harris is a comedic actress hailing from The Groundlings. She has starred in many films, including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Night at the Museum 3 and the independent filmNatural Selection, for which she received a Breakthrough Performance award. Kevin Corrigan: Kevin Corrigan has been a prolific New York based actor in film and television dating back to when he was first cast in Goodfellas. In addition to his massive credits, Kevin has been a favorite of established and cutting-edged directors for over 25 years. Katja Blichfeld: Katja Blichfeld is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, WGA award-winning writer, and Emmy award-winning casting director known for the critically acclaimed series, High Maintenance, which has gained recognition as one of the best new series on the web. Christine Lahti: Christine Lahti is a multiple-award-winning actress of film, television, and theater. Talya Lavie: Talya Lavie is an Israeli director and screenwriter whose feature film Zero Motivation received the Nora Ephron Prize at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival as well as the Best Narrative Award.
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25th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas to Close 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

The 25th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese’s gangster film GoodFellas—remastered from a 4k scan of the original camera negative, supervised by Scorsese—will close the 14th Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Ray Liotta and Paul Sorvino, the film was praised by The New York Times as “breathless and brilliant” and “both the most politically serious and most evilly entertaining movie yet made about organized crime.” In honor of the 25th Anniversary celebration, the film’s creators and cast members will reunite at TFF for a conversation following the film with Jon Stewart where they will discuss the acclaimed 1990 Academy Award-nominated classic based on the true-crime bestseller “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi. Closing night, co-sponsored by Infor and Roberto Coin, will take place at The Beacon Theatre. “While TFF’s mission is centered around new stories and voices, we also seek to honor the creators and films that have shaped the cultural landscape,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, Tribeca Film Festival. “GoodFellas is one of those pictures with an honest and stylized portrayal of the gangster lifestyle that has inspired a generation of filmmakers and television directors across genres. We are proud to celebrate its 25th anniversary at our closing night and introduce new audiences to one of Marty’s masterpieces.” Martin Scorsese said, “I was so excited to learn that this picture, now 25 years old, would be closing this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Excited and moved. It was an adventure to get it on screen—we wanted to make a movie that was true to Nick Pileggi’s book and to the life of Henry Hill and his friends, which means that we broke some rules and took some risks. So it’s heartening to know that GoodFellas has come to mean so much to so many people. It’s wonderful to see one of your pictures revived and re-seen, but to see it closing Tribeca, a festival of new movies, means the world to me.” “I was most proud of this film 25 years ago, and equally proud of it now. I’m very happy that it is our closing night film,” said Robert De Niro, co-founder, Tribeca Film Festival. GoodFellas explores the criminal life like no other movie. Following the rise and fall of a trio of gangsters over 30 years, it’s an electrifying, fact-inspired tale of living and dying. The film earned six Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director and was named 1990s Best Film by the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics. In 2000, GoodFellas was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the US Library of Congress. On May 5, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) will release GoodFellas 25th Anniversary on Blu-rayTM and Digital HD which will include a new documentary. “Scorsese’s GoodFellas” featuring interviews with Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and more.
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Tribeca Film Festival Names Honorees for 2015 Disruptive Innovation Awards

