Ice Poison(Bing Du)

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) announced a variety of programming that will allow domestic audiences to experience the Festival from across the country, including the addition of the Tribeca N.O.W. program, the lineup and programming for the Tribeca Online Festival, and Tribeca Film’s video-on-demand offerings during TFF. The 13th annual Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 16-27, 2014, in New York City. 

The Festival announced the program for the fifth annual Tribeca Online Festival (TOF), a digital initiative that offers front row access to exclusive Festival content and new storytelling opportunities. A new addition to TOF this year is Tribeca N.O.W., a newly designed program that recognizes creators of new online work (N.O.W.) aiming to discover, highlight, and celebrate the next generation of storytellers who choose to create and share their work in the online space.

During TOF, Tribeca N.O.W. will showcase the innovative talent of 12 creators chosen by the TFF programming team from nearly 100 candidates nominated for their innovative storytelling and robust creative vision by an advisory board of creative professionals. The program optimizes Tribeca’s mission to find the newest, most original forms of storytelling and sharing it with the widest possible audience.  The projects include unique music videos, short documentaries, and imaginative webseries. Each nominee and their work will be featured on the Tribeca website and granted access to 2014 TFF events.

Back for its second year as part of TOF is the Tribeca Film Festival’s #6SECFILMS competition. The online juried competition uses the six-second, micro-movie making app Vine to create shorts in the categories of genre, comedy, drama and animation. This year, in addition to the jury awards, online audiences can view the very short film entries on www.tribecafilm.com/6secfilms and vote for their favorite, through April 12, to receive the #6SecFilms Audience Award. Winners will be announced on April 15.

As in years past, TOF will provide free streaming of Festival films. Eight titles including features Ice Poison(Bing Du), Ne Me Quitte Pas, True Son and Vara: A Blessing (which will each be streamed just after their Festival theatrical premieres), and short films Love in the Time of March Madness, Parachute, Peepers,and Scratch will be accessible on tribecafilm.com/online. Through the same site, audiences can vote on the best online feature and short, with the winners receiving a total of $15,000 in prize money. 

“The growth of digital, social and mobile platforms has made it possible for us to deliver new artistic talent to audiences on more than just one screen,” said Genna Terranova, Director of Programming. “While online storytelling is in abundance, curation is not yet as evolved or readily available as the independent film world. Tribeca N.O.W. is a platform to draw attention to these artists and support them as they continue their careers, whether that be in the online sphere or beyond.”

Tribeca Film will also release 2014 TFF selections Beneath the Harvest Sky, The Bachelor Weekend, andBright Days Ahead nationwide via on demand during the Festival window. The titles will be available in more than 50 million homes in the U.S. through all major cable video-on-demand providers, as well as iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly, VUDU, Xbox, Google Play and YouTube.

Details on the Tribeca Online Festival, VOD offerings and the Tribeca N.O.W creators follow:

TRIBECA ONLINE FESTIVAL

TRIBECA N.O.W. CREATORS

Katja Blichfeld & Ben Sinclair, High Maintenance. Highlighted by the likes of The New Yorker and Filmmaker Magazine, Katja Blichfeld & Ben Sinclair’s brainchild, High Maintenance, is a wildly funny webseries that is tailor-made for the internet. Starring Sinclair as a pot deliveryman simply credited as “The Guy,” each episode of the series follows this nameless dealer as he delivers to his clients throughout New York City. Yet despite its straightforward concept, Blichfeld & Sinclair’ s finely-tuned series hilariously dissects the craving for privacy in the city, and its conflict with a craving of a different kind. www.vimeo.com/channels/highmaintenance/videos  

Claire Edmondson. Feeling unfulfilled creatively as an artist, Toronto-based Claire Edmondson abandoned her career as a stylist in favor of direction, creating dark, distinctive fashion films and music videos for indie artists like Broken Social Scene, Austra, and Jasper, and designers Jeremy Laing and Pink Cobra. Moving forward, Edmondson is focused on assembling her commercial reel and moving into commercial direction while also developing a short film and a feature script, all while continuing to work with fashion and music videos as a creative outlet. www.vimeo.com/m/claireedmondson

Jonathan Gales, Paul Nicholls and Kibwe Tavares, Factory Fifteen. Visionary is the best way to describe Factory Fifteen. Directors Jonathan Gales, Paul Nicholls and Kibwe Tavares have harnessed their wide-ranging artistic backgrounds to create a film and animation powerhouse. Its prolific work is redefining the structure and aesthetics of filmmaking, while challenging the expectations of its audience and industry world-wide. This multi-award winning creative studio has had their work exhibited around the world in various film festivals and galleries such as Ars Electronica, Alpha-ville, The Creators Project, Frieze Art Fair, The Whitechapel Gallery, and The Royal Academy. www.factoryfifteen.com

