Montclair Film Festival 2017 awards - "Under The Shadow", "Weiner", "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" amongst winners!

On Saturday, May 7, at the Wellmont Theater, the Montclair Film Festival had screening of "Miss Sharon Jones!", the closing night film. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with Oscar winner Barbara Koppola and Miss Jones herself. The beautiful documentary film journals the story of Miss Jones battle with cancer, but also talk about her career, her success and her struggles. The inspiring film is a moving portrayal of a music icon.

Before the screening, they announced jury prizes and special jury prizes. Here it goes:

* In the Narrative Feature category, "Under the Shadow," by Babak Anvari, won the Jury prize. Montclair's Sophia Takal received a Special Jury Prize for Direction.

* In the Documentary Feature category, "Cameraperson," directed by Kirsten Johnson, received the Bruce Sinofsky Prize. "Tower," by Keith Maitland, won a Special Jury Prize for Narrative Innovation.

* In the Future/Now category, which honors emerging, low-budget American independent filmmaking, Anna Rose Holmer was awarded with the Future/Now prize for "The Fits." Kris Avedisian received a Special Jury prize for his performance in "Donald Cried."

* For the New Jersey Films category, which honors a selected group of films made by New Jersey artists, Josie Swantek Heitz and Dave Adams won the award for "The Wrong Light." Jason Cohen's "Silicon Cowboys" was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Archival Storytelling. [Note: arts editor Gwen Orel was on this three-person jury.]

* Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg's "Weiner" took home the David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking, which honors a film, selected by the festival, that utilizes journalistic techniques to explore important contemporary subjects.

* The MFF's Junior Jury prize, given by a 13-member jury comprised of area high school students, went to Clay Tweel's "Gleason." A Special Jury Prize for Social Justice was awarded to "Sonita," directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami.

The screening and the panel discussion was followed by a wonderful filmmakers party at Cinema 505. It's a wonderful location with 2 levels of beautiful space. It was an opportunity for filmmakers and storytellers to mingle and connect. The party was attended by Evelyn Colbert herself, the president of the festival, along with several renowned and established filmmakers. The great music and delicious food, made out a perfect way to celebrate the last night of this wonderful event.

On Sunday, May 8, MFF announced the winners of the 2016 audience awards.

* Audience Award Winner Narrative Feature: "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," directed by Taika Waititi.

* Audience Award Winner Documentary Feature: "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You," directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.

* Audience Award Winner World Cinema: "Sonita," directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

* Audience Award Winner Short Film: "Joe's Violin," directed by Kahane Cooperman.

16th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL FULL LINEUP ANNOUNCED

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The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) announced the full lineup last night for their 16th year of celebrating independent, art house, alternate, and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent (May 7 - May 14). Dedicated to bringing these films to a New York audience, the festival will feature 40 screenings (35 narrative, 5 documentary) - all seen for the first time in New York City. In addition, the festival will also feature five programs of short films.

The festival highlights various cinemas of India's different regions. All the films are subtitled in English and some of the languages this year include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telegu, Assamese, Haryanavi and Urdu. This year’s festival will feature a couple of sidebars --NFDC restored first films of filmmakers and a three-generations sidebar, films of Bimal Roy, Basu Bhattacharya and Aditya Bhattacharya. 

The festival’s film lineup includes 2016 National Award winners A FAR AFTERNOON, BIRDS WITH LARGE WINGS and THE RIVER OF FABLES (KOTHANODI). THE RIVER OF FABLES is an Assamese language feature film written and directed by Bhaskar Hazarika and stars Seema Biswas and Adil Hussain. The story of the film is based on folktales from Assam, India.
   
“We are thrilled to be able to share these films with the New York audience,” states Aseem Chhabra, NYIFF festival director. “Three of the feature films are National Award winners. And out of the nearly 40 shorts we are showing this year, there are two National Award winners: FAMOUS IN AHMEDABAD and DAARVATHA.”

Straight from the Sundance Film Festival, BRAHMAN NAMAN is a true Indian teenage comedy. It is funny, touching and will be universal in its appeal. It is about the exhilaration and confusion of being 17 - the pleasure of being in a gang, breaking the rules, acting big, falling in love - coming of age.

From the Tamil films, CRIME IN PUNISHMENT is the latest film from NYIFF alum and 2015 NYIFF award winner M. Manikandan. FOR THE LOVE OF A MAN is a documentary film that explores the popularity of the Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth. 

GOOD OL’ BOY is the feel-good, coming-of-age story of Smith, a 10-year-old boy from India growing up in Small Town, America in 1979. This Diaspora film features actors Samrat Chakrabarti (Midnight’s Children, The Waiting City) and Poorna Jagannathan (Delhi Belly, Nirbhaya).

Bengali master, Soumitra Chatterjee starrer PEACE HAVEN is the story of three septuagenarian friends who embark on a journey to build their very own mortuary. 
  
Multiple award winner and fresh from the international film festival circuit PARCHED is a story about women set in the heart of parched rural landscape of Gujarat, India. It traces the bittersweet tale of four ordinary women Rani, Lajjo, Bijli and Janaki. We see them unapologetically talk about men, sex and life as they struggle with their individual boundaries to face their demons and stage their own personal wars.

WORLD PREMIERE of KAGAZ KI KASHTI (PAPERBOAT)

In an era when Bollywood music ruled the Indian households and when Ghazal as a genre was limited to only the connoisseurs, Jagjit Singh made Ghazals a necessity of every music lover's collection. KAAGAZ KI KASHTI traces the life journey of a down-to-earth, small-town boy, who made it big by breaking through the norms and the Ghazal scenario, by texturing traditional Ghazal singing with western instrumentation and making it simple and hummable, enticing new listeners into becoming Ghazal fans.
  
“The 2016 festival features a wide array of films from all over the South Asian diaspora,” states IAAC founder Aroon Shivdasani. This year our films reflect the reality of India, dealing both with LGBT issues that have surfaced in the supreme court and on the streets, as well as strong feminist films dealing with female infanticide, child marriage, domestic abuse, trafficking and several other key issues that affect women in a world that still leans towards chauvinism.”

Festival Passes and Individual Tickets can be purchased at the festival's website:

Full line up Schedule with films synopsis:

URL: http://www.iaac.us/NYIFF2016/schedule.htm

The 16th Annual NYIFF’s features selections include:

OPENING NIGHT GALA
Saturday May 7, 2016 at 6 pm at Skirball Center for Performing Arts, NYC

16th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL - Opening Night Film: Let's Dance to The Rhythm

Let's Dance to The Rhythm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
India/2014/2 hr 36 min Directed by Bardroy Baretto Cast: Vijay Maurya, Palomi Ghosh, Prince Jacob

CENTERPIECE
Tuesday May 10, 2014 at 6:30 pm at Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave & 12th Street, NYC
Highway
US PREMIERE
India/2015/ 2 hr 17 min Directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Cast: Mukta Barve, Sunil Barve, Tisca Chopra

CLOSING NIGHT
Saturday May 14, 2016 at 5 pm at Skirball Center for Performing Arts, NYC
Aligarh
NEW YORK PREMIERE
India/2015/114 min Directed by Hansal Mehta Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Rajkummar Rao

A Far Afternoon- A painted saga by Krishen Khanna
Sruti Harihara Subramaniam
Documentary
2015/India/1 hr 11 min 9 sec
English

Krishen Khanna, Ashvin Rajagopalan, Gayatri Sinha, A.Ramachandran, Ranjit Hoskote, Akbar Padamsee

Anubhav

Basu Bhattacharya
Feature Narrative
1971/India/2 hr 19 min
Hindi with English subtitles
Sanjeev Kumar, Tanuja Samarth, Dinesh Thakur, A. K. Hangal

Arshinagar

Aparna Sen
2015/India/2 hr 14 min
Bengali with English subtitles
Dev, Rittika Sen, Jisshu Sengupta, Waheeda Rehman, Kaushik Sen, Jaya Seal Ghosh, Roopa Ganguly, Swagata Mukherjee

Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastan

Saeed Mirza
Feature Narrative
1978/India
Hindi with English subtitles
Dilip Dhawan, Anjali Paigankar, Shreeram Lagoo, Om Puri, Sulabha Deshpande, Rohini Hattangadi, Satish Shah

Birds with Large Wings

Dr. Biju Damodaran
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 56 min
Malayalam with English subtitles
Kunchacko Boban, Nedumudi Venu, Suraj venjaramoodu, Salim Kumar, Prakash Bare, James Bradford, Thampy Antony, Sajeev Pillai, Anumol

Brahman Naman

Qaushiq Mukherjee
Feature Narrative
2016/USA/1 hr 35 min, English
Shashank Arora, Tanmay Dhanania, Chaitanya Varad, Vaishwath Shankar, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy, Subholina Sen

Cinemawala

Kaushik Ganguly
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 35 min
Bengali with English subtitles
Paran Bandopadhay, Parambrata Chatterjee,Arun Guha Thakurta, Sohini Sarkar, Lama Halder

Cities of Sleep

Aman Mann
Documentary
2015/India/1 hr 14 min
Hindi with English subtitles

City of Dark

Spandan Banerjee
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 15 min
Bengali with English subtitles

Crime in Punishment

M. Manikandan
Feature Narrative
2016/India/1hr 37 min 22 sec
Tamil with English subtitles

Dubai Return

Aditya Bhattacharya
Feature Narrative
2005/India/1 hr 36 min
Hindi with English subtitles
Irrfan Khan, Divya Dutta, Razak Khan, Vijay Maurya, Mukesh Bhatt, Anupam Shyam, Ritu Shivpuri, Shaukat Baig as Casper

For the Love of a Man

Rinku Kalsy
Feature Narrative
2015/India, Netherlands/1 hr 22 min
Tamil with English subtitles
G. Mani, Suganthi Mani, N. Ravi, N. Murugan, Kamal Anand, Quadir Hoseyn, Ravi Anna, K. Hariharan, Uma Vangal

G - A wanton heart

Feature Narrative
2015/India/1hr 43 min 13 sec
Haryanavi with English subtitles

Gaman

Rajah Muzaffar Ali
Feature Narrative
1978/India/2 hr 15 min
Hindi with English subtitles
Farooq Shaikh, Smita Patil, Jalal Agha, Nana Patekar, Gita Siddharth

Good Ol' Boy

Frank Lotito
Feature Narrative
2015/USA/1hr 43 min
English
Jason Lee, Anjul Nigam, Brighton Sharbino, Hilarie Burton, Roni Akurati

Island City

2015/India/1hr 51 min
Feature Narrative
Hindi with English subtitles
Tannishtha Chatterjee, Vinay Pathak, Ashwin Mushran, Amruta Subhash

Ka Bodyscapes

Jayan K Cherian
Feature Narrative
2016/India/1 hr 38 min 44 sec
Malayalam with English subtitles
Naseera, Jason Chacko, Rajesh Kannan

Kadambari

Suman Ghosh
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 30 min
Konkona SenSharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Kousik Sen, Titas Bhowmick, Srikanto Acharya, Sanjoy Nag, Senjuti Mukhopadhyay, Sreelekha Mitra

Kagaz Ki Kashti (Paperboat)

Brahmanand S Singh
Documentary
2016/India/
Hindi/ Urdu with English subtitles
Jagjit Singh, Chitra Singh, Gulzar, Mahesh Bhatt, Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota

Khoya

Sami Khan
Feature Narrative
2015/Canada/1 hr 22 min
English
Rupak Ginn, Ravi Khanvikar, Rachel Wilson

Life in Metaphors: A Portrait of Girish Kasaravalli

OP Srivastava
Documentary
2015/India/1 hr 24 min
English
Girish Kasaravalli

Luka Chuppi (Hide and Seek)

Bash Mohammed
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 49 min
Malayalam with English subtitles
Murali Gopy, Jayasurya, Joju George

Moh Maya Money (In greed we trust)

Munish Bhardwaj
Feature Narrative
2016/India/1 hr 48 min
Hindi with English subtitles
Ranvir Shorey, Neha Dhupia, Devendra Chauhan, Vidushi Mehra, Ashwath Bhatt

Nila

Selvamani Selvaraj
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 36 mins
Sruthi Hariharan, Vicky, Sarvesh Sridhar, Rajan Sekri, Srikanth, Pooja

Parched

Leena Yadav
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 58 min
Hindi with English subtitles
Tannishtha Chatterjee, Surveen Chawla, Radhika Apte, Lehar Khan

Peace Haven

Suman Ghosh
Feature Narrative
2015/India, USA/1 hr 17 min
Bengali with English subtitles
Soumitra Chatterjee, Arun Mukhopadhyay, Poran Bandopadhay

Rajkahini

Srijit Mukherji
Feature Narrative
2015/India/2 hr 40 min
Bengali with English subtitles
Rituparna Sengupta, Lily Chakraborty, Parno Mitra, Jaya Ahsan, Sudiptaa Chakraborty, Priyanka Sarkar, Sohini Sarkar

Sahib Bibi Aur Goolam (The Drifters)

Pratim Dasgupta
Feature Narrative
2016/India/2 hr
Bengali with English subtitles
Anjan Dutt, Swastika Mukherjee, Ritwick Chakraborty

Sujata

Bimal Roy
Feature Narrative
1959/India/2 hr 41 min
Hindi with English subtitles
Nutan, Sunil Dutt, Shashikala, Lalita Pawar, Tarun Bose, Sulochana Latkar, Asit Kumar Sen

The River of Fables

Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 58 min
Assamese with English subtitles
Adil Hussain, Seema Biswas

The Silence

Gajjendra Ahire
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 31 min
Marathi with English subtitles
Raghuvir Yadav, Nagraj Manjule, Anjali Patil

The Threshold

Pushan Kripalani
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 27 min
Hindi, Punjabi, and English
Rajit Kapoor, Neena Gupta

Tiladaanam (The Rite, a passion)

K.N.T. Sastry
Feature Narrative
2002/India/1 hr 29 min
Telugu with English subtitles
H. G. Dattatraya, Jaya Seal, Brahmaji, Thanikella Bhavani, Attili

U Turn

Pawan Kumar
Feature Narrative
2016/India/2 hr
Kannada with English subtitles
Roger Narayan, Shraddha Srinath, Dileep Raj

Waiting

Anu Menon
Feature Narrative
2015/India/1 hr 30 min
Hindi/English
Naseeruddin Shah, Kalki Koechlin

White Nights

Razi Muhammed
Feature Narrative
2015/India/2 hr 10 min 28 sec
Malayalam with English subtitles

About the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC):

The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian Sub-Continental and cross-cultural art forms in North America. The IAAC supports all artistic disciplines in the classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues around the United States to broaden our collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding. Our focus is to work with artists and arts organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists and arts organizations from the Indian Sub-Continent to exhibit, perform and produce their works here.