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) today announced the honorees for its sixth annual Disruptive Innovation Awards, held in collaboration with renowned Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation. Co-sponsored by Accenture and AT&T, the awards will be moderated by Perri Peltz at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center BMCC, on Friday April 24 at 11:00 a.m. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 15 to 26. Inspired by Christensen’s ground-breaking theory of disruptive innovation, the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards celebrate innovators who have broken the mold to significantly impact industries and business models in traditional and non-traditional domains including sports, media, healthcare, social justice, education, politics and entertainment. The awards highlight projects and ideas at the intersection of technology and culture and seek to identify anomalies and outliers. Over the past six years, the awards have predicted notable innovators early in their existence including Jack Dorsey for Square (2010), Garrett Camp for Uber (2013), DARPA’s drone Hummingbird (2012), Psy’s YouTube record-breaking views for “Gangnam Style” (2013), and Scooter Braun’s SB Management for cultivating artists including Justin Bieber (2012). The 2015 honorees include Airbnb, the trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world – online or from a mobile phone; Shane Smith, founder and CEO of global youth media brand VICE, critically-acclaimed journalist, host and producer, and one of the industry’s most respected visionaries; Jake Burton, founder of Burton Snowboards, a company that has played a pivotal role in growing snowboarding from a backyard hobby to a world-class sport; Rent The Runway, a fashion company with a technology soul that is disrupting the way women get dressed; and Girls Who Code, a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and prepare young women for jobs of the future. Other award recipients include Peter Greste, acclaimed Australian journalist and Peabody Award winner who was recently released after 13 months of wrongful political imprisonment in Egypt for his coverage for Al Jazeera English; Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation who oversees more than $12 billion in assets, including $500 million annually in global social justice grants; and Formula E Racing, a new FIA single-seater championship and the world’s first fully-electric racing series. Additional honorees include Jason Silva, Advance Care Planning at Gundersen Health Systems, Peek.com’s Ruzwana Bashir, Bloomberg News reporter Mary Childs, wheelchair moto-cross athlete Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, Brad Katsuyama of IEX, littleBits, the David Lynch Foundation,Operation Smile’s Dr. Bill Magee, Georgette Mulheir of Lumos, Alec Momont of Drones for Good, Nanotronics Imaging, Alyse Nelson of Vital Voices, Scribd, Tampon Run and HIV researcher Nicole Ticea. The 2015 Book of the Year is “The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution” (Simon & Schuster, 2014) by New York Times bestselling author Walter Isaacson: a revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. The 2015 App of the Year is Headspace, a subscription-based app delivering 10-minute meditation sessions and providing activity tracking, reminders, tips and animations about how the mind works. “We are thrilled to be celebrating with Clay these remarkable innovators who are on the frontiers of disruptive innovation theory implementing new business models with stunning success—many of which are anomalies that the original theory did not predict,” said Craig Hatkoff, TFF co-founder and chief curator for TDIA. “If we are to develop profound theory to solve the intractable problems on our societally-critical domains we must learn to crawl up into the life of what makes people tick,” said Professor Clay Christensen. “The awards help me better understand the descriptive stage of theory, building that focus on the formidable cultural variables in areas and domains that are badly in need of disruption – areas such as terrorism, parenting and religion.” Honorees receive the iconic red hammer as the official award, in the spirit of psychologist Abe Maslow who in his famous quote said, “when your only tool is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail” that embodies the spirit of the awards. The 2015 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award honorees are as follows: Advance Care Planning at Gundersen Health Systems: Respecting Choices® is a comprehensive, community-wide program, created and led by healthcare organizations and state and local medical societies. Owned and operated by Gundersen Health System, based in La Crosse, Wis., its mission is to engage patients and their families in informed conversations about advance care planning and to improve the systems and processes used to collect and store advance care planning decisions in patients’ medical records. The program provides standardized, locally developed patient education materials to patients across all healthcare settings in the community; trains non-physician facilitators to guide patients and their families in advance care planning; and implements common policies and practices for collecting, maintaining, retrieving and using advance care planning documents across settings. The program increased completion of documentation of advance care plans, achieved a high degree of consistency between patients’ desires and actual care decisions made at the end of life, and is associated with low care costs during the last two years of life. Airbnb: Founded in August of 2008 by Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world – online or from a mobile phone. Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions. Ruzwana Bashir: Ruzwana Bashir is Founder and CEO of Peek, which is disrupting the $100bn activities industry. Peek.com is a marketplace to book the best activities, and the company has developed backend SaaS tools to provide activity operators with real-time booking and inventory management capabilities. CNBC labeled Peek as the “OpenTable for activities” and the New York Times Peek.com “a site you want to visit again and again.” Peek is backed by tech heavyweights including Google’s Eric Schmidt, Square’s Jack Dorsey and TPG’s David Bonderman. Ruzwana has been selected for Vanity Fair’s Next Establishment, Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Technology and Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People. Ruzwana started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and in private equity at the Blackstone Group. Before starting Peek she worked at Gilt Groupe and was part of the founding team at Artsy. Ruzwana has an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and a BA from Oxford University where she was President of the Oxford Union. Jake Burton: Snowboarding has changed a lot in the past 38 years since Jake founded Burton Snowboards. One thing has stayed constant during all that time: Jake still leads the world’s most successful snowboard company, testing nearly every product Burton makes. He still takes feedback to heart – whether it’s from a pro rider, a customer email or a kid who happens to sit with him in the gondola. He still walks Burton’s halls almost every day, saying hi to the dogs around the office and seeing what’s up with his co-workers. He still has team riders over to his house for a four-day roundtable to give the final word on the entire product line. He still weighs in on marketing campaigns and leaves product managers notecards with feedback on luggage design, apparel fits, outerwear fabrication, board flexes and graphics. He still can be found at Stowe almost every day it’s open (and plenty of days it’s not) hiking for early and late season turns. He is still inspired by the communal spirit of snowboarding. And he still makes many of the company’s biggest decisions from a chairlift, not a desk. Mary Childs: Mary Childs joined Bloomberg News in 2009 and reports on the world’s biggest asset managers, in print, on television, and on radio. She previously covered corporate bonds and derivatives, and in April 2012, she and a team were the first to break the story of the JPMorgan London Whale, a trader who lost the bank more than $6 billion on bad derivative positions. For that work, she and her team were finalists for a Gerald Loeb Award in 2013. Before joining Bloomberg, Childs spent a year traveling the world painting portraits on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a grant for independent study outside the U.S. She graduated from Washington & Lee University with a degree in business journalism, and after studying at St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, wrote an honors thesis on the use and significance of sting operations in media in India and the U.S. Childs, a native of Richmond, Virginia, volunteers for the News Literacy Project, and continues to paint and draw. Formula E: Formula E is a new FIA single-seater championship and the world’s first fully-electric racing series. Beginning in September 2014 through to June 2015, the championship will compete in some of the world’s leading cities – including London, Beijing and Miami. For the inaugural season, 10 teams, each with two drivers, will go head-to-head creating a unique and exciting racing series designed to appeal to a new generation of motorsport fans. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades, serving as a framework for R&D around the electric vehicle, accelerating general interest in these cars and promoting sustainability. From season two, Formula E will operate as an “open championship,” allowing teams and manufacturers the opportunity to showcase their own electrical energy innovations. Working to the technical specifications set out by the FIA, teams will focus their efforts on improving and developing battery technology in the hope this will filter into the everyday electric vehicle market. The championship centres around three core values of Energy, Environment and Entertainment and is a fusion of engineering, technology, sport, science, design, music and entertainment – all combining to drive the change towards an electric future. Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham: Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham is a 23 year-old wheelchair moto-cross athlete from Las Vegas, Nevada. Aaron was born with Spina Bifida, which resulted in him having no usage of his legs. Aaron never let anything stop him. Even as a baby and small child, he did anything anyone else his age could do; he just had to figure out how to make it work for him. Aaron started riding at skate parks at the age of 8. Over the last eight years Aaron has challenged himself to try progressively more difficult tricks; carving, grinding, power-sliding, hand planting, and spinning are just a few of his accomplishments. In 2005, he perfected a midair 180-degree turn. Then on July 13th, 2006, he landed the first wheelchair back flip. Four years later, at a camp in Woodward, he landed the first ever double back flip (August 26, 2010). Since then, he has gone on to perform it live while touring with the Nitro Circus. As if this is not enough, on February 9th, 2011, he landed his very first front flip in New Zealand, and on August 25, 2012, he shocked Brazilians by jumping and successfully landing a 50-ft gap off of the Mega Ramp in his chair. Aaron has a passion for what he does, and he wants to change the world’s perception of people in wheelchairs, as well as help everyone see his/her own challenges in a new way. You certainly do not have to be disabled to be inspired by what he is able to do. Peter Greste: Peter Greste is one of Australia’s most acclaimed journalists and a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in Africa. From 1991 to 1995 he was based in Afghanistan, London, Bosnia and South Africa, where he worked for Reuters, CNN, WTN and the BBC. He returned to Afghanistan in 2001 to cover the start of the war. After Afghanistan, Peter worked across the Middle East and Latin America, and was based in Mombasa, Kenya, then Johannesburg, followed by Nairobi where he has lived since 2009. In 2011, Peter won a Peabody Award for the documentarySomalia: Land of Anarchy. In December 2013, he and two other Al Jazeera English journalists (Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohammad) were arrested by Egyptian authorities and accused of news reporting which was deemed damaging to national security. In June 2014, Peter was found guilty by the court and sentenced to seven years of incarceration in Egypt along with his colleagues. They were perceived internationally as political prisoners due to the nature of the trial and lack of evidences presented. In February 2015, after more than 13 months in prison and an announcement of retrial, Peter was deported