Sam Gorski, Niko Pueringer & Jake Watson, Corridor Digital. Piloted by directors Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer and producer Jake Watson, Corridor Digital creates action-packed, VFX-infused, reference-laden shorts that trade on an encyclopedic knowledge of video games, action movies, viral trends, and filmmaking tropes to create hilariously entertaining short pieces. Frenetic in pace but never skimping on rich detail, Corridor Digital’s body of work demonstrates that low-budget online work doesn’t have to look cheap, and its effects-driven, referential world is a perfect evocation of our digital, plugged in, interactive moment. www.youtube.com/user/CorridorDigital

Rob Michael Hugel, I Hate Being Single. Rob Michael Hugel is the mind behind I Hate Being Single, an uncomfortable yet ultimately heartwarming comedy webseries starring Hugel as a lonely hipster looking for love. In addition to working on the show’s second season, Rob is increasingly prolific within the New York comedy scene as a member of the UCB-based sketch troupe, Onassis. In the past, Rob’s eccentric style brilliantly lent itself to the much-loved webseries—and now, TV series—Broad City, for which he served as a writer, director, and editor on several episodes. www.youtube.com/user/IHateBeingSingle

Matt Lambert. LA Born and Berlin-based, Matt Lambert is a filmmaker whose recent work explores identity and sexuality, and looks to open a debate around the way youth perceives and presents itself in the digital space. His work is deeply entrenched in global sub-cultures spanning a breadth of cultural and sexual identities with a keen focus on expanding the methods and styles of documentary and short film making.  Lambert injects his projects with an intimacy, excitement and conceptual depth that resonate far beyond the engaging and intriguing surface. www.vimeo.com/m/dielamb

Wendy McColm. Known as an actor on MTV’s “Hey Girl”, “Community”, and “How I Met Your Mother”, and as a performer for Upright Citizens Brigade, Wendy McColm’s diverse talents are on full display in her range of online short form work, written, directed by, and starring herself. With a distinctive style that melds quirky humor, feminine sensibility, and just a pinch of strangeness, all wrapped up in an of-the-moment indie patina, this multi-hyphenate writer-director-performer’s funny and delightful persona jumps out of her surprising and always entertaining pieces. www.wendyfilms.com

Steven Mertens. Presented with eclectic 2-dimensional objects, Steven Mertens uses magician-like skill to transform and enliven them in unexpected ways, creating fantastic worlds and abstract stories. Dry-erase drawings, photographs, videos and vibrant hand-drawn illustrations are meticulously pieced together in his unique stop-motion music videos. Mertens’ eccentric imagery has been paired with the popular music of Deca, The Chapin Sisters, Streets of Laredo and Boogarins. Before starting his career in animation, he toured extensively as a session bass player with The Moldy Peaches, Adam Green, and Here We Go Magic, among others. www.stevenmertens.com

Mollie Mills. Trained as a photographer, UK-based Mollie Mills creates absorbing short form documentaries on idiosyncratic subjects ranging from figure skaters and boxers to New York City subway dancers and tattoo artists, finding intimacy in the singular focus of her human subjects and beauty in the details of their unique surroundings. With a style that expands small moments of space and time to revel in their beauty, Mills gives voice to her subjects’ everyday experience in a way that infuses the routine with meaning and significance. www.molliemills.co.uk

Victor Quinaz, Anna Martemucci and Philip Quinaz, Periods.Films. PERIODS is an anachronistic comedy film series that adapts historical epochs and famous works of literature for a new generation. Comprised of an ensemble of actors and featuring the occasional guest star, PERIODS. is semi-improvised comedy with a unique cinematic approach. Created by Victor Quinaz, Anna Martemucci and Philip Quinaz and crafted by the entire PERIODS. films crew. Their first feature film, BREAKUP AT A WEDDING, was released from Oscilloscope Labs on June 18th, 2013. PERIODS. has been featured in the LA Times, Huffington Post, New York Magazine’s Vulture Blog, Jezebel, and, yes, even High Times. www.periodsfilms.com

Alexandra Roxo & Natalia Leite, Be Here Nowish. Independent writers and filmmakers Alexandra Roxo and Natalia Leite make their webseries debut with this funny and sexy story of two friends who flee New York to find themselves in Los Angeles. Featuring biting wit and distinctive characters, and set at the collision between the queer-alternative and new age milieus, Be Here Nowish stands out among its webseries compatriots for its fresh, fearless, and current voice. www.drinkpurplemilk.com/be-here-nowish

Lena Waithe, Ashley Blaine Featherson, Numa Perrier, Dennis Dortch, Hello Cupid. Created by Lena Waithe, Ashley Blaine Featherson, NumaPerrier and Dennis Dortch, Hello Cupid follows the adventures of best friends Whitney and Robyn, two very different single women looking for love online. Taking on real issues in the African-American community but always anchored in the friendship story of its two lead characters, Hello Cupid is a smart and funny romantic comedy webseries that exemplifies the potential for the form to imbue entertaining serialized storylines with intelligent, timely content. www.hellocupid.vhx.tv

The full list of short films streamed on the Tribeca Online Festival is as follows:

 Love in the Time of March Madness, directed by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano, written by Melissa Johnson. (USA) – World Premiere.