About the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF):

The New York Indian Film Festival is the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States. It is dedicated to showcasing, promoting and building an awareness of Independent, art house and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent. Our mission is to encourage filmmakers to tell their stories, to educate North America about them and their talent and to facilitate the making and distribution of these films. NYIFF boasts eight days of premiere screenings of feature, documentary & short films, industry panels, special events, retrospectives, red carpet galas, an award ceremony, packed audiences and amazing media coverage.

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THE 16th ANNUAL NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES OPENING NIGHT GALA FILM
Festival also reveals centerpiece and closing films  

The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) announced the Opening Night Gala film: Bardroy Baretto's Nachom-ia Kumpasar (Let's Dance to the Rhythm). LET'S DANCE TO THE RHYTHM is a Konkani feature film- a tribute to Goan music and her musicians. Narrated through the emotional rollercoaster of a love story destined to tragedy, it celebrates Goan music through the eyes of its eclectic's generation of musicians in the 1960s and 70s.

"Lets Dance to the Rhythm is a beautiful representation of another era, where jazz music flourished outside of the realms of the popular Hindi cinema of Bombay. The film is a joyful celebration of the music, the energy and the musicians and it is a story that not many people know about, states Film Festival Director Aseem Chhabra. "It is truly a happy film and a perfect way for us to launch the 16th edition of the New York Indian Film Festival." 

The festival is widely recognized as the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States, showcasing some of the greatest talents working in the diaspora. Celebrating its 16th year, NYIFF will run May 7 to 14 at a variety of prestigious New York City venues, including the Skirball Center for Performing Arts, where the opening and closing films are set to take place.

In addition, the centerpiece and closing films were announced. Renowned filmmaker Hansal Mehta will be closing the festival with his latest work, ALIGARH. Director Mehta provides a look into the real life incident of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who was suspended from his job because of his sexual orientation. Siras was the professor of Marathi at the Aligarh Muslim University. After successfully appealing his suspension, he died under suspicious circumstances. 

HIGHWAY will be featured as the centerpiece film. Umesh Kulkarni's HIGHWAY is a Marathi film set on the Bombay-Pune Highway and it examines diversity and soul searching.

Aroon Shivdansani, Executive Director and Artistic Director of IAAC states "The excitement is growing as our festival approaches! Our flagship event, NYIFF 2016 is proving to be even more exciting than last year!" She adds "The recently announced Indian National Awards included both our 2015 Opening & Closing Night films as well as five films from our current schedule. This year our festival has grown in the number of days, the number of films screened, as well as the depth and variety of themes and languages. Three theatres will screen films simultaneously all day for 8 days with films from all over India and the subcontinent representing myriad regional languages (with English subtitles) while the fourth theatre will entice audiences with fascinating panels on LGBT, Regional Language Cinema, Directors' First Films, Animation, Industry Panels on Shooting in NYCity & NYState as well as Special Events such as the presentation of films from three generations of filmmakers in the Bimal Roy/Basu Bhattacharya family. Guests to our Opening & Closing Night Galas will be welcomed by amazing local dancers, while filmmakers & celebrities walk off the red carpets to glamorous cocktail parties prior to the reality screenings."

The full line-up of screenings and events will be announced April 10, 2016. 

For IAAC Membership and NYIFF Tickets: 
Celebrating its 16th year, NYIFF will run May 7 to May 14. Memberships may be purchased at:http://www.iaac.us/Contribution.htm

Festival Passes and Individual Tickets are on sale at the film festival website: http://www.iaac.us/NYIFF2016

About the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC):
The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian Sub-Continental and cross-cultural art forms in North America. The IAAC supports all artistic disciplines in the classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues around the United States to broaden our collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding. Our focus is to work with artists and arts organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists and arts organizations from the Indian Sub-Continent to exhibit, perform and produce their works here. 

About the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF):
The New York Indian Film Festival is the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States. It is dedicated to showcasing, promoting and building an awareness of Independent, art house and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent. Our mission is to encourage filmmakers to tell their stories, to educate North America about them and their talent and to facilitate the making and distribution of these films. NYIFF boasts eight days of premiere screenings of feature, documentary & short films, industry panels, special events, retrospectives, red carpet galas, an award ceremony, packed audiences and amazing media coverage.

OPENING NIGHT GALA
Saturday May 7, 2016 at 6 pm at Skirball Center for Performing Arts, NYC
Let's Dance to The Rhythm
NEW YORK PREMIERE
India/2014/2 hr 36 min
Directed by Bardroy Baretto
Cast: Vijay Maurya, Palomi Ghosh, Prince Jacob

CENTERPIECE
Tuesday May 10, 2014 at 6:30 pm at Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave & 12th Street, NYC
Highway
US PREMIERE
India/2015/ 2 hr 17 min
Directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Cast: Mukta Barve, Sunil Barve, Tisca Chopra

CLOSING NIGHT
Saturday May 14, 2016 at 5 pm at Skirball Center for Performing Arts, NYC
Aligarh
NEW YORK PREMIERE
India/2015/114 min
Directed by Hansal Mehta
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Rajkummar Rao

Montclair Film Festival 2016 with Colbert, along with Richard Curtis, Rob Reiner, Norman Reedus & more! #MFF2016

Right after Tribeca Film Festival 2016, today is the start of Montclair Film Festival, and goes till May 8th. As the name suggests, this festival is based in Montclair, NJ and it’s in its 5th year already. Now if you ask why you should care for a festival based all the way in Montclair, New Jersey? Well, we have couple of good reasons:

• Let me present the most interesting fact first ~ this is “Colbert’s film festival”. No, not exactly Stephen Colbert’s. This would be Evelyn Colbert. Yes, she’s related to Stephen Colbert, who’s her husband. Evelyn is president of board of Trustees for the festival. And Stephen is on the Festival’s advisory board.
• That means Stephen Colbert is quite involved in the festival. He conducts multiple talks for this festival. This could be your opportunity to see him close & personal. This year, Stephen would be hosting talks with filmmakers Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Bridget Jones’s diary etc.) on April 30 at 4:30 pm, and Robert Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, Princess Bride, Few Good Men etc.) on May 1st at 5 pm.
• There would also be several other talks with likes of Norman Reedus (Walking Dead), Margo Martindale (The Americans, Justified), Patrick Wilson (The Full Monty musical, Watchmen, Insidious). You can find all the details here.
• There’s also a special event on April 30th, honoring Richard Curtis, which will include his live commentary on his superhit film LOVE ACTUALLY, and celebrating RED NOSE day, contributing to a good cause.
• The following films will be among those featured at the festival:

o   "Life, Animated" — a documentary about Owen Suskind, an autistic boy who couldn't speak for years but subsequently memorized dozens of Disney movies — will be the 7:30 p.m. April 29 opening night film, and director Roger Ross Williams, Suskind and members of Suskind's family will appear at a post-show discussion moderated by Colbert.

o   Ido Haar's "Presenting Princess Shaw," about New Orleans singer Samantha Montgomery (known as Princess Shaw), will be the documentary centerpiece, May 6 at 8 p.m, with Princess Shaw participating in a Q&A session.

o   "Indignation," adapted from the Philip Roth Novel, will be the narrative centerpiece on May 7 at 4:30 p.m., and director James Schamus will participate in a Q&A session.

o   The closing night film, May 7 at 7:30 p.m., will be Barbara Kopple's "Miss Sharon Jones!," a documentary about soul singer Sharon Jones. Kopple and members of Jones' band The Dap Kings will appear in a Q&A session.

• Several other selected features, shorts, documentaries etc will be screened through out the festival. List, details and schedule can be found here.
• Besides films, there’s also fun events, parties etc. Checkout here.

These should be enough reasons to give this wonderful event a shot, and enjoy some amazing film programming, wonderful talks, nice events & parties, and have lots of fun!

For more details about this festival, check the link below:

http://montclairfilmfest.org/

LA FILM FESTIVAL UNVEILS 2016 COMPETITION LINEUP #LAFilmFestival

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42 World Premieres chosen for U.S. Fiction, Documentary, World Fiction, LA Muse, and Nightfall Competitions

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The LA Film Festival, produced by Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, unveiled the official U.S. Fiction, Documentary, World Fiction, Nightfall and LA Muse sections. The 2016 LA Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of feature films, shorts and web series, along with programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Coffee Talks and Master Classes. The Festival runs June 1-9, 2016 at the ArcLight Cinemas.

“Our Programming team, led by Roya Rastegar and Jennifer Cochis, killed it,” said Festival Director, Stephanie Allain. “The competition lineup of 42 world premieres echoes Film Independent’s mission to celebrate diversity and showcases a multitude of innovative, fresh voices. We can’t wait to share these films with audiences and industry alike, and, following years which saw films like Meet the Patels, Code Black, Nightingale, The Drew, Out of My Hand and French Dirty acquired out of the Festival, are confident that 2016 will mark our best Festival yet.”

“Discovering storytellers is our raison d’être,” said Roya Rastegar, Director of Programming. “We invest a great deal to learn about filmmaking communities across the globe. We look for films with conviction in perspective, style and voice.”

“Curating films for LA audiences is so special because Angelenos have a uniquely homegrown love of cinema,” added Creative Director, Jennifer Cochis. “It’s with true film lovers in mind that we program: from political theater to musical theater, we’re highlighting storytelling in all its forms.”

The 2016 LA Film Festival, which will have its headquarters at the ArcLight Culver City, announces a diverse slate of 56 feature films, 58 short films and 13 short episodic works representing 28 countries. Previously announced, the Opening Night Film is the World Premiere of Ricardo De Montreuil’s Lowriders, sponsored by Jaeger-LeCoultre. This year’s Guest Director is Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) and Ava DuVernay (Selma, Middle of Nowhere) and Array Releasing will receive the Spirit of Independence Award. More special screenings and programs will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Festival’s five competitions feature 42 World Premieres. Across the five feature competition categories, 43% of the films are directed by women and 38% of the films are directed by people of color.

This year, LA Film Festival Director Stephanie Allain is joined by Creative Director Jennifer Cochis, Director of Programming Roya Rastegar and Managing Director Ralph Rivera. Film Independent Curator Elvis Mitchell continues to oversee signature programs and LACMA events.

Passes are currently on sale to Film Independent Members and the general public. In addition to access to screenings and events (even after they sell out), Festival passes provide access to networking receptions and the Festival Lounge, where pass holders interact with Festival filmmakers and professionals in the film community. General admission tickets to individual films go on sale to Film Independent Members beginning Thursday, May 5 and to the general public beginning Tuesday, May 10. Contact the Ticket Office for passes, tickets and event information by calling 866.FILM.FEST (866.345.6337) or visit www.filmindependent.org/la-film-festival. 

US Fiction Competition (12)

Original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers. 

11:55, dir. Ari Issler, Ben Snyder, USA, World Premiere

72 Hours, dir. Raafi Rivero, USA, World Premiere

Blood Stripe, dir. Remy Auberjonois, USA, World Premiere

Chee and T, dir. Tanuj Chopra, USA, World Premiere

Destined, dir. Qasim Basir, USA, World Premiere

Dreamstates, dir. Anisia Uzeyman, USA, World Premiere

GREEN / is / GOLD, dir. Ryon Baxter, USA, World Premiere

My First Kiss and the People Involved, dir. Luigi Campi, USA, World Premiere

Paint it Black, dir. Amber Tamblyn, USA, World Premiere

Tracktown, dir. Jeremy Teicher, Alexi Pappas, USA, World Premiere

The View from Tall, dir. Erica Weiss, Caitlin Parrish, USA, World Premiere

Woven, dir. Salome Mulugeta, Nagwa Ibrahim, USA, World Premiere

Documentary Competition (12) Sponsored by Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television

Compelling, character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world. 