to his home country (and thus released) based on a newly passed Australian decree. Peter accepted a Royal Television Society award on behalf of himself and his two colleagues, for their sacrifices to journalism. Jennifer Hyman: Jennifer Hyman is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rent the Runway, a fashion company with a technology soul that is disrupting the way women get dressed. In her role, she oversees strategic initiatives and leads the company in growing all areas of the business, including marketing, technology, product, and analytics. She co-founded the company in 2009 with Jennifer Fleiss, and has since raised $116 million in venture capital. With over 5 million members, 300 employees and 270 designer brands, Rent the Runway is the largest rental platform in the world, democratizing luxury for women everywhere in the sharing economy. Jennifer has been honored with numerous recognitions including: Fortune Magazine’s “Trailblazers, 11 People Changing Business in 2013”, “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs”, and “40 Under 40”; Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30”; and Fast Company’s“Most Influential Women in Technology.” She received her BA from Harvard University and MBA from Harvard Business School. Jennifer is a Bloomberg Fellow, a TechStars mentor, and a member of both the Entrepreneurship Board at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Women in Business Board at Harvard University. Brad Katsuyama: Brad is the CEO, President, and co-founder of IEX – an equity trading marketplace that is owned and designed for traditional investors – mutual funds, hedge funds, and individuals. Brad is most widely known for his central role in Michael Lewis’ best-selling book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. Prior to co-founding IEX, Brad was a 12-year employee of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), serving most recently as Global Head of Electronic Sales and Trading, where he spearheaded the development of THOR, an award winning product that helped clients combat predatory high-frequency trading. Brad also held management positions such as: Head of US Trading, Head of US Hedge Fund Trading, and Head of US Technology Trading. Bradley received the Alumni Gold Medal as the top student in the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, where he graduated with a Finance degree and was a two-time academic All-Canadian in Football. littleBits: Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits, an award-winning library of electronic modules that snap together with magnets to allow anyone to learn, build, and invent with electronics. Bdeir is an engineer, interactive artist and one of the leaders of the open source hardware movement. Bdeir’s career and education have centered on advancing open source hardware to make education and innovation more accessible to people around the world. She is a co-founder of the Open Hardware Summit, a TED Senior Fellow and an alumna of the MIT Media Lab. Bdeir was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 35 Under 35, one of NY Business Journal’s Women of Influence, one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, one of Popular Mechanics’ 25 Makers Who Are Reinventing the American Dream, one of Entrepreneur’s 10 Leaders to Watch, one of the CNBC Next List, and one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. Originally from Lebanon and Canada, Ayah now lives in New York City. David Lynch: The David Lynch Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 2005 to fund the implementation of scientifically proven stress-reducing modalities, including the Transcendental Meditation program, for at-risk populations such as underserved inner-city students; veterans with PTSD and their families; women and children who are survivors of violence and abuse; American Indians suffering from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high suicide rates; homeless men participating in reentry programs who are striving to overcome additions; and incarcerated juveniles and adults. The Foundation also funds university and medical school research to assess the effects of the program on academic performance, ADHD and other learning disorders, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, cardiovascular disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes. The effects of the Foundation’s programs have been researched at leading medical schools, including Harvard Medical School, Stanford Medical School and Yale Medical School, and have received the endorsement and support from private foundations and government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, General Motors Foundation, the Chrysler Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the American Indian Education Association, Indian Health Services, many school districts and state departments of corrections. Dr. Bill Magee: Dr. William Magee, Jr., CEO and Co-Founder of Operation Smile, has dedicated the past 32 years to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults around the world. As a leading plastic and craniofacial surgeon, Dr. Magee has trained thousands of physicians worldwide, delivered hundreds of keynote speeches for corporate and national meetings, holds honorary doctorates from many prominent universities, and has appeared in numerous national publications, documentaries and news shows. Under Dr. Magee’s leadership, Operation Smile has grown to be the largest volunteer-based organization providing free cleft surgeries in the world with over 5,400 volunteers. Operation Smile has provided over 220,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities in over 60 countries since 1982. In his home state of Norfolk, VA, Dr. Magee maintains a private practice and is Co-Director of The Institute for Craniofacial and Plastic Surgery in the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. Alec Momont: Alec Momont recently founded Drones For Good, an open platform that is changing the public perception of drones. It is redefining what the technology can do for people and leverage its strengths for the greater good. One of its recent innovations is the Ambulance Drone, a high speed (over 100km/h) UAV that carries critical supplies to any emergency situation. Within minutes after an accident can provide the right care to prevent further escalation and save lives. In case of, for example, cardiac arrest brain death and permanent death start to