 Parachute, directed by Peter Stebbings, written by Peter Mooney. (Canada) – World Premiere.

 Peepers, directed by Ken Lam, written by Laura Grey and Jordan Klepper. (USA) – New York Premiere.

 Scratch, directed and written by Philip Kelly, co-written by Liam Ryan. (Ireland) – New York Premiere.

FREE STREAMING OF OFFICIAL FESTIVAL SELECTIONS:

Four feature titles and four short films from the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival will be available on TOF. Each film will have limited screening windows and capacity. Online viewers will be able to vote for the Best Tribeca Online Feature Film, a prize of $10,000, and the Best Tribeca Online Short Film, a prize of $5,000. Winners will be announced at the Tribeca Film Festival Awards on April 24.

The full list of feature films streamed on the Tribeca Online Festival is as follows:

Ice Poison (Bing Du), directed and written by Midi Z. (Myanmar, Taiwan R.O.C.) – North American Premiere, Narrative. Faced with diminishing returns on his harvest, a poor young farmer in Myanmar pawns his cow for a moped and seeks alternative income as a taxi driver. Among his first fares is a woman making a new start after escaping an arranged marriage in China. Together, they are lured into the lucrative business of selling “ice poison” (crystal meth) around town. With an unobtrusive documentary style, Burmese-Taiwanese director Midi Z captures the struggles faced by many in an unseen part of the world. In Burmese and Chinese Yunnan with subtitles.

Ne Me Quitte Pas, directed and written by Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden.(Netherlands, Belgium) – International Premiere. Left by his wife for another man, Marcel falls into alcoholism and a deep depression, with only his friend Bob, also an alcoholic, to look after him. The friendship between the two men captures the frailty of the male ego and the natural comedy borne from their candid conversations. Ne Me Quitte Pas follows this downward spiral of mid-life crisis in a tender, often humorous, sometimes disturbing, examination of the ‘crisis of masculinity,’ alongside a mesmerizing exploration of mundane rural existence. In Flemish and French with subtitles.

True Son, directed by Kevin Gordon. (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. Stockton, California is considered one of the worst cities in the United States, riddled with financial crisis and crime rates rivaling Afghanistan. But where everyone else saw hopelessness, 22-year-old Michael Tubbs saw possibility. In 2012, Tubbs decided to run for City Council to reinvent his hometown, building his campaign from the ground up. In Kevin Gordon’s passionate and inspirational documentary he sets out to beat a politician twice his age and bring his community back from bankruptcy.

Vara: A Blessing, directed and written by Khyentse Norbu. (Bhutan) – North American Premiere, Narrative. Raised in a sheltered village, young Lila yearns for a life devoted to Hindu worship, like that of herdevadasi mother, but she begins to encounter worldly obstacles to her spiritual fulfillment. Guileless, Lila agrees to model for a lowly village boy who hopes to become a sculptor, unknowingly endangering both of their lives under the ever-present gaze of the villagers, especially the village landlord’s son.

TRIBECA FILM ON-DEMAND

Beneath the Harvest Sky, directed and written by Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly. (USA) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. Bored and restless, best friends Dominic and Casper are making plans to escape their small town in Northern Maine to start new lives in Boston. In order to earn the money, Dominic spends the summer harvesting potatoes, while Casper becomes involved in the family business—smuggling drugs over the Canadian border. The divergent paths of the two boys, both trapped in their circumstances in different ways, will change their friendship forever. Brought to life by two stellar lead performances, Beneath the Harvest Sky is an authentic portrayal of adolescent frustration, culminating in a heartbreaking coming-of-age drama.  A Tribeca Film release.

The Bachelor Weekend, directed and written by John Butler. (Ireland) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative.Pressured by his best man to spend a bachelor’s weekend camping, foppish groom-to-be, Fionan, reluctantly agrees. But when his fiancée’s alpha-male brother, nicknamed ‘The Machine,’ unexpectedly turns up, the camping trip takes a turn for the worst. Fionan and his genteel friends are no match for the uncouth bully, and the trip begins to look like it will become Fionan’s worst nightmare. A slapstick, good-natured comedy, Bachelor Weekend hilariously delves into the stereotypical realm of masculinity that is camping and the great outdoors.  A Tribeca Film release.

Bright Days Ahead (Les beaux jours), directed by Marion Vernoux, written by Fanny Chesnel. (France) – U.S. Premiere, Narrative. In this sophisticated and sexy drama, a newly retired woman in her 60s (French cinema icon Fanny Ardant, 8 Women, Confidentially Yours) finds herself tumbling into an affair with a much younger man (Laurent Lafitte, Little White Lies), her computer teacher at the local seniors’ club. As she finds herself courting danger—taking her young lover to places they could easily be discovered by her husband (Patrick Chesnais, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)—she must decide if her retirement will mark the end for her marriage, or a new beginning. In French with English Subtitles. A Tribeca Film Release.

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