Company Town, dir. Natalie Kottke-Masocco, Erica Sardarian, USA, World Premiere

Denial, dir. Derek Hallquist, USA, World Premiere

Dr. Feelgood, dir. Eve Marson, USA, World Premiere

Dying Laughing, dir. Lloyd Stanton, Paul Toogood, USA/UK, World Premiere

The House on Coco Road, dir. Damani Baker, Grenada/USA, World Premiere

Jackson, dir. Maisie Crow, USA, World Premiere

The Last Gold, dir. Brian T. Brown, Germany/USA, World Premiere

Looking at the Stars, dir. Alexandre Peralta, Brazil/Nicaragua/USA, World Premiere

Olympic Pride, American Prejudice, dir. Deborah Riley Draper, USA, World Premiere

Out of Iraq, dir. Eva Orner, Chris McKim, Canada/Iraq/Lebanon/USA, World Premiere

Political Animals, dir. Jonah Markowitz, Tracy Wares, USA, World Premiere

They Call Us Monsters, dir. Ben Lear, USA, World Premiere

World Fiction Competition (6)

Unique fiction films from around the world from emerging and established filmmakers, especially curated for LA audiences.

HEIS (chronicles), dir. Anaïs Volpé, France, World Premiere

Like Cotton Twines, dir. Leila Djansi, Ghana/USA, World Premiere

London Town, dir. Derrick Borte, UK, World Premiere

Lupe Under the Sun, dir. Rodrigo Reyes, Mexico/USA, World Premiere

A Moving Image, dir. Shola Amoo, UK, World Premiere

Play the Devil, dir. Maria Govan, Trinidad/Bahamas/USA, World Premiere

LA Muse (6)

Fiction and documentary films that capture the spirit of LA.

Actors of Sound, dir. Lalo Molina, Argentina/Finland/Germany/India/Ireland/USA, World Premiere

Girl Flu., dir. Dorie Barton, USA, World Premiere

Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story, dir. Eric “Ptah” Herbert, USA, World Premiere

Namour, dir. Heidi Saman, USA, World Premiere

No Light and No Land Anywhere, dir. Amber Sealey, USA, World Premiere

Sensitivity Training, dir. Melissa Finell, USA, World Premiere

Nightfall (6)

From the bizarre to the horrifying, these are films to watch after dark.

Abattoir, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman, USA, World Premiere

Beyond the Gates, dir. Jackson Stewart, USA, World Premiere

Don’t Hang Up, dir. Alexis Wajsbrot, Damien Macé, UK, World Premiere

Mercy, dir. Chris Sparling, USA, World Premiere

Officer Downe, dir. M. Shawn Crahan, USA, World Premiere

Villisca, dir. Tony Valenzuela, USA, World Premiere

Short Films (58): From over 2,500 submissions, the short films selected represent 15 countries and 64% are directed by women. Short films are shown before features and as part of seven short film programs. Shorts will compete for juried prizes for fiction and documentary shorts, as well as an Audience Award for Best Short Film.

Future Filmmakers Showcase: High School Shorts (33): The LA Film Festival’s Future Filmmaker Showcase brings to the big screen the best films made by budding young filmmakers from across the country and the globe. In this diverse slate of films, incredibly accomplished high school students will present wild comedies, moving dramas, mesmerizing animation, introspective experimental films and everything in between. Program sponsored by Loyola Marymount UniversitySchool of Film and Television and Time Warner Foundation.

Episodes: Indie Series from the Web (13)

A showcase of independently crafted web series, celebrating rising creators whose work and subjects are innovative and unfiltered.

20 Seconds to Live, dir. Ben Rock, USA

Brothers, dir. Emmett Jack Lundberg, USA

Caring, dir. Maggie Kiley, USA

Fridays, dir. Anna Kerrigan, USA

The Ghost and The Negro, dir. Sylvester Folks, USA

Her Story, dir. Sydney Freeland, USA

Instababy, dir. Rosie Haber, USA

Literally So Busy, dir. Jerad Sloan, USA

Little Things, dir. Lex Halaby, Mila Shah, USA

Outside Comedy: Beth Stelling, dir. Thomas Wood, USA

Quirky Female Protagonist, dir. Yulin Kuang, USA

Shangri-L.A., dir. Drew Rosas, USA

Time Out with Yes Please!, dir. Kholi Hicks, USA.

For more information, please visit:

filmindependent.org

lafilmfestival.com

www.filmindependent.org/la-film-festival/

www.arclightcinemas.com.

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER AND ISTITUTO LUCE CINECITTÀ ANNOUNCE COMPLETE LINEUP FOR THE 16TH EDITION OF OPEN ROADS: NEW ITALIAN CINEMA, JUNE 2-8

• The 16-film festival features nine North American premieres and a 40th-anniversary screening of Ettore Scola’s Cannes Best Director–winning Ugly, Dirty and Bad in a new restoration

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Istituto Luce Cinecittà announce the complete lineup for Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, June 2-8. For 16 years, Open Roads has proudly offered North American audiences the most diverse and extensive lineup of contemporary Italian film available. As always, the series includes both commercial and independent fare, ranging from a vérité documentary to a superhero movie, outrageous comedies to gripping dramas, with nine North American Premieres and in-person appearances by many of the filmmakers.

The 2016 edition strikes a satisfying balance between emerging talents and esteemed veterans, including two feature debuts—the lyrical coming-of-age tale Arianna by Carlo Lavagna and Adriano Valerio’s poetic Banat, starring I Am Love’s Edoardo Gabbriellini—plus the latest from Gianni Zanasi (The Complexity of Happiness) and Vincenzo Marra (First Light), and the final work from late cult director Claudio Caligari, Don’t Be Bad, Italy’s submission for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Oscar.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of Ettore Scola’s brilliant satirical tragedy Ugly, Dirty and Bad, for which he won the Best Director award at Cannes in 1976. Starring the great Nino Manfredi as a patriarch who refuses to share the payout of an insurance policy with his outrageous family, the film will screen in a beautiful new digital restoration at a special anniversary screening.

Other notable North American premieres include Gabriele Mainetti’s gritty superhero anti-blockbuster They Call Me Jeeg, winner of seven David di Donatello Awards (Italy’s top film honors); the witty relationship comedy Solo by writer-director-star Laura Morante; Claudio Cupellini’s torrid love saga The Beginners; the Dardenne Brothers–produced Long Live the Bride by Ascanio Celestini; Maria Sole Tognazzi’s lesbian romantic comedy Me, Myself and Her; Gianluca De Serio & Massimiliano De Serio’s River Memories, a vérité portrait of a Turin shantytown; and revered documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Pannone’s The Smallest Army in the World, paired with the premiere of the short documentary Viva Ingrid!, about Ingrid Bergman’s years in Italy, directed by Alessandro (grandson of Roberto) Rossellini.

Open Roads: New Italian Cinema is co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Organized by Dennis Lim and Dan Sullivan.

Tickets will go on sale Thursday, May 12. A pre-sale to Film Society members will begin Tuesday, May 10. Single tickets are $14; $11 for students and seniors (62+); and $9 for Film Society members. See more and save with the $99 All Access Pass or the 3+ film discount package.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS

All screenings take place at the Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street) unless otherwise noted.

40th Anniversary Screening
Ugly, Dirty and Bad / Brutti, sporchi e cattivi
Ettore Scola, Italy, 1976, 115m
Italian with English subtitles
A master of the commedia all’italiana, Ettore Scola won Best Director 40 years ago at the Cannes Film Festival for this outrageous “satirical tragedy” about a sub-proletariat household in Rome. The sprawling extended Mazzatella family lives shoulder to shoulder in a shack that overlooks a busy highway. In an extraordinary comic performance, the great Nino Manfredi stars as Giacinto, the grizzled old patriarch who has received a one-million-lire insurance payout for the loss of his left eye—money he refuses to share with any of the two-dozen children, grandchildren, and assorted other relatives who share his cramped abode. Soon enough, the family members are plotting their revenge, only to discover that Giacinto has no plans of going gently into that good night. Returning to the screen in a beautiful new digital restoration, Scola’s film contains a pitch-perfect blend of hilarity and brutality, which amounts to a brilliant portrait of squalor and cynicism unlike any other. A Film Movement release. New digital restoration!
Saturday, June 4, 1:00pm
Tuesday, June 7, 8:00pm*
*Venue: Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street

Arianna
Carlo Lavagna, Italy, 2015, 84m
Italian with English subtitles
“I was born twice. Actually, three times.” So begins director Carlo Lavagna’s feature debut, a beguiling and lyrical coming-of-age story centered on timely and timeless questions about gender, adulthood, family, and self-knowledge. Unfolding on an idyllic lakeshore in the Italian countryside, the film features first-time actress Ondina Quadri as the young woman of the title who, years after leaving, returns with her parents to her early-childhood home for a summer retreat. While there, she embarks on a profoundly personal emotional journey, spurred on by enigmatic memories and present-day desires, and gradually sheds light on secrets from her past that will transform her relationships and understanding of herself. An Uncork’d Entertainment release.
Sunday, June 5, 3:30pm
Wednesday, June 8, 4:30pm

Banat (Il Viaggio)
Adriano Valerio, Italy/Romania/Bulgaria/Republic of Macedonia, 2015, 85m
English, Italian, and Romanian with English subtitles
In the Italian city of Bari, Ivo (I Am Love’s Edoardo Gabbriellini), an unemployed agronomist, is moving out of his apartment and preparing to take a job in Romania, just as Clara (Elena Radonicich), a newly single shipbuilder, is moving in. Though the two cross paths for only a day, it’s the beginning of a surprising journey—both geographic and emotional—for them both as she eventually follows him to Romania, where they set about trying to start a new life together on a hardscrabble farm. Beautifully blending realism with moments of quiet poetry, the promising feature debut from Adriano Valerio is a sensitively observed study of cross-cultural exchange and souls in transition.
Friday, June 3, 1:00pm (Q&A with Adriano Valerio)
Wednesday, June 8, 6:30pm

The Beginners / Alaska
Claudio Cupellini, Italy/France, 2015, 125m
Italian and French with English subtitles
This torrid saga of money, sex, and violence is a wild, careening joyride. When Fausto (Elio Germano), an Italian man living in France, meets Nadine (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), an aspiring model, it ignites an obsessive, years-long case of l’amour fou that takes the couple from the highest highs to the lowest lows, from prison to power and fortune, and from love to hate and everything in between. Driven by the explosive chemistry between Germano and Bergès-Frisbey and backed by a soundtrack that skips from indie rock to Motown to opera, The Beginners is a breathless, one-of-a-kind love story that keeps the shocking surprises and hairpin turns coming. North American Premiere
Friday, June 3, 8:45pm (Q&A with Claudio Cupellini)
Wednesday, June 8, 2:00pm

Call Me Francesco – The Pope / Chiamatemi Francesco – Il Papa della gente
Daniele Luchetti, Italy, 2015, 98m
Spanish with English subtitles
This unsentimental biopic forgoes hagiography to delve into the darkest chapter of the life of the man the world now knows as Pope Francis. Before he was the leader of the Catholic Church, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a young priest living in Buenos Aires. As he rises through the ranks of the church, Bergoglio (played by The Motorcycle Diaries star Rodrigo de la Serna) finds himself frequently at odds with the brutal military dictatorship that ruled Argentina in the 1970s, a potentially perilous situation that forces him to make some tough moral choices. Told with the verve of a political thriller, Call Me Francesco – The Pope is a humanizing look at the experiences that shaped one of the world’s most influential men.
Sunday, June 5, 6:00pm (Q&A with Daniele Luchetti)

The Complexity of Happiness / La felicità è un sistema complesso
Gianni Zanasi, Italy, 2015, 114m
English and Italian with English subtitles
In Gianni Zanasi’s latest feature, Valerio Mastandrea stars as Enrico Giusti, a comfortably unattached businessman whose empathy and compassion are put to the test when, returning home one night from a business trip, he finds a lonely Israeli exchange student (Hadas Yaron) waiting in his apartment, abandoned there by his commitment-averse younger brother. Just as he’s beginning to navigate this unexpected turn in his personal life, Enrico’s professional life will take on its own unforeseen complications when he is named co-director of a family-run corporation, along with the two recently orphaned, adolescent children of the company’s founders. Anchored by Mastandrea’s warm, subtly generous lead performance, this film quietly asks what it means to make a positive difference in the lives of others, and suggests that kindness and simple human decency can go a long way in improving the lives of everyone they touch.
Saturday, June 4, 3:30pm (Q&A with Gianni Zanasi)

