It was a real big year for Tribeca, as the Festival’s 14th edition welcomed over 138,000 movie-goers over 12 days of screenings and panels with a total attendance of over 467,000!!
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The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by AT&T, announced that during the Festival’s 14th edition more than 467,000 people attended screenings, panels, virtual reality experiences and free community events – including the Tribeca Drive-In series, Family Festival Street Fair, Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day, the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, and programming housed at TFF's inaugural downtown creative hub, Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios.
From April 15 through 26, the Festival hosted 492 screenings and panels. A total of 101 features, 60 short films and five immersive storytelling projects from 38 countries were screened for more than 138,000 movie-goers and panel attendees over the course of the 12-day Festival. For the second year, thanks to AT&T, an entire day of film screening tickets were free through “Film for All Friday,” where over 10,000 tickets were claimed for the screenings on Friday, April 24th.
“This year, thanks to our new Festival hub at Spring Studios, we have been able to connect more deeply than ever before with audiences seeing films, attending talks, and experiencing the cultural and technological innovations at the forefront of storytelling,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, Tribeca Film Festival. “Bringing these audiences together with filmmakers and great stories is the reason we do what we do.”
The free community events returned with the Tribeca Drive-In® movie series on the waterfront plaza at Brookfield Place, co-sponsored by AT&T and hosted by Brookfield Place. The program featured a 30th anniversary screening of Clue, a 60th anniversary screening of the Disney classic Lady and the Tramp, and the world premiere of A Faster Horse, a documentary celebrating the 50thanniversary of the Ford Mustang. More than 7,500 visitors came out for the free, outdoor films and participated in games and activities, including a Murder Mansion photo booth, Italian love song sing-alongs, face painting, and interactive car-themes simulations.
Festival organizers and Lieutenant C. Ficalora of the NYPD First Precinct estimated that a crowd of 300,000 enjoyed the signature Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair and Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day, sponsored by Mohegan Sun, on Saturday, April 25, which included Games for Change Public Arcade, interactive sports experiences with NY teams including The New York Knicks, New York Rangers and New York Liberty, live performances from The Rockettes and the casts of Broadway shows including Wicked, Kinky Boots, On The Town, and much more.
Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios, the new creative hub and gathering place for festivalgoers in the heart of Tribeca, welcomed nearly 20,000 people throughout the 12 day festival. The space hosted Storyscapes, a juried section showcasing groundbreaking exhibits in technology and interactive storytelling presented in collaboration with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® Gin, DEF CON’s renowned hacking conference, Oculus™ Story Studio’s virtual reality experience, Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Sinatra at 100: Film & Music—a special evening of film and music with the Lincoln Motor Company in celebration of Frank Sinatra’s centennial, and talks with artists and industry leaders including A$AP Rocky, Google’s Astro Teller, Stanford’s Jeremy Bailenson, AOL’s Tim Armstrong and more.
The Beacon Theatre housed four of the Festival’s special events. Events included Opening Night, presented by AT&T, the world premiere of the documentary Live From New York!, celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” and followed by a performance by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges; an American Express Card Member exclusive screening of Mary J. Blige: The London Sessions, a documentary chronicling the artist as she writes, records, and curates one of her most experimental albums to date, followed by a performance by Blige; a reunion of the five surviving members of Monty Python followed by a special screening of Monty Python and The Holy Grail; and the Festival’s Closing Night, co-sponsored by Infor and Roberto Coin, a remastered 25th anniversary screening of Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas with a discussion with cast members Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco, Ray Liotta and Paul Sorvino led by Jon Stewart.
2015 Tribeca Film Festival anecdotes:
- Nearly 1000 industry delegates were in attendance from 40 countries including Argentina, Bulgaria, India, Israel, Kosovo, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates.
- There were 34 Tribeca Talks conversations at the festival, 16 of which were turned into live podcasts from WNYC http://www.wnyc.org/shows/tribecafilm
- Over 780 one-on-one meetings were scheduled at Tribeca Film Institute's Network Market, one-on-one industry meetings designed to allow filmmakers to network with film industry executives, potential investors, development executives, producers and agents. Additionally, over 125 industry/decision makers attended.