occur in just 4 to 6 minutes. With the Automated Defibrillator on board the patient can be shocked to reestablish regular heart rhythm. Other uses include people that are drowning, stroke, diabetes etc. The technology is currently being field tested in Belgium to improve speed and user-machine interaction. Georgette Mulheir: For more than two decades, Georgette has worked in 23 countries around the world, leading large-scale programs to transform (and at times save) the lives of thousands of disadvantaged children. She pioneered a model of ‘deinstitutionalisation’ (DI) now followed by many governments, preventing the separation of children from families, returning children from so-called ‘orphanages’ to families, and shifting finances from harmful institutions to community services that support children in families. She advises officials at the European Commission on using EU funds for reforming children’s services, and has published four books on children’s rights. Georgette sits on the Leaders’ Council of the Global Alliance for Children, the UK-based Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement. In 2014, she was named as ‘one of the world’s 30 most influential social workers’ by socialworkdegreeguide.com. She is Chief Executive of Lumos, an international children’s organization, founded by J.K. Rowling to end the institutionalisation of children globally by 2050. Nanotronics Imaging: Nanotronics Imaging are enablers for the next industrial revolution, creating hardware, software and services that deal with the unification of scale. Our microscopes can image over a range previously not thought possible in one instrument. We can look at the macro, micro and atomic scale, and do this all now in 3D. Complex algorithm for the detection, classification and increased resolution of imaging and automation hardware. This ranges from a patented way to avoid the Abbe Limit through image reconstruction, newer types of Sparse data AI, computer vision techniques for creating the fastest nanotopographies in the world and systems for intelligently automating traditionally manual processes. Alyse Nelson: Alyse Nelson is president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership. A cofounder of Vital Voices, Alyse has worked for the organization for 17 years, serving as vice president and senior director of programs before assuming her current role in 2009. Under her leadership, Vital Voices has expanded its reach to serve over 14,000 women leaders in 144 countries. Previously, Alyse served as deputy director of the State Department’s Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative and worked with the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House. Alyse is a Member in the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society and is a Board member of Running Start. Alyse is a part of the Expert Group for the B Team and is on the Advisory Board of Chime for Change. Fortune Magazine named Alyse one of the 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter. Alyse is the author of the best-selling book Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World and has been featured in various international and national media. She completed her graduate degree work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Reshma Saujani: Reshma Saujani is the Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and prepare young women for jobs of the future. In her groundbreaking new book, “Women Who Don’t Wait in Line,” Reshma advocates for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and boldly charting your own course — personally and professionally. After years of working as an attorney and supporting the Democratic party as an activist and fundraiser, Reshma left her private sector career behind and surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman in the country to run for US Congress. Following the highly publicized race, Reshma stayed true to her passion for public service, becoming Deputy Public Advocate of New York City and most recently running a spirited campaign for Public Advocate on a platform of creating educational and economic opportunities for women and girls, immigrants, and those who have been sidelined in the political process. A true political entrepreneur, Reshma has been fearless in her efforts to disrupt both politics and technology to create positive change. Scribd: Scribd is the premier subscription book service with more than half a million e-books and audiobooks including New York Times bestsellers, Pulitzer Prize winners and reader favorites across every genre. Launched in 2007 by founders Trip Adler and Jared Friedman and backed by Y Combinator, Charles River Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Khosla Ventures, Scribd is one of the most influential websites in the world. It is available in nearly every country, featuring 62MM documents in +80 languages. Trip Adler is CEO and co-founder of Scribd. More than 100 million users read books and other documents on-demand using Scribd. Inspired by trying to help his father publish a medical paper, Trip started Scribd in 2007 with a simple observation that even with the proliferation of blogs and other self-publishing tools, there was no easy way for people to publish to a readership of millions. Today, Scribd makes it incredibly simple for anyone to share and discover informative, entertaining and original written content on the web and mobile devices. Prior to co-founding Scribd, the Harvard-educated entrepreneur tested the waters with a ridesharing service, Craiglist service for colleges, and an informational call center. Trip graduated from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences with a major in Physics. Jason Silva: Jason Silva is the Emmy-nominated host of National Geographic Channel’s Emmy-nominated hit TV series, Brain Games, seen in over 100 countries. “A Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age” was how The Atlantic described television personality, filmmaker and philosopher Silva, who has also been described as “part Timothy Leary, part Ray Kurzweil, and part Neo from ‘The Matrix.’” Silva is the creator of the Discovery Digital web series SHOTS OF AWE, micro-documentaries exploring creativity, innovation, exponential technology, futurism, metaphysics, existentialism and the human condition. In short: Philosophy, Science and Art for the YouTube generation. The videos, which “play like movie trailers for ideas,” according to The Atlantic, have