Don’t Be Bad / Non essere cattivo
Claudio Caligari, Italy, 2015, 102m
Italian with English subtitles
The final film from the late cult director Claudio Caligari (Toxic Love) is a gritty, hard-hitting crime saga set in Ostia (the outskirts of Rome immortalized by Pasolini) in the 1990s. Best friends Cesare (Luca Marinelli) and Vittorio (Alessandro Borghi) are petty drug dealers whose favorite pastimes are getting high and drinking themselves into oblivion. But when Vittorio endeavors to turn his life around, the self-destructive Cesare spirals further downward. Submitted as Italy’s candidate for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Oscar, Don’t Be Bad evocatively captures the cocaine-fueled, neon-nightclub highs and the grim, morning-after lows of life in the fast lane.
Thursday, June 2, 8:30pm
Monday, June 6, 4:15pm

First Light / La prima luce
Vincenzo Marra, Italy, 2015, 104m
Spanish and Italian with English subtitles
This gripping human drama tackles a complex issue—an international custody battle—with emotion and suspense. One of Italy’s best-known stars, Riccardo Scamarcio, plays Marco, a lawyer with a short fuse but an undeniable love for the son he has with his long-term partner Martina (Daniela Ramirez). Alienated in Italy and desperately unhappy in her relationship, Martina longs to return home to South America. One day, while Marco is away, she does the unthinkable: books a one-way plane ticket and absconds with her son back to Chile. What begins as an absorbing relationship drama develops into a low-key thriller as the desperate Marco travels halfway across the world to find his child. Director and erstwhile documentarian Vincenzo Marra lends a vivid realism to this compelling look at the lengths a parent will go for his child. Winner of a Francesco Pasinetti Award at the Venice Film Festival. North American Premiere.
Friday, June 3, 3:30pm (Q&A with Vincenzo Marra)
Wednesday, June 8, 8:30pm

God Willing / Se Dio vuole
Edoardo Maria Falcone, Italy, 2015, 84m
Italian with English subtitles
The great “faith vs. reason” debate gets a comedic workout in this by turns goofy and heartfelt satire. Tommaso (Marco Giallini), a famed surgeon, is thrown for a loop when his son Andrea (Enrico Oetiker) informs him that he wants to ditch his medical studies and become a priest. A strict atheist who believes the boy is squandering his potential, Tommaso embarks on a harebrained campaign to discredit the charismatic, motorcycle-riding evangelist (Alessandro, son of Vittorio, Gassman) influencing Andrea—but finds his own values being transformed in the process. Far from preachy, God Willing gently lampoons bourgeois vapidity, while offering a fresh perspective on the role of spirituality in the modern world.
Saturday, June 4, 6:30pm (Q&A with Edoardo Falcone and Laura Morante)

Long Live the Bride / Viva la sposa
Ascanio Celestini, Italy/France/Belgium, 2015, 87m
Italian with English subtitles
The Dardenne Brothers co-produced this engagingly offbeat character study, which, like the acclaimed auteurs’ own work, is set on the lowest rungs and in the outermost margins of society. The film’s sinister humor and subtle surrealism, however, belong entirely to writer-director-star Ascanio Celestini. He plays Nicola, an aimless alcoholic who (barely) supports himself doing (wildly inappropriate) children’s theater, but primarily spends his time wandering the outskirts of Rome in his big red van and consorting with various other misfits: a fellow barfly (Alba Rohrwacher), a prostitute (Veronica Cruciani), and a con man (Salvatore Striano) who teaches Nicola the tricks of his trade. Their intersecting lives form a picaresque, ultimately poignant portrait of people on the edge. North American Premiere
Tuesday, June 7, 6:00pm*
*Venue: Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street

Me, Myself and Her / Io e lei
Maria Sole Tognazzi, Italy, 2015, 102m
Italian with English subtitles
On the surface, Federica (Margherita Buy) and Marina (Sabrina Ferilli) appear to have the perfect relationship, sharing a posh apartment in Rome, working dream jobs (architect and restaurateur, respectively) by day, and cozying up on the couch to watch episodes of Top of the Lake by night. But when retired actress Marina suddenly decides to get back into the movies and Federica—still questioning her sexuality—pursues a fling with a man, their commitment to each other is put to the test. Blending light-as-a-soufflé comedy, postcard-perfect views of Italy, and witty observations on the challenges that all couples face, this irresistible romance is as refreshing as a Mediterranean vacation. A Wolfe Releasing release. North American Premiere
Thursday, June 2, 6:00pm (Q&A with Maria Sole Tognazzi)
Tuesday, June 7, 1:30pm

River Memories / I ricordi del fiume
Gianluca De Serio & Massimiliano De Serio, Italy, 2015, 96m
Romanian and Italian with English subtitles
Along a river in Turin, over 1,000 people live in a sprawling makeshift shantytown, a vibrant multiethnic melting pot slated to be razed by the government. As some residents are relocated to public housing and others are left dispossessed, this vérité documentary captures everyday moments from the last days of life in the community—children playing amid the rubble, a family praying fervently at home, revelry at a late-night fireside gathering. A haunting, strikingly shot work of anthropological preservation, River Memories is an elegiac record of a vanishing way of life. North American Premiere
Sunday, June 5, 1:00pm (Q&A with Gianluca De Serio & Massimiliano De Serio)

The Smallest Army in the World / L’esercito più piccolo del mondo
Gianfranco Pannone, Italy, 2015, 80m
Italian, German, and French with English subtitles
The renowned documentarian Gianfranco Pannone turns his camera on “the smallest army in the world”: the Pontifical Swiss Guard, a centuries-old military unit comprised of young Swiss soldiers who are stationed at the Vatican and tasked with guarding the Pope. The film follows Leo and René as they bid farewell to their families in Switzerland and embark on the first months of their assignment in Rome. Under Pannone’s inquisitive and sensitive gaze, the young men are fitted for customary striped uniforms, train in the drills and procedures of the Guard, practice their Italian-language skills, and contemplate the cultural and personal significance of participating in a religious and military tradition that has been sustained over hundreds of years in the Church’s history. Leo, René, and their fellow guardsmen are compelling and endearing subjects, and the documentary doubles as a joyous love letter to the sights and sounds of the ancient city. North American Premiere

Screening with:

Viva Ingrid!
Alessandro Rossellini, Italy, 2015, 20m
English, Italian, and French with English subtitles
This charming ode to the late Ingrid Bergman tells the story of her time spent in Italy, beginning with the production of her first film with Roberto Rossellini (the director’s grandfather), and ending with the couple’s separation eight years later—narrated via a collage of home movies, interviews, newsreel footage, and scenes from her films. North American Premiere
Sunday, June 5, 8:30pm (Q&A with Gianfranco Pannone)

Solo / Assolo
Laura Morante, Italy, 2016, 97m
Italian with English subtitles
The multitalented Laura Morante wrote, directed, and stars in this snappy relationship comedy, which plays like a Woody Allen sex farce told from the female point of view. Morante is Flavia, a neurotic middle-aged woman and human doormat, who clings to her two remarried ex-husbands while letting her female friends walk all over her. With the help of her no-nonsense therapist (Piera Degli Esposti), the timid Flavia confronts her fear of being alone and sets out to reclaim her life. Boasting a delightfully deadpan lead performance and bursting with playful stylistic touches—including surreal fantasy sequences and fourth-wall-breaking direct addresses—Solo is a witty, wise, and empowering portrait of a late bloomer coming into her own. North American Premiere.
Friday, June 3, 6:15pm (Q&A with Laura Morante)
Monday, June 6, 2:00pm

They Call Me Jeeg / Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot
Gabriele Mainetti, Italy, 2015, 112m
Italian with English subtitles
After a plunge into Rome’s toxic Tiber River, Enzo (Claudio Santamaria), a porn-addicted petty criminal, finds himself transformed into an indestructible, superhuman strongman. Against his own instincts, he becomes something of an avenging angel: the protector of an emotionally fragile, anime-obsessed young woman (who believes he is the robot hero of the 1970s manga series Steel Jeeg) and the nemesis of a sadistic, germophobic gangster (Luca Marinelli). This gritty, grimy take on the superhero film is the antidote to Hollywood-slick blockbusters. It’s bloody, bruising, bone-crunching, and a total blast. Winner of seven David di Donatello Awards. An Uncork’d Entertainment release.  North American Premiere
Saturday, June 4, 8:45pm (Q&A with Gabriele Mainetti)
Tuesday, June 7, 3:30pm

 For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org.

Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards 2016 #TDIA2016

Disruptive Innovation Awards 2016 winners Nate Parker, Anthony Romero (with Edward Snowden), Hilde (9) and Isabel (12) Lysiak - on the TDIA2016 stage. Nate Parker also spoke to Art Shrian from myNewYorkeye, about being a storyteller.

Craig Hatkoff is an activist, philanthropist, mentor and true Disruptive Innovator. He took upon himself, along with his wonderful film-producer wife Jane Rosenthal and none-other-than Robert DeNiro, to do his best to recover city from the post 9/11 trauma. In 2002, they together started the Tribeca Film Festival, which has become one of the best showcase of entertainment, film, TV and new-media, not only in NYC but in entire country. And in 2010 they introduced the Disruptive Innovation Awards. Spearheaded by Craig Hatkoff in collaboration with renowned Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation, the Tribeca Disruptive Innovations Awards aim to share insights into innovation to help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. The awards celebrate innovators who have broken the mold to significantly impact industries and business models, creating significant change in humanitarian efforts, global conservation, social justice, education, media and community engagement.

The 6th annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards took place Friday as part of the 15th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival. This year's awards honored innovators from around the world who are making significant contributions to social justice, community engagement and environmental science - just in time for Earth day.

Honorees included Lin-Manual Miranda for his work bringing American History into the spotlight and encouraging access to theater for all income levels. Miranda accepted his award via video message.

Humanitarian and BIRTH OF A NATION filmmaker Nate Parker received the Theodore Parker Prize for social justice. In his emotional acceptance speech, Parker admitted that "being a disruptor is a lonely place," going on to explain that the role is not always an easy one.

The event also included special guest presenter Edward Snowden via robot from a top secret location, who presented Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU with his award. While Snowden remained mum on the 2016 presidential election, the duo encouraged more innovators to step forward and discussed the adversity they faced when no one believed them.

Lifetime achievement winner Dr. Richard Leakey announced to a standing ovation that next week, he will burn 120 tons of ivory, over $100 million US dollars, effectively removing the illegal commodity from the market.

The two intrepid sisters from Pennsylvania, Hilde (9) and Isabel (12) Lysiak, were recognized for their homegrown newspaper and bravery in the face of doubts because of their ages and gender. Hilde, in a video montage of their reporting, read the negative reactions posted to their social media and closed their acceptance speech with a plee for adults never to doubt them or tell them they are too young to accomplish their dreams.

The entire list of winners and details can be found at the links below:

• http://www.mynewyorkeye.com/awards-and-festivals-news/2016-tribeca-film-festival-and-disruptor-foundation-announce-honorees-for-seventh-annual-disruptive-innovation-awards
• http://www.tribecadisruptiveinnovationawards.com/

A Conversation with Matthew Manson & Chaize Macklin | WANNABE #Tribeca2016

Conversation with WANNABE Team #Tribeca2016 Matthew Manson is a writer and director who has created over 900 commercials, branded webseries, and short films. He's won several advertising and narrative awards, including an audience award for Best Short at the Tribeca Film Festival. His newest short Wannabe is based on his feature film shooting this summer in NYC.

Matthew Manson is a writer and director who has created over 900 commercials, branded web series, and short films. He's won several advertising and narrative awards, including an audience award for Best Short at the Tribeca Film Festival. His newest short Wannabe is based on his feature film shooting this summer in NYC.

Inspired by the director's childhood, Wannabe is about neurotic Jewish boy who must win over his crush by impressing her skeptical Jamaican family. Set in 1990s New York City - a time of intense social and political strife - the film stars Malcolm Jamal-Warner (The Cosby Show, American Crime Story: People v. O.J. Simpson), David Bloom (Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp), Chaize Macklin, and Donis Leonard Jr. (House of Lies). It is based on a feature script of the same name.

The feature recently went through the Film Independent Producers Lab. It was a finalist for the Sundance Writers Lab, a semi-finalist for the Nicholls Fellowship, and won the Richard Vague / Christopher Columbus grant, which awarded a cash prize towards production.

The film is currently being packaged at CAA and is scheduled to shoot this summer.

FIFTEENTH ANNUAL TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES JURIED AWARD WINNERS

• DEAN, JUNCTION 48, and DO NOT RESIST take home top awards in U.S. and International Narrative and World Documentary Competitions
• NOTES ON BLINDNESS: INTO DARKNESS wins Storyscapes Award; Rachel Tunnard for ADULT LIFE SKILLS wins fourth annual Nora Ephron Prize; and HEARING COLORS for Samsung wins the inaugural Tribeca X Award
• FESTIVAL AWARDS $155,000 IN CASH PRIZES

The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by AT&T, announced the winners of its competition categories at the awards ceremony at 42 W NY. Top awards went to Dean, Junction 48, and Do Not Resist. The Festival runs through April 24, 2016.