- The Festival presented 20 virtual reality projects from Chris Milk, Oculus™ Story Studio, Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Penrose, Nonny de la Pena and two projects in Storyscapes: “The Enemy” and “Machine To Be Another”
- The Festival celebrated the powerful connection between music and film, featuring a centennial tribute to the man who exemplified that pairing: Frank Sinatra. Tony Bennett, Ne-Yo and Alice Smith, Brandon Flowers, Lea Delaria, and Savion Glover honored his influence following a special screening of On the Town. In addition, multi-hyphenate rapper-actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges helped open TFF, Mary J. Blige brought down the house at The Beacon Theatre with her powerful set, and Sarah McLachlan gave an exclusive performance at IWC Schaffhausen’s “For the Love of Cinema” gala dinner.
- Music continued throughout the 12 days when The Song of Lahore's Sachal Jazz Ensemble performed their innovative rendition of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" after each screening in front of rapturous audiences, receiving multiple standing ovations. Che "Rhymefest" Smith performed after screenings of his filmIn My Father's House, then answered questions standing side by side with his recovering dad, still on the upswing, while during the Shorts program NY Daily Grind – the subway performers "Showtime" from the short "We Live This" performed for the audience and singers from "Better to Live" sang a song about NYC acapella.
- On an emotional and celebratory evening, the Maysles family attended the world premiere of Albert's last film, In Transit. Other friends there included Jerry Torre (the caretaker from Grey Gardens a.k.a. "the marble faun"). The documentary received a Special Jury Mention for its essentially American character and for being emblematic of the career of an "all-time master."
- The Monty Python reunion with John Oliver at the Beacon Theatre was uproarious, as expected, with the Pythons paying homage to their famous coconut scene when they arrived for the red carpet with toy coconuts to give to media and fans.
- The subjects of The Wolfpack went to the closing night anniversary screening of GoodFellas dressed as GoodFellas.
- Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis were TFF’s unofficial king and queen, with two projects each premiering at Tribeca, including Meadowland, Body Team 12,Tumbledown and Sleeping With Other People.
- Hundreds of locks and seals were ethically picked and tampered with in the DEF CON villages at Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios, teaching attendees from age five to 73 to look at media and the world around them in a different way.
- Audience Award winning director Patrick O'Brien of TransFatty Lives rapped Rapper's Delight at his Q&A through his voice machine. Everyone was cracking up and his team had to stop him so the Q&A could continue.
- At the premiere of A Ballerina’s Tale, sponsored by Under Armour, dancer Misty Copeland received a standing ovation and was overcome with emotion when discussing her TIME cover at the Q&A afterwards which featured questions from an admiring audience, including some young aspiring ballet dancers.
- DJ Z-Trip's performance of Speedy was called "the future of silent film" by many in attendance at the one-night-only event at Spring Studios.
- At the Orion: The Man Who Would be King screening, the audience was full of Orion lookalikes wearing paper cutout masks passed out by the filmmakers. People were still wearing them at the karaoke party afterwards.
- Wrestlers from Bodyslam: Revenge of the Banana arrived in costume, showed off their outrageous moves at the Q&A.
- Twenty-eight Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award honorees received awards at a packed house at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
- Approximately 1,350 public school students attended screening events at Tribeca Film Festival, through Tribeca Film Institute programs including Tribeca Teaches, Youth Screening Series and Our City, My Story.
- And Festival Director Genna Terranova welcomed baby Gia Terranova Quintela, 7lbs 15 oz, on April 13, just in time for TFF!
About the Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival helps filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enabling the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema. It is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors.
Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001, following the attacks on the World Trade Center, to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music and culture, the Festival brings the industry and community together around storytelling.
The Tribeca Film Festival has screened more than 1,600 films from more than 80 countries since its first edition in 2002. Since inception, it has attracted an international audience of more than 4.9 million attendees, and has generated an estimated $900 million in economic activity for New York City.
About the 2015 Festival Sponsors
As Presenting Sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival, AT&T is committed to supporting the Festival and the art of filmmaking through access and innovation, aiming to make this the most interactive film festival in the country, where visitors experience the Festival in ways they never imagined.
The Tribeca Film Festival is pleased to announce its Signature Sponsors: Accenture, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, American Express, Bloomberg, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE Gin, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Brookfield Place, ESPN, IWC Schaffhausen, The Lincoln Motor Company, NBC 4 New York, NCM Media Networks, The New York Times, Santander, United Airlines, and VDKA® 6100. The Festival welcomes new Signature Sponsor: Spring Studiosand Thompson Hotels.