spread like wildfire across the internet and have been viewed more than 10 million times. An active and prolific global speaker, Jason has spoken at TEDGlobal, Google’s Zeitgeist Conference, keynoted multiple events for Microsoft, IBM, Adobe, Oracle, Electronic Arts, Honeywell, PEPSICO, Intel, Dolby, the Tribeca Film Festival, The Sydney Opera house, The Economist Ideas Festival, the main stage at SXSW Interactive and the MainStage at CANNES LIONS festival of Creativity. Bill Simmons: Bill Simmons is a columnist, author, and podcaster whose prolific writings, rants, and insights have become the voice for a generation of American sports fans. Simmons is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Grantland, the sports and pop culture website that he created for ESPN in June 2011. Thanks to Simmons’s guidance and one of the most talented writing staffs in the business, Grantland has become the internet’s most accomplished multi-media site, recently getting nominated for three National Magazine Awards and earning an Emmy for the digital series “30 for 30 Shorts.” Grantland also launched a video network that features a variety of shows and podcasts, including Simmons’ The B.S. Report, which has been the most downloaded sports podcast since 2007 and featured guests like President Obama, Lorne Michaels, Louis CK, and Larry Bird. He is also the creator and host of The Grantland Basketball Hour—the first Grantland-branded television series on ESPN—and is the co-creator and an executive producer of ESPN’s Peabody Award-winning documentary series, 30 for 30. Off-screen, Simmons is the author of two best-selling books, including the New York Times No. 1 best-seller, The Book of Basketball. He currently lives in Los Angeles. Shane Smith: Shane Smith is the founder and CEO of VICE, the global youth media brand. One of the industry’s most respected visionaries, Smith is also a critically acclaimed journalist, and the host and executive producer for the Emmy winning news series, VICE, on HBO. Under Smith’s guidance, VICE, initially launched in 1994 as a punk magazine, has expanded and diversified to become the world’s leading youth media company; operating an international network of digital channels, a television production studio, a record label, an in-house creative services agency, a book-publishing house and a feature film division. VICE’s award-winning video content covers news, culture, music, technology, sports and fashion from a unique perspective tailored towards a young international audience often ignored by mainstream media. To syndicate VICE’s content globally, Smith established a network of content distribution partnerships with leading platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, HBO, and others. VICE’s online presence has since exploded, with its network of channels reaching hundreds of millions of viewers a month. Smith has reported from the world’s most isolated and difficult places, including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia and Greenland. Smith has been awarded numerous journalism and media awards, including the 2014 Knight Innovation Award, the Environmental Media Award, and more. Tampon Run: High school students Sophie Houser and Andrea Gonzales created an 8-bit side scroller game, Tampon Run, last summer to combat the menstrual taboo. They made the game as their final project for the Girls Who Code immersion program. They posted it to tamponrun.com in early September to share with friends and family. To their surprise, it went viral. Tampon Run features a girl who throws tampons at oncoming enemies rather than shooting a gun. The game is meant to combat the menstrual taboo by using humor to promote thought and discussion about the topic. Since posting their game online, Sophie and Andy have been written up in newspapers, magazines and blogs globally and received moving emails and tweets of support from around the world. They have also appeared at public speaking engagements including a TEDx Youth talk and worked with leading development company Pivotal Labs to build a mobile version of the game, to be released on February 3. Sophie and Andy represent a fight against the menstrual taboo and also the important message that girls and women can and should code. Nicole Ticea: If there are two things Nicole could credit for helping her develop the most cost-effective device for early HIV detection, she would say ‘passion’ and ‘youthful naïveté’. A teenage researcher from Vancouver, Canada, Nicole has spent the past two years building a team of co-collaborators and business partners at Simon Fraser University, a local institute, and at Stanford. She has taken her work to the national and international stage as the winner of the Canadian BioGENEius Challenge for biotechnology and was also awarded Second Place in Medicine and Health at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Nicole has adopted a business-minded attitude towards her research by founding her own company, OneWorld Diagnostics Inc., to attract investors for further product development. Nicole and her team have also applied to several grants and hope to raise enough money to see this product deployed in low-resource settings such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where the test will significantly increase infant survival rates and minimize undiagnosed HIV infection amongst adults. Outside of her research, Nicole is an avid author who hopes to cast a new light on long-repressed local issues. Darren Walker: Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, where he oversees more than $12 billion in assets, $500 million annually in global social justice grants and 10 international offices. He has been a leader in the social sector for more than two decades, including serving as vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, and his expertise ranges from human rights to urban development to free expression. He spent almost a decade on the frontlines of community development at Harlem’s Abyssinian Development Corporation, after a career working in international finance and law at UBS and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Walker voices a unique perspective on the ways that market forces, democratic institutions and an independent nonprofit sector must work together to achieve lasting social change. via press release
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SNL Documentary to Open 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