For the first time in the Festival’s history there were separate US and International narrative competition categories. In total winners were awarded in the following feature film competition categories: US Narrative, International Narrative, World Documentary, New Narrative Director, The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director, and the Nora Ephron Prize.  Awards were also given in the short film categories: Narrative, Documentary, and Student Visionary.

In addition, the Festival announced the recipients of the Storyscapes Award, for immersive storytelling, and the inaugural Tribeca X Award, a new juried award for branded storytelling recognizing the intersection of advertising and entertainment.

This year’s Festival included 102 features, 74 short films, and 38 immersive storytelling projects from 42 countries.

“We are proud to celebrate the winning filmmakers, artists, and creators from our 15th edition,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, Tribeca Film Festival. “Their stories have entertained, inspired, and challenged us to think about the world and we are grateful to them for sharing their work with us.”

Screenings of the award–winning films will take place throughout the final day of the Festival: Sunday, April 24, at various venues. Specific times and ticketing information are available at www.tribecafilm.com/festival

The winners of the Audience Awards, powered by Infor, which are determined by audience votes throughout the Festival, will be announced on April 23.

In addition to cash awards and in-kind services provided by sponsors including AKA Hotel Residences, AT&T, Bira 91, Coach, Company 3, Freixenet Cava, HBO, Infor, and Netflix, the Festival presented the winners with original pieces of art created by 10 contemporary artists: Keith Edmier, Marc Hundley, Zak Kitnick, John Miller, Virginia Overton, Laura Owens, Josh Tonsfeldt Sara VanDerBeek, Stephen Hannock and Clifford Ross. 

The winners, awards, and comments from the jury who selected the recipients are as follows:

 U.S. NARRATIVEFEATURE COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

The jurors for the 2016 U.S. Narrative Competition, sponsored by AKA Hotel Residences, were Anne Carey, James Le Gros, Chris Nashawaty, Mya Taylor and Jennifer Westfeldt.

• The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Dean, written and directed by Demteri Martin. Winner receives $20,000, sponsored by AT&T, and the art award “Waking Up in the Painted World” by Stephen Hannock. The award was given by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal joined by Fiona Carter, SVP of Brand Marketing, Advertising, and Sponsorships, AT&T, and Jennifer Westfeldt.

Jury Comment: “We have had the great privilege of seeing ten accomplished and ambitious films over the last seven days here at Tribeca. But we all fell in love with this next film. It manages the near impossible task of breathing new life into a well-worn genre, balancing humor and pathos with an incredibly deft touch, and offering a unique perspective on the way we process loss.”

• Best Actor in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film –Dominic Rains in The Fixer. The award was given by Chris Nashawaty.

                Jury Comment: “For his deeply emotional and empathic portrayal of a man who’s a stranger in a strange land.”

• Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Mackenzie Davis in Always Shine. The award was given by Mya Taylor.

Jury Comment: “For the unapologetic, fierce, brave, compelling, and vulnerable portrayal.”

• Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Cinematography by Michael Ragen for Kicks. Winner receives $50,000 in post-production services donated by Company 3. The award was given by Anne Carey along with David Feldman, Company 3 Director of Feature Services.

Jury Comment: “At times lyrical and other times visceral, the seductive cinematography of this film lured us into the violent world of busted childhood.”

• Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film – Women Who Kill written by Ingrid Jungermann. Winner receives $2,500 sponsored by Freixenet Cava. The award was given by James Le Gros along with Tom Burnet, President, Freixenet America.

Jury Comment: “As Miles Davis said, ‘The hardest thing is to be original.’ This unique and deftly hilarious tale told in Brooklyn is from a fresh voice and a true original.”

INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVEFEATURE COMPETITION CATEGORIES: 

The jurors for the 2016 International Narrative Competition were Hany Abu-Assad, Jean Reno, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Danny Glover.

• The Best International Narrative Feature – Junction 48, written and directed by Udi Aloni. Winner receives $20,000, sponsored by Netflix, and the art award “Temple of the Moon” by Sara VanDerBeek. The award was given by Danny Glover.

                Jury Comment: “This award goes to a phenomenal, stand-out, powerful, thoughtful movie. It offers a new perspective and insightful approach to a story about how to be different and live together.”

• Best Actor in an International Narrative Feature Film –Alan Sabbagh in The Tenth Man. The award was given by Jean Reno.

                Jury Comment: “A performance of natural subtlety that reflected a community that is unknown to most of us. An intriguing journey for connection in search for identity.”

• Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature Film – Radhika Apte in Clean Shaven, a part of Madly. The award was given by Jean Reno.

Jury Comment: “This award goes to an actress who has conveyed bravery and emotional depth in different relationships around her.  A contemporary story that breaks through established culture.” 

• Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature Film – Cinematography by Kjell Vassdal for El Clasico . Winner receives $50,000 in post-production services donated by Company 3. The award was given by Sam Taylor-Johnson along with David Feldman, Company 3 Director of Feature Services.

Jury Comment: “This award goes to an expansive, naturalistic photography in serving the narrative and the emotional journey of the characters.”

• Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature Film – Perfect Strangers written by Filippo Bologna, Paolo Costella, Paolo Genovese, Paola Mammini, and Rolando Ravello. Winners receive $2,500 sponsored by Freixenet Cava. The award was given by Hany Abu-Assad along with Tom Burnet, President, Freixenet America.

Jury Comment: “This award goes to a well-crafted, entertaining scenario, with deep character development. It’s an original story about private lives and hidden secrets.”

WORLD DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

The jurors for the 2016 World Documentary Competition, sponsored by Bira 91, were Laura Poitras, Douglas Tirola and Roger Ross Williams.

• Best Documentary Feature – Do Not Resist, directed by Craig Atkinson (USA). Winner receives $20,000, sponsored by Netflix, and the art award “Untitled” by Virginia Overton. The award was given by Roger Ross Williams.

Jury Comments: “This film that uses documentary to go deep into a world with a cinematic experience.  We were excited by the directorial debut of a cinematographer who already has created a great body of work.  Do Not Resist shines a light on the frightening story of the militarization of the police.  In an impactful way the director uses his amazing access to look at power and force from the inside.”

• Best Documentary Cinematography – Cinematography by Jarred Alterman for Contemporary Color (USA).  Winner receives $2,500, sponsored by Bira 91. The award was given by Doug Tirola and Ankur Jain, CEO, Bira 91.
• Best Documentary Editing – Editing by Bill Ross for Contemporary Color (USA). Winner receives $2,500, sponsored by Bira 91.  The award was given by Doug Tirola and Ankur Jain, CEO, Bira 91.

Jury Comments: “One film above all others demonstrated filmmakers completely in control of their craft.  Through both the editing and cinematography this film takes the audience deep into a unique world and its characters with nuance, emotion and beauty while also showcasing performances in a spectacular and grand cinematic way."

BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR COMPETITION: 

The jurors for the 2016 Best New Narrative Director Competition were Hill Harper, Col Needham and Ry Russo-Young.

• Best New Narrative Director – Priscilla Anany, director of Children of the Mountain (USA, Ghana). Winner receives $10,000 sponsored by HBO, and the art award “The Transit of Venus (Melanie)” by Keith Edmier. The award was given by the jury.

Jury Comments: "So many of the films we had the pleasure of viewing were expertly directed and worthy of recognition. The winning director presents a fearless and heart wrenching tale of an embattled mother's high stakes journey to heal her sick child and ultimately herself. The film delicately and powerfully directs us through an emotionally resonant story that is dark for truthful reasons and simultaneously hopeful.  The best new narrative director award goes to Priscilla Anany for Children of the Mountain." 

BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR COMPETITION:

The jurors for the 2016 Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award were Jason Biggs, Karen Cooper and Sebastian Silva.

• Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award – David Feige for Untouchable (USA). Winner receives $10,000 sponsored by Netflix, and the art award “Lenox Hill” by Josh Tonsfeldt. The award was given by Sebastian Silva.

Jury Comment: “The film opens our eyes to the suffering of people on both sides of a controversial fence.  Made with compassion for all of its subjects, the film is a fascinating look into how laws are created with the best of intentions, but enforced in problematic and sometimes destructive ways.”

SHORT FILM COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

The 2016 Best Narrative Short Competition jurors were Mike Birbiglia, Chloe Grace Moretz and Sheila Nevins.

• Best Narrative Short – Hold On (Houvast), directed by Charlotte Scott-Wilson (Netherlands).Winner receives $5,000 sponsored by Netflix, and the art award “It's You and Me Kid” by Marc Hundley. The award was given by Mike Birbiglia.

Jury Comments: “The jury was moved by one particular film because it is simultaneously about the price of performance, and the entirely unique idea that the protagonist’s musical performance itself succeeds on the back of her own self-doubt, torture, and anxiety. We were also blown away by the remarkable performance of the lead actress in both her emotional depth combined with her musical proficiency.”

The 2016 Best Documentary Short and Student Visionary Award jurors were Maria Cuomo Cole, Mark Conseulos, Jessica Yu, Parker Posey and Alan Yang.

• Best Documentary Short – Extremis directed by Dan Krauss (USA). Winner receives $5,000 sponsored by AKA Hotel Residences, and the art award “Untitled (11/30/96)” by John Miller. The award was given by Maria Cuomo Cole along with Larry Korman, President, AKA Hotel Residences. 

Jury Comments: “This film's cinematography is intimate yet unobtrusive; its point of view is empathetic and non-judgemental. And ultimately, it respects the conflicting perspectives at a morally wrenching crossroads.” 

• Student Visionary Award – Ping Pong Coach (乒乓), directed by Yi Liu. (Taiwan R.O.C., USA). Winner receives $5,000 sponsored by HBO. The award was given by Sharon Badal, Tribeca’s Vice President Shorts Programming and Filmmaker Relations along with Larry Korman, President, AKA Hotel Residences. 

Jury Comments: “For its naturalistic tone and compelling performances, this film impacted us in a real way.”

STORYSCAPES AWARD

The 2016 Storyscapes Award, presented by AT&T, which recognizes groundbreaking approaches in storytelling and technology, jurors were Jessica Brillhart, Jigar Mehta and Saschka Unseld.

● Storyscapes Award: Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness created by Arnaud Colinart, Amaury La Burthe, Peter Middleton, and James Spinney. Winner receives $10,000, presented by AT&T. The award was given by Jessica Brillhart, Saschka Unseld, and Olga Serna, Senior Marketing Manager, AT&T.

Jury Comments: “The most powerful stories allow us to see the world and its vast array of experiences through someone else's eyes.  One project took us on that journey in a most unexpected way. Through its creative use of a medium and its meticulous and elegantly crafted audio landscape. Through its dedication to nuance and aesthetic. Through its care and compassion not only for the protagonist, but for those who take the journey with him. Because as the piece so eloquently ends: ‘After all, being human is not seeing, it’s loving.” 

THE NORA EPHRON PRIZE

The 2016 Nora Ephron Prize, sponsored by Coach, jurors were Rachael Leigh Cook, Judy Greer and Mary Stuart Masterson.

• The Nora Ephron Prize: Rachel Tunnard, director, writer and editor of Adult Life Skills (UK). Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by Coach, and the art award “Untitled” by Laura Owens. The award was given by the jury along with Margaret Coady, Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Coach Foundation at Coach, Inc.

Jury Comments: “We selected someone whose originality of voice, deft handling of tone, assured visual and editorial style, and moving poetic screenplay combined to make us feel from the opening sequence that we were in good hands. She made a tiny—even miniaturized—world, seem vast. She handled grief in a wholly unique way. Using wit and emotional restraint to pull the audience in. And make us root for our protagonist to blow up the shed!”

TRIBECA X AWARD

The Tribeca X award, sponsored by GE, jurors were Laurie Anderson, Scott Carlson, Judy McGrath, Liev Schreiber and Hank Willis Thomas.

●   Tribeca X award: Hearing Colors created by Greg Brunkalla for Samsung. The award was given by Scott Carlson and Hank Willis Thomas along with Andy Goldberg, Chief Creative Officer, GE.

Jury Comments: “We were drawn in by the story and the inventive way it was told, we loved what it taught us about ways to see the world. The piece communicated Samsung's brand values effortlessly without ever overtly talking about the brand itself. So we appreciated the approach and we appreciated that Samsung supported this film and all the creativity that made it possible. When the world is given entertaining stories and novel ways of telling these stories, there is no doubt they will be shared.”