The world premiere of the “Saturday Night Live” documentary Live From New York!, will open the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, April 15. “Saturday Night Live” has been reflecting and influencing the American story for 40 years. Live From New York! explores the show’s early years, an experiment that began with a young Lorne Michaels and his cast of unknowns, and follows its evolution into a comedy institution. Archival footage is interwoven with stolen moments and exclusive commentary from “SNL” legends, journalists, hosts, crew and others influenced by the comedy giant. Live From New York! captures what has enabled “SNL” to continually refresh itself over nearly 800 episodes and keep America laughing for 40 years. Live From New York! is directed by Tribeca alum Bao Nguyen and produced by JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker. Tickets for the TFF 2015 Opening Night Gala go on sale on March 23 at tribecafilm.com/festival. The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 15 to April 26. “’SNL’s’ contribution to the arts and to pop culture has been—and continues to be—groundbreaking, and Live From New York!offers an inside look at the show’s inimitable ability to both reflect and impact American news, history and culture,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. “This is the story of a creative journey from pilot to institution and a tribute to the moments that kept us laughing and talking long after the episodes aired. We are excited to welcome Bao Nguyen back to Tribeca to open our 14^th Festival with the world premiere of Live From New York!.” “After 40 years, the timing just felt right,” said Lorne Michaels. “The selection of Live from New York! to open the 14th Tribeca Film Festival is personally gratifying to me on several levels. Having hosted SNL three times, and guested on several occasions, I speak from a first-hand experience about “SNL’s” rightful place in our culture as well as a welcome addition to our Festival,” said Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. “’Saturday Night Live’ is such a revered institution and we really wanted to make a film that reflected its significance not just to the American comedic tradition but also to American culture and society,” said director Bao Nguyen. “I want to thank Lorne Michaels for allowing us to film in the storied halls of Studio 8H. I’d also like to thank JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker for trusting me with their creative vision. Finally, I can’t thank Tribeca enough for all their support. We couldn’t dream of a better place to world premiere Live From New York! than at New York City’s own Tribeca Film Festival.”
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New Downtown Creative Hub for 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

The Creative Hub for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios

The Tribeca Film Festival will launch a downtown creative hub for festivalgoers, during its 14th edition, April 15–April 26, 2015.

The hub will provide a destination for festivalgoers to gather, collaborate and share stories in New York City. A residency at Spring Studios—a 150,000 square foot state-of-the-art creative, production & event center located at 50 Varick Street—will bring filmmakers, artists, audiences, partners and VIPs together in one place. Collective spaces for filmmakers, industry, press, will supplement venues for the majority of the Festival’s special events including Tribeca Talks, innovation events, Awards Night, and parties. The Festival has created a new Resident Pass that will provide access to the creative hub for the duration of the Festival and a Resident Day Pass that will provide day-to-day access. Both passes go on sale January 20th.

“Since the beginning, we envisioned a space where the Festival community could interact and explore ideas, and where we could celebrate storytellers, artists and their work,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, TFF. “Our residency at Spring will provide the perfect environment for filmmakers, industry, press and Festival-goers.”

TFF also announced its return to Regal Cinemas Battery Park Stadium 11, which will present press, industry and public screenings on all 11 screens. These new venues anchor the Festival downtown, where they are joined by longtime Festival venues including BMCC’s Tribeca Performing Arts Center—home to many of the Festival’s gala red carpet premieres, Tribeca Cinemas, and Brookfield Place, which hosts the annual Tribeca Drive-In^® movies on the Hudson River. Additional venues include SVA Theater and Bow Tie Cinemas’ renovated Chelsea Cinemas.

“Spring is excited to collaborate with the Tribeca Film Festival. Within our mission to be the home of groundbreaking creative ideas in New York and the vibrant TriBeCa neighborhood in particular, TFF is a natural partner in our efforts to connect thought-leaders, artists and the community in delivering leading-edge innovations, ideas and experiences,” said Mark Loy, CEO and Founder of Spring Studios. “We are honored to be the new hub for TFF and look forward to a future filled with groundbreaking cultural experiences that this partnership inspires.”
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Tribeca Film Fest Announces 2015 Dates

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, will be held April 15– April 26, 2015 in New York City. The Festival announced a call for submissions for narrative features, documentary features, short film entries and transmedia projects. Also announced was the promotion of Genna Terranova to Festival Director and Cara Cusumano to Senior Programmer.

TFF supports and celebrates both American independent voices and established directors from around the world. The Festival hosts screenings of feature and short length films, curated conversations, and master classes. The 2015 Festival will feature Storyscapes, Tribeca’s celebrated transmedia section in collaboration with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® Gin, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival and the second edition of Tribeca Innovation Week.

Deadlines to submit U.S. and International films for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival are as follows:

·         September 15, 2014:             SUBMISSIONS OPEN for features, shorts, transmedia projects

·         October 17, 2014:                   EARLY DEADLINE for feature and short films

·         November 26, 2014:             OFFICIAL ENTRY DEADLINE for features, shorts, transmedia projects

·         December 24, 2014:              LATE ENTRY DEADLINE for feature length world-premiere films only

Submissions rules and regulations and complete information regarding eligibility for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival are now available atwww.tribecafilm.com/festival/submissions.

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‘Chef” and ‘Keep On Keepin’ On’ Win 2014 Tribeca Film Festival Audience Awards

Keep On Keepin’ On Chef, written and directed by Jon Favreau, won the Heineken Audience Narrative award, and Keep On Keepin’ On, directed by Alan Hicks, received the Heineken Audience Documentary award at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. Each award comes with a cash prize of $25,000. Upon hearing the news Alan Hicks commented, “Mate, that’s unbelievable. I was just honored to get into the Festival in the first place. Never would have imagined coming away with the audience award and the Best New Director award. I’m just stoked! I don’t have any other words in my vocab, I’m just stoked! It was a dream of mine to premiere at Tribeca and that in itself was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. This warm response to the film is such an honor and I’m so happy to get Clark’s story out to the world the way that we have. Clark will be so happy.” Jon Favreau commented, “I am so grateful just to be a part of this prestigious festival and to be recognized and honored by the audience of my hometown is truly humbling.” Mr. Favreau will be donating the $25,000 to City Harvest, the world’s first food rescue organization dedicated to feeding New York City’s hungry men, women, and children. Chef In Chef, after talented and dynamic chef Carl Casper’s (Favreau) social media-fueled meltdown against his nemesis food critic lands him without any job prospects, he hits the road with his son and his sous chef (John Leguizamo) to launch a brand new food truck business. Complete with lavish food imagery and a star-studded cast including Sofia Vergara, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, and Amy Sedaris, Favreau’s fresh take on food and chef culture has poignant messages about the media-driven world in which we live and the real meaning of success. Keep On Keepin’ On chronicles eighty-nine year old trumpeting legend Clark Terry who has mentored jazz wonders like Miles Davis and Quincy Jones. Terry’s most unlikely friendship is with Justin Kauflin, a 23-year-old blind piano player with uncanny talent, but debilitating nerves. As Justin prepares for the most pivotal moment in his budding career, Terry’s ailing health threatens to end his own. Charming and nostalgic, Alan Hicks’ melodic debut celebrates an iconic musician while introducing an emerging star of equal vibrancy. It is a mentoring tale as inspirational as its subjects.
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