FULL LIST OF ELIGIBLE 2016 TFF FILMS IN EACH CATEGORY OF COMPETITION:

U.S. Narrative Feature Competition:

• Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature:10 films
• Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature: 9 actresses
• Best Actor in a U.S. Narrative Feature: 9 actors
• Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature: 10 films
• Best Screenplay for a U.S. Narrative Feature: 10 films
• Best Editing in a U.S. Narrative Feature: 10 films

International Narrative Feature Competition:

• Best International Narrative Feature: 8 films
• Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature:  9 actresse
• Best Actor in an International Narrative Feature: 10 actors
• Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature:  8 films
• Best Screenplay for an International Narrative Feature:  8 films
• Best Editing in an International Narrative Feature: 8 films

World Documentary Feature Competition: 

• Best Documentary Feature: 12 films
• Best Editing in a Documentary Film:  12 filmmakers
• Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film: 12 filmmakers

 Best New Narrative Director Competition:

• Best New Narrative Director: directors selected from 13 films

Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Competition:

• Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award: directors selected from 12 films

Short Film Competition:

•  Best Narrative Short: 29 films
•  Best Documentary Short: 16 films
•  Student Visionary Award: 8 films

Storyscapes Competition:

•  Storyscapes Award: 10 projects

Nora Ephron Prize:

•  Awarded to a female director or screenwriter. Selected from 13 eligible films, with 6 female writer-directors, 10 female writers, and 4 female directors

Tribeca X Award

• Selected from more than 100 submissions of scripted and documentary work for film, TV, digital, social, and VR/AR, in both feature or short length, funded with support from a brand in collaboration with artists or filmmakers.

**For more information on all of the films in the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, please visit tribecafilm.com/festival.

A Conversation with Joel Fendelman, director of Game Night #Tribeca2016

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Game Night is a movie about a lonely taxi driver, who when happens upon a football field, he falls into a memory of his past. Here’s excerpts from conversation with the director of Game Night, Joel Fendelman.

Art Shrian: What inspires you to be a storyteller? And as a storyteller, what kind of story you want to tell?

Joel Fendelman: Storytelling to me is a vehicle to look within and outward at the same time. It is the method as to investigate and heal blocks with in myself and then through that I can connect with other people, many times people I would otherwise never connect with otherwise which what makes it so special. These are the stories I am interested in telling, the ones that show the universality between all of us showing how alike we are.

A: What inspired you to make this particular film?

J: For this film I was looking at the idea that when we are younger we have certain ambitions of what we make accomplish in the future. It is usually very rosy fantasies and since it can be 10, 15, 20 years or more in the future it all seems possible. But one day we wake up and those years have passed and the future is now the present so we must confront the unfulfilled ambitions. For me this film spawned from this concept. I think we all in some way or another can resonate with that feeling.

A: What was the most best & worst part of making this film?

J: The best part about making this film was filming. We could only shoot 2hrs a day for three nights because the field closed at 10pm. It was fast paced and exciting. The biggest challenge was the rain. I literally had to post-pone three times because of the rained out field. Sometimes minutes before call time. With that said, it was the best thing to happen because the days we did end up filming were much better in many ways.

A: How do you feel about being at Tribeca Film Festival, and NYC?

J: Screening at the Tribeca film festival has been a dream come true. It has been a pleasure feels really good to be validated in such a way. I lived here for ten years and feel tingling sensations every time I come back. New York city is the best city in the world!

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Joel Fendelman has worked ten years in the film industry in New York City producing content for companies such as A&E, PBS, American Express, Ovation TV, Allure, and MTV. His films have shown around the world at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Chicago, Miami. He has lectured about Independent filmmaking at various film festivals and is currently pursuing an MFA in Film at the University of Texas.

Further details and Tribeca 2016 schedule here:

https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/game-night-2016

2016 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL AND DISRUPTOR FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE HONOREES FOR SEVENTH ANNUAL DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION AWARDS

Award Collaboration with Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen Recognizes Leading Innovators and Creators Impacting Social Transformation

Alec Ross’ “The Industries of the Future” to receive 2016 Book of the Year.

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced the honorees for its seventh annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, held in collaboration with Harvard professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation. Co-sponsored by Accenture, AT&T and media sponsor The Guardian, the awards will be moderated by Perri Peltz at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center BMCC on Friday April 22 at 11:00am. Festival co-founder, Craig Hatkoff, is the Chief Curator of the awards. The 15th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 13 to 24.

The goal of the awards is to share insights into innovation to help solve the some of the world’s most intractable problems. 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 media, healthcare, social justice, education, politics, sports and philanthropy.

Over the past seven years honorees have included Jack Dorsey (Twitter/Square); Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia); Shane Smith (Vice); Jared Cohen, Eric Schmidt (Google); Twyla Tharp, Kickstarter, Warby Parker, David Lynch, Rick Rubin, Kanye West, Uber, DARPA (Big Dog, Cheetah and Hummingbird robots), Airbnb; Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun; Dr. Francis Collins (National Institutes of Health), MITx , City of Manchester, Keith Richards and Stanford Office of Technology and Licensing.

The 2016 Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to Thomas Heatherwick for his dedication to bringing design, architecture and urban planning together in a single workspace at his own Heatherwick Studio, and Kenya Wildlife Service Chair Dr. Richard Leakey, one of the world’s leading paleoanthropologists and conservationists, for his leadership and past and current efforts in shutting down the ivory trade in Africa.The 2016 honorees include:

The 2016 honorees include:

Actor, director, producer, writer, and humanitarian Nate Parker will receive the Theodore Parker Prize (presented by Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation); Scott Harrison, Founder and CEO of Charity Water; Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation’s premier defender of liberty and individual freedom; Louie Psihoyos, Academy Award-winning filmmaker (“the Cove” and “Racing Extinction”); Professor Jennifer Jacquet, Ph.D., author of “IS SHAME NECESSARY?” (Pantheon, 2015) and an environmental social scientist who studies large-scale cooperation dilemmas, such as overfishing, climate change, and the wildlife trade; Fabio Zaffagnini, the creator of Rockin’1000, whose crowdsourced 1000-musician performance of the Foo Fighters’ Learn To Fly has reached 30 million views on YouTube; Brent Stapelkamp, a researcher who tracked and photographed Cecil the Lion for nine years; Alan Eustace, world-record holder for Highest Freefall Jump (135,889 feet) earned in the process of piloting the system built by the StratEx team; Max Kenner, founder and executive director of Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) which enrolls incarcerated individuals in academic programs culminating in Bard College degrees; Emily Callahan and Amber Jackson, co-founders of Blue Latitudes, whose mission is to globally scale the conversion of oil rigs into coral reefs; Renaud Laplanche, founder and CEO of Lending Club, the world’s largest online marketplace connecting borrowers and investors; The Suskind Family (Ron, Cornelia, Walter and Owen Suskind) for unleashing ability and creativity in those with autism; Jenna Arnold and Greg Segal, co-founders of ORGANIZE, which is looking to put itself out of business by solving the organ donation crisis; juvenile justice reformer Adam Foss, who by shifting his focus from incarceration to transforming lives is reinventing the role of the criminal prosecutor; and Hilde Kate and Isabel Rose Lysiak, who run the monthly community newspaper Orange Street News, based out of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

The 2016 Book of the Year is New York Times bestseller “The Industries of the Future” (Simon & Schuster, 2016) by leading innovation expert Alec Ross who explains what’s next for the world: the advances and stumbling blocks that will emerge in the next ten years, and how we can navigate them.

“This year’s honorees are a diverse group whose achievements lead by example uniting communities that are offering new solutions to some of society’s most challenging issues,” said Craig Hatkoff, TFF co-founder and chief curator for TDIA. “We are thrilled to celebrate Professor Christensen’s original theory and the new frontiers of innovation theory and application. Disruptors represent a new kind of billionaire – innovators who have the potential to help a billion people”

“Technology alone cannot solve the world’s most intractable problems. We must learn to crawl up inside and shine a light on what makes people tick,” said Christensen, “Each year’s crop of honorees help me refine and advance my thinking about disruptive innovation theory”

Honorees receive the iconic red hammer as the official Disruptor Award, symbolic for both building new business models and smashing broken ones.

The 2016 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award honorees are as follows:

Thomas Heatherwick: Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree

Founder and Design Director, Heatherwick Studio

Thomas Heatherwick is a British designer whose prolific and varied work is characterized by its ingenuity, inventiveness and originality. He founded Heatherwick Studio in 1994 to bring design, architecture and urban planning together in a single workspace. Known for projects like the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 Expo, the cauldron for the 2012 London Olympics, and the Learning Hub at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Heatherwick Studio is currently working in four continents on projects valued at over £2 billion. Thomas is a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a Royal Academician and in 2004 became the youngest Royal Designer for Industry.

Richard Leakey: Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree

Chair, Kenya Wildlife Service and Founder & Chair, Turkana Basin Institute

Dr. Richard Leakey is currently a Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, New York where he also serves as the Founder and Chair of the Turkana Basin Institute, a Kenya-based research facility that studies the history of life, past climate change and origins of humans. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Kenya Wildlife Service. Formerly Director of Kenya’s National Museums, Director of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Department, founding Director and Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service, Member of Parliament in Kenya and Head of the Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Richard is now focused on funding the research institute at Turkana and working as Chair of the Kenya chapter of Transparency International and Founder of Wildlife Direct. Richard has played a key role in efforts to combat elephant and rhino poaching since the early 1990s, has actively campaigned for the protection of the Great Apes and he has become increasingly vocal about the threats to biodiversity arising from global climate change and the human population growth.

Nate Parker

Activist, Filmmaker

Actor, director, producer, writer, and humanitarian Nate Parker recently won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for The Birth of a Nation, a 7-year labor of love for Parker which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, to rousing acclaim and fanfare at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Following its debut, the film received an enthusiastic standing ovation and was quickly acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures, who will release the film October 7, 2016. 

Scott Harrison

Founder and CEO, Charity Water

Scott Harrison is the founder and CEO of Charity Water, a nonprofit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. In nine years, with the help of more than 500,000 donors worldwide, Charity Water has raised over $207 million and funded over 19,000 water projects in 24 countries. When completed, those projects will provide over 6.18 million people with clean, safe drinking water.

Anthony D. Romero

Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Anthony D. Romero is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation’s premier defender of liberty and individual freedom. He took the helm of the organization just seven days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Shortly afterward, the ACLU launched its national Keep America Safe and Free campaign to protect basic freedoms during a time of crisis. They achieved court victories on the Patriot Act, uncovering thousands of pages of documents detailing the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, and filing the first successful legal challenge to the Bush administration’s illegal NSA spying program.

Louie Psihoyos

Executive Director, Oceanic Preservation Society and Director, “Racing Extinction” & “The Cove”

Louie Psihoyos is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS). He is recognized as one of the top still photographers in the world, having created iconic images for National Geographic for 18 years, and hundreds of covers for other magazines. His ability to bring humanity and wit to complicated science stories carries over to his filmmaking. Psihoyos’s first film, “The Cove”, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Film of 2009 and over 75 other awards around the world. His second film, “Racing Extinction”, aired in 220 countries and territories and sparked the #StartWith1Thing movement.

Jennifer Jacquet

Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies at NYU

Jennifer Jacquet is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at NYU. She is an environmental social scientist who studies large-scale cooperation dilemmas, such as overfishing, climate change, and the wildlife trade. She is the author of “Is Shame Necessary?” (Pantheon, 2015) about the evolution, function and future of the use of social disapproval in solving the tragedy of the commons.

Brent Stapelkamp

Conservationist and Photographer

Lion-obsessed Brent Stapelkamp has studied nature’s majestic apex predator in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe for Oxford University’s Wildlife and Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU). Brent’s work is primarily about promoting ways to mitigate the conflict between lions and livestock owners with a healthy dose of wildlife photography to get his “lion fix.” He lives off-grid with his wife, Laurie Simpson and their seven year-old-son Oliver. For nine years Stapelkamp tracked and photographed Cecil the Lion who rose to fame after being hunted down under questionable circumstances. Cecil has become the global icon for conservation andBrent’s extensive collection of photos of Cecil and other wildlife in Africa is a true treasure trove.

Fabio Zaffagnini

Creator, Rockin’1000

Fabio Zaffagnini is the creator of Rockin’1000, a crowd-funded project that culminated in a performance where 1000-musicians gathered on a field in Italy to play one song: Learn to Fly by the Foo Fighters. The YouTube video chronicling this event went viral and has to date attracted 30 million views. The event served as an invitation for the Foo Fighters to come perform in Cesena, Italy which they accepted. Furthermore, Fabio is a co-founder of Trail Me Up, a startup that creates augmented virtual reality experiences of hike trails. In 2015 he entered the European Commission’s Expert list for his product design skills. Previously, he dealt with Technology Transfer and Industrial Research for private and public research centers. Earlier in his career, Fabio was a marine geologist at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Italian National Research Center and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change. Fabio is an expert in social innovation, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and product design and loves travelling, rock music and beach volleyball. 

Alan Eustace

Engineer/Stratospheric Explorer

World–record free faller Alan Eustace retired as Senior Vice President of Knowledge in April 2015 after 13 years with Google. His lifelong interest in flying, skydiving, and engineering lead him to work with the world-class StratEx team to design, build, and fly, scuba-like system for the exploration of the Stratosphere. In the final test of this system, Alan and the StratEX team set three new skydiving world records, including the highest exit altitude (135,899 feet, 41,422 meters). Alan served as executive producer of the film “14 Minutes from Earth”.

Emily Callahan and Amber Jackson

Co-Founders, Blue Latitudes

Emily Callahan and Amber Jackson founded Blue Latitudes to unite science, policy and economics to create innovative solutions for the complex ecological challenges associated with offshore structures. Ms. Callahan is a marine conservation biologist, oil and gas consultant and explorer. She has a B.A. in Environmental Science and an M.A.S degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She has worked in the field of environmental consulting for over four years and conducted both international and domestic environmental impact assessments for governmental agencies and private sector clients, her key industry of expertise is in offshore oil and gas development and decommissioning. She worked as a field technician on the BP 252 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This is where she witnessed firsthand the destruction and devastation wrought by an oil spill. However, it is also where she learned of a unique silver lining to the reality of offshore oil and gas development, the Rigs to Reefs program – a program that worked to preserve the ecosystems thriving beneath the surface.

Ms. Jackson is an oceanographer, environmental scientist and entrepreneur. She has a B.A. in Marine Science from UC Berkeley and a M.A.S in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her expertise is unique, using technology to facilitate the intersection of science and communication. A former Ocean Curator at Google in partnership with the Sylvia Earle Alliance, she engineered and launched intelligent map layers in Google Maps that distill and relate complex concepts in ocean science for a variety of audiences. Ms. Jackson also has an established foundation as a scientist. A former National Science Foundation Researcher at the California Academy of Sciences, she developed a curiosity for using artificial habitats to mitigate anthropogenic losses and degradation of natural habitats. In California, the Rigs to Reefs program is an active example of this.

Lending Club

Accepting on behalf is Founder & CEO, Renaud Laplanche

Lending Club is the world’s largest online credit marketplace, facilitating personal loans, business loans, and financing for elective medical procedures. The company’s mission is to transform the banking system to make credit more affordable and investing more rewarding. Lending Club operates at a lower cost than traditional bank lending programs and passes the savings on to borrowers in the form of lower rates and to investors in the form of solid returns.

As Founder and CEO, Renaud is responsible for overseeing the overall strategic direction and operation of Lending Club, which he grew from a disruptive idea in 2006 to the world’s largest online credit marketplace today. He also serves as Chairman of Lending Club’s Board of Directors. Before founding Lending Club, Renaud was the Founder & CEO of TripleHop Technologies, an enterprise software company acquired by Oracle Corporation in June 2005. Prior to that, Renaud was a Senior Associate at New York law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Renaud was recognized on Bloomberg Markets’ 2015 Most Influential List, an annual list that acknowledges 50 of the top leaders across technology, finance and politics around the globe. In 2014 he won the Economist Innovation Award in the consumer products category. He was ranked one of the top SMB CEOs by the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards in 2015 and was named the “best start-up CEO to work for” by Business Insider in 2014. Renaud holds two world speed sailing records, including the Transpacific record. Renaud has an MBA from HEC and London Business School and a JD from Montpellier University. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.

Max Kenner

Founder and Executive Director, Bard Prison Initiative

Max Kenner is the Founder and Executive Director of Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), which enrolls incarcerated individuals in academic programs culminating in Bard College degrees. He co-founded the Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison, supporting similar programs in 10 states. Kenner is Vice President for Institutional Initiatives and Advisor to the President on Public Policy & College Affairs at Bard College. He was a 2013-14 fellow-in-residence in American History at Harvard University and serves on Governor Cuomo’s NY State Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration, Re-Entry Subcommittee. Recent awards include The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 40 Under 40, Richard Cornuelle Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Education.

The Suskind Family

Ron, Cornelia, Walter and Owen Suskind

Owen Suskind, a boy silenced by autism, methodically memorized dozens of Disney movies. When his family realized this, they began to speak to him in Disney dialogue and turned their world into a stage, playing animated characters. Over years, Owen regained speech, learned to read by reading credits and eventually invented an original language — using scripts and lyrics — to express love, loss, kinship, and brotherhood. In turning his passion into a pathway, the Suskind family developed an approach, called “affinity therapy,” that is driving research and showing broad success in addressing the core social communication deficits of autism. Owen’s father, the author Ron Suskind, is now leading an effort to develop technology that allows multiple neurodiverse populations to harness their strong interests to drive social, emotion, and practical learning. Owen’s story can soon be seen in the new documentary Life, Animated from Academy Award® winning director Roger Ross Williams, an official selection of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

Jenna Arnold and Greg Segal

Co-Founders, ORGANIZE

ORGANIZE is a nonprofit organization based in New York that leverages health data to end the organ donor shortage by applying smarter technologies, building more creative partnerships, and advocating for data-driven policies. Founded by Greg Segal and Jenna Arnold after Greg’s father waited five years for a heart transplant, ORGANIZE’s goal is to flip supply-and-demand for organ transplants in the US by building the country’s first central organ donor registry and creating more culturally relevant ways for people to share their donor wishes. Fast Company called ORGANIZE “the [one] to end the organ shortage.”

Adam Foss

Juvenile Justice Reformer

As Assistant District Attorney in the Juvenile Division of Suffolk County, Adam Foss has become one of Boston’s leading voices for compassion in criminal justice. Recognizing that prosecutors have a unique opportunity to intervene in offender’s lives, Foss co-founded the Roxbury CHOICE Program, a collaborative effort between defendants, the court, the probation department, and the D.A. to recast probation as a transformative experience rather than a punitive process. In addition to his work with the DA’s office, Foss is the founder of the SCDAO Reading Program, a project designed to bridge the achievement gap of area elementary school students.

Hilde Kate and Isabel Rose Lysiak

Orange Street News

Hilde Kate and Isabel Rose Lysiak run the monthly community newspaper Orange Street News, based out of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. The OSN recently received widespread acclaim for its reporting on community news and its response to critics who questioned its publishers ability to cover serious news because of their young age and gender. The Publisher of the OSN, Hilde Kate Lysiak, 9, is in charge of all content, reporting, writing, and taking all pictures while her older sister Isabel, 12, runs its multimedia operations where she produces, edits, and directs all video content for www.orangestreetnews.com

- See more at: http://www.tribecadisruptiveinnovationawards.com/#sthash.l3drwIJV.dpuf

Tribeca Talks Daring Women Summit, powered by the Li.st

Join Samantha Bee (Full Frontal’s host), Rosie Perez (actress and activist), LaLa Anthony (actress, musician, and producer), Donna Karan(fashion designer), Phoebe Robinson (co-host of WNYC’s newest hit podcast 2 Dope Queens), and many more influential women in arts and technology as they discuss their remarkable careers, paths to success and the other women who have inspired them along the way.

Tribeca has long been a platform for female empowerment, beginning with its creative leadership team led by co-founder and Executive Chair Jane Rosenthal, Executive Vice President Paula Weinstein and Festival Director Genna Terranova. TFF debuted the Nora Ephron Prize four years ago to support women filmmakers, and this year a record number – one third of the slate -  of women filmmakers have films in the program. 

Below, please find the complete schedule for the day.

10:35-11:10 - Opening Keynote Conversation 

Samantha Bee, Host, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Allana Harkin, Producer, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Rachel Sklar, Co-Founder, TheLi.st

11:15-11:25

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How I Built It: The Muse Story  

Kathryn Minshew, Founder & CEO, The Muse

11:30-12:10 - Conversation with Rosie Perez  

Rosie Perez, Actress and Activist

Interviewer: Kate Ward, Editor-In-Chief, Bustle.com

12:15-12:45 - Power of Podcasting

Podcasts have become a go-to content choice for a diverse range of audiences, and WNYC Studios has been at the forefront of putting this medium back on the map. Laura Walker, President and CEO of New York Public Radio / WNYC and two of its podcast hosts -- Anna Sale, host “Death, Sex & Money” and Phoebe Robinson, co-host of “2 Dope Queens” – come together for a conversation about this exciting creative medium. You’ll learn about why podcasting is so great for women, the opportunities it offers advertisers seeking to cater to passionate audiences, and what the future might hold for this platform. 

Laura Walker, President and CEO, New York Public Radio (NYPR)

Phoebe Robinson, Co-Host, 2 Dope Queens; Stand-Up Comedian, Writer, and Actor

Moderator: Anna Sale, Host and Creator, Death, Sex & Money

12:50 -1:00 - Negotiating Master Class 

Cindy Gallop, Founder & CEO, MakeLoveNotPorn

1:45-2:25 - Creating Compelling Television That Resonates

It’s no easy feat creating a television show that truly resonates with viewers. This all-female panel of media stars gathers for a discussion on the elements that make for good television, the importance of on-screen visibility for creating opportunities, as well the challenges they face getting their voices heard in a male-dominated business.  

Nahnatchka Khan, Showrunner, Fresh Off the Boat

Liz Meriwether, Creator and Executive Producer, New Girl

Julie Klausner, Creator/Executive Producer/Writer/Star, Difficult People

Moderator: Danielle Nussbaum, Senior West Coast Editor, Entertainment Weekly

2:30-2:55 - Cracking the Code - Hollywood, Diversity and Computer Science

Google’s research tells us that media perceptions matter, they’re the primary drivers that motivate girls to pursue computer science, and Julie Ann Crommett leads a team at Google that is focused on changing those perceptions by dispelling stereotypes and showcasing positive portrayals of women and underrepresented minorities in tech. In her talk Julie Ann will speak to the work she’s doing alongside writers, producers, networks, studios, and our own YouTube team to create new and diverse storylines about the limitless creative opportunities computer science provides. Her talk will explore gender in media, including how computer scientists are portrayed in films and the opportunities for female and underrepresented minority creatives behind the camera. She’ll also touch on the trainings she’s led with Hollywood influencers on Unconscious Bias in order to make them more aware of their own biases as they develop characters and storylines. 

Julie Ann Crommett, Entertainment Industry Educator in Chief, Google

3:00-3:40 - Making Their Own Opportunities Online

The digital landscape has opened up opportunities for women to get their voices out there and put out their own interpretations of what they want to see. Our panel of digital natives who are democratizing the entertainment landscape explains how to win audiences with strong, shareable content that highlights their mission and showcases other female voices. They'll also delve into which new platforms they are finding most effective.

Amy Emmerich, Chief Content Officer, Refinery29

Kathleen Grace, Chief Creative Officer, New Form Digital

Sophia Rossi, Co-Founder, HelloGiggles

Stephanie Laing, Creator, PYPO

Moderator: Lea Goldman, Executive Editor, Marie Claire

3:40-4:05 - Using Your Platform

There’s no better time to be a female creative than now. This group of esteemed actresses and entrepreneurs sit down for an honest conversation about the passion they share for their craft and how they use their platforms to promote special causes and interests, including the advancement of women in a male-dominated industry. You’ll leave this important conversation inspired to elevate your own work and mission even higher. 

LaLa Anthony, Actress, Entrepreneur and Best-selling Author

Mya Taylor, Actress

Moderator: Catie Lazarus, Writer, and Host, Employee of the Month

4:10-4:50 - Conversation with Donna Karan 

Donna Karan, Founder, Donna Karan Company and Urban Zen SPEAKERS

Check below for more details

https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/tribeca-talks-daring-women-summit-powered-by-the-list-2016

IFP ANNOUNCES TEN PROJECTS SELECTED FOR SECOND IFP SCREEN FORWARD LAB

2016 Lab Leaders include VR Filmmaker and United Nations Senior Advisor Gabo Arora, Borderline Media’s Jennifer MacArthur and “The Outs” Producer Amanda Warman

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) announced today the projects selected for the second annual Screen Forward Lab, IFP’s yearlong fellowship for content creators with story-driven serialized projects. The program kicks off today, running April 18-22 at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP located in DUMBO, Brooklyn. 

Inspired by the successful long-running IFP Filmmaker Labs that focus on helping directors complete, market and introduce audiences to cutting edge first-features, the Screen Forward Lab will support innovative content creators with $10,000 worth of services and support over the course of a year. The Lab is open to innovative media creators with story-driven, serialized projects created on all platforms and formats including web series, VR, or app based work (Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, etc.). All projects must have at minimum representative sample visual content (a completed episode, demo, excerpt) already in place, and cannot have already launched their project publicly.

“We are excited to present the second edition of the IFP Lab for web based creative content. “ says Joana Vicente, Executive Director at IFP and the Made in New York Media Center by IFP.“There’s a meshing of the worlds of film, digital and tech that’s been occurring for a long time.  IFP remains a place for independent film, but it’s evolving to becoming a place where digital and tech, old school and new school, web series and indie film all coalesce.”

Under the leadership of Amy Dotson, Head of Programming, and Holly Kang, IFP Screen Forward Labs Producer, the Labs will provide participants with the knowledge, resources and mentor support necessary for developing strong pitches, securing financing, creating marketing strategies and finding unique avenues for the distribution of their work.  Individualized attention for each project will also be paid to building sustainable audiences, as well as long-term strategy for career sustainability.

This year, 80% of the creators/writers/directors are women and/or diverse voices.  30% feature predominantly African-American and Latino casts. 

The Screen Forward Lab week will culminate with all projects presenting and pitching to investors, online distributors, network executives and tech companies at IFP Film Week 2016. And post-Labs, all content creator teams will receive a free, six-month residency at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP as well as ongoing individualized access to classes, workshops and support from industry and creative mentors.

 More info at www.ifp.org.

Conversation with Ingrid Jungermann - WOMEN WHO KILL #Tribeca2016

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Ingrid Jungermann is one of the most talented storytellers I have met. She’s a writer, director and an actress, “all-in-one”. And she’s a very honest, intelligent and inspiring person as well. Her wonderful film WOMEN WHO KILL, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2016, in New York City. The film is an evolved-adaptation of her WGA-nominated web-series ‘F to 7th’. It’s definitely a must watch film for all film lovers. I had an opportunity to talk to her, and it was just a great conversation. Read below, and you'll agree for yourself.

Art Shrian – Congratulations on your wonderful film, and it’s world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. You’re a brilliant writer, director, actor, “all-in-one”. So, what inspires you to be a storyteller?

Ingrid Jungermann – I think it really started as a kid, me being the youngest of 3 siblings, with single mom. As the youngest of 3, you are lucky enough to just be an observer, and you’re kind of the one without the voice. While you may get more attention and people think what you say is cute, people do not take you that seriously. And coming from that, and being innately drawn to any kind of arts, I started writing at a very young age. I started to realize that, through writing I could have a voice. I could process things that were happening in my life. So I learned it as a coping mechanism, and a way to be heard.

A.S – What’s your message to other people who want to be storytellers?

I.J – For me specially, female filmmakers, people of color, socio economic challenges are all important subjects. Sometimes in this diversity conversation, poor people are not talked about. Making a film is not a poor person’s art form, unfortunately. That perspective is really lacking. I would say to people, who feel like there’s no opportunity, everyone is telling them to not do the thing they want to do, there’s no other point. I don’t see another reason to live a life, without doing the thing that you love. That makes no sense to me. It sucks some time, a lot of times. But I do not see any reason, why you would ever take the tiny amount of time we have, and do something you don’t love.

A.S – Wow, that’s very inspiring and moving. Thanks… So, how has been your journey? From working in Taco Bell, to Blockbuster, to selling Swarovski crystals, to being a filmmaker in New York; it’s quite a journey. How do you feel?

I.J – I don’t know if I’m a person who’s able to live in the moment, unfortunately. I struggle with that for my whole life. I feel like, I have some blinders on. I might keep those on, just because I want to do the work. And I think you constantly have to be able to tap into who you are, and be honest with yourself. Of course I appreciate it all, I feel amazing. But I also feel that this is what I wanted. I took the steps to get here. I kind of weirdly, expect it. But also realize, that it could be fleeing. And it’s going to take 10 harder steps to get to next place. I’m not sure I’m answering your question. I probably can answer that in 3 months from now (laughs).

A.S – I think I understand. You set new goals, and you’re always focused and working hard to just keep moving towards that.

The subject of the film is quite interesting. The general Hollywood perception or perspective about woman filmmakers could be quite narrow. But you make an amazing comedy/drama/thriller. What inspired you?

I.J – I think the perspective in Hollywood has mostly been masculine, by males. Like every other industry, men run entertainment too. Things are slowly changing, which is really exciting. But I have always been, sort of drawn to both sides of myself, masculine & feminine. If we are talking about a masculine film, not gender wise, since both male & female can be masculine, is like horror or even comedy. But there’s this exciting thing happening, where this great group of talented women filmmakers, are making horror or comedy or all kind of genre. They were finally given the opportunity, to embrace our masculine perspective, along with the feminine. And if people started to think more on the lines of perspective, in terms of masculine and feminine, rather than male and female, then that will open up the world little bit more. This applies across the board, even in life, if we didn’t separate it so much into male & female.

But that said, I’m very excited for what’s happening right now, because if it hadn’t been for all the female filmmakers before us, making those films they were “supposed to be making”, we wouldn’t have had opportunity to change things a little bit, and leave our stamp on films, that otherwise are not supposed to be “female films”. I’m thankful to all those women before me!

A.S – Very true. And it’s changing a lot with wonderful shows like Jessica Jones or others, where women TV/filmmakers are making these wonderful shows.

What was the most challenging and most fun part of being a writer, director and an actor for the film?

I.J – The most challenging is not being able to be at 2 places at once. So you have to give up some control of your vision. And it’s really challenging, since you start to feel, am I failing as a director if I’m not in control every moment. In the same way, that’s very freeing, because you have to trust your team - my first AD Eric LaFranchi, my DP Rob Leitzell, my PD Olga Miasnikova, my producer Alex Scharfman, my entire team and there artists. So, where it made me uncomfortable to have to let go, luckily I was lifted by the people who knew my vision, and they wanted to communicate it. So communicating your vision early on is very important, when you are in your own movie. Prep is very important, being very clear as to what you want, what you’re trying to get constantly is very important.

A.S – So where do you see yourself heading? Woody Allen of women?

I.J – My initial response is, no. I really want to sink my teeth into writing-directing, and see how far and deep I can go with that. There are many-many things that I haven’t even tapped into. And many things I want to learn. And acting, while it’s incredible, it’s keeping me from exploring other things I want to explore. I would love to be in other people’s films, but I don’t think I’ll be a lead in my own. I could be supporting character. But if I want to grow as a filmmaker, I think I need to focus.

A.S – Your next project is a Sci-Fi? How did that come up?

I.J – I started the story with Stewart Thorndike. She’s a huge inspiration to me, and she’s of that up & coming crop I was talking about. We were very collaborative for little while. She inspired me and we talked about and developed the story together for this film. I said, I want to do a female fight club movie; she suggested that we should set this in Barnard College. So this is like a privileged female fight club thing. When I was in comedy, I was always drawn to dark comedy. She comes from horror sci-fi world. So together we came up with this idea. I wrote the script, and she has been a major inspiration in creating that world for that film. It’s in development stage. And right now I’m focusing on a TV project, adapting my web-series ‘F to 7th’ into a TV show.

A.S – Last question, how do you feel about being a filmmaker in and from New York?

I.J – Is there any other city to be a filmmaker? (laughs). I want to be here. People that we are surrounded by, inspire me. I have been to LA a few times, and I’m not drawn in. I think it’s beautiful; there are very talented people there. There’s a cool indie filmmaker thing happening. But New York is my home, and the people here are the smartest, coolest and most neurotic bunch, that I’m drawn to. I feel right here!

WOMEN WHO KILL – Synopsis

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Commitment phobic Morgan and her ex-girlfriend Jean are locally famous true crime podcasters obsessed with female serial killers. There’s a chance they may still have feelings for each other, but co-dependence takes a back seat when Morgan meets the mysterious Simone during her Food Coop shift. Blinded by infatuation, Morgan quickly signs up for the relationship, ignoring warnings from friends that her new love interest is practically a stranger.

When Jean shows Morgan proof that Simone may not be who she says she is, Morgan accuses Jean of trying to ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to her. But as she and Simone move into commitment territory, Morgan starts to notice red flags -- maybe Jean was right and Simone isn’t as perfect as Morgan’s made her out to be.

Morgan and Jean investigate Simone as if she were a subject of their podcast, they uncover disturbing clues -- a death at the Food Coop, a missing friend, a murder weapon -- leading them to suspect her not only of mystery, but of murder. In the end, Morgan has to examine all the evidence in front of her: Is she just afraid of what it means to be in a relationship or is her life actually in danger?

• Checkout the film at Tribeca Film Festival below:

https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/women-who-kill-2016

• More about the film:

http://www.wwkmovie.com/

Imagination Day - Tribeca Film Festival

Every breakthrough is born in the imagination

The 2016 Tribeca Festival® Hub hosts some of the most influential, provocative, and groundbreaking creative minds for an all-day summit on what happens when our wildest dreams become reality and what that reality will be in the not-so-distant future. Experience the wonder and inspiration of new technologies, as tech's thought leaders reveal what is just beyond the horizon.

2016 AGENDA

10amDoors open

10:30amOpening Remarks: Jason Kelly, New York Bureau Chief of Bloomberg

10:45am Bryan Johnson, OS Fund: Tools of Creation: Reorienting Humanity's Identity and Aspirations

11:20am Jon Iwata, IBM: From Metropolis to Her — Artificial Intelligence in Film and the Real World

11:55am Dr. James Canton, Institute for Global Futures: The Extreme Future of Medicine: From Prediction to Longevity

Medicine is being transformed by radical technologies that will offer a new era of prevention, prediction and longevity. Discover the future of how digital health, mobile, big data, artificial intelligence, robotics, genetics, nanotech, neuroscience, synthetic biology and smart drugs will offer health and human performance enhancement.

12:30pmMeredith Perry, uBeam: World Without Wires

Meredith Perry, founder and CEO of uBeam will talk about the potential for truly wireless power and the impact this technology will have on the world. In this session, Meredith will share how she founded uBeam in her college dorm room and discuss the impact it will have on our daily lives by wirelessly powering everything from smartphones to lightbulbs to hearing aids. Find out how close we are to living in a world without wires, and what that world might look like

1:05pm - 1:50pm Lunch Break

1:50pm VR Headsets (need to be in your seats to get one)

2:20pm Felix Lajeunesse & Paul Raphael, Felix & Paul Studios: Inside Story: A Journey Into Virtual Reality

An immersive virtual reality experience as a talk by the masters of virtual reality. See the most evocative worlds and feel the story as VR channels empathy. See it, feel it, how they do it, and the future of the technology and creativity

3:15pm Philip Rosedale, High Fidelity: The Final Medium: Humans in the Machine

Is it possible that Virtual Reality in its maturity may allow us to communicate and be creative in ways that are more sublime than even our greatest real-life experiences? As computers become ever more powerful, might our virtual worlds grow to become larger and more unknowable that our own planet? An examination of how the growth of VR technology may give us something more disruptive and unpredictable than the Internet.

3:50pmDerek Belch, STRIVR Labs: Virtual Reality in Sports: Immersive Performance Training and Immersive Entertainment

Just as sports have become one of the last television events that people actually watch, many folks in the VR industry are betting that sports content will be a driving in helping drive mass adoption of headsets sales and content consumption. STRIVR founder and CEO Derek Belch will share the company's experience working with more than a dozen NFL and collegiate football teams over the past year, while also creating and staffing several major VR fan engagement experiences. Belch will share the positives and negatives of sports-focused VR.

4:15pm Sir Richard Branson & Jason Hirschhorn: Daring to Dream

From starting his own airline to ballooning around the world and shooting for the stars, Sir Richard Branson has never shied away from a challenge either in business or personally. He discusses his penchant for dreaming what could be possible and the gut instinct that drives his endeavors

4:55pm Katherine Oliver: Advisor to Bloomberg Philanthropies and Principal of Media and Technology at Bloomberg Associates

5:05 - 5:25pmBreak

5:30pmScreening: Don't Look Down

7:00pm Q&A Sir Richard Branson

Event Description

WHEN

Tuesday, April 19, 2016 from 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM (EDT) - Add to Calendar

WHERE

Spring Studios - 50 Varick Street , New York, NY 10013 - View Map

For more details check the link below:
https://tribecafilm.com/festival/imagination

VIRTUAL ARCADE PRESENTED BY AT&T

Virtual Arcade debuts at the 2016 Festival, helping to expand the immersive entertainment slate with thirteen additional VR experiences from some of the leading creators and emerging voices in this new medium. The selections, available April 18-23, include:

ALLUMETTE

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Project Creators: Eugene Chung, Jimmy Maidens, Penrose Studios

An orphan girl, living in a fantastical city in clouds, endures tragedy. Lighting enchanted matches, she relives her past and grasps at future hope. The story is a meditation on the sacrifices people make for the greater good. Crafted by Penrose Studios, ALLUMETTE is set in a fully-immersive, virtual reality world.

THE ARTIST OF SKID ROW

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Project Creator: Molly Swenson, Tyson Sadler, Hayley Pappas/RYOT
Key Collaborators: Bryn Mooser, LAMP

Ramiro Puentes is an outstanding artist – photographs, paintings, sculpture, poetry. But more than that, he’s risen from crippling poverty and used art to reimagine the streets of Skid Row.

ASHES

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Project Creator: Jessica Kantor/supported by Vrideo

Playing with movement, space and time, ASHES shares the tragic story of two lovers, told specifically for 360-headset environment. Director/Producer Jessica Kantor draws upon her classical ballet training to bring us this unique piece inspired by choreographer Pina Bausch, known for telling stories through dance.

THE CRYSTAL REEF

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Project Creator: Cody Karutz and Lauren Knapp/Stanford University
Key Collaborator: Jeremy Bailenson

A rocky reef off the coast of Italy demonstrates the future of climate change. Meet Dr. Fio Micheli, the marine scientist who studies this reef, and dive underwater with her to learn about ocean acidification and how human-produced carbon dioxide will turn all the world’s oceans into what scientists are calling “the ocean moonscape.”

THE CRYSTAL REEF: INTERACTIVE

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Project Creator: The Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL)
Key Collaborator: Stanford University

Experience climate change firsthand in this fully immersive virtual reality experience. Use your hands to swim and examine marine life as you become a scientist and discover “ocean acidification.” Dive through a digital replica of the reefs of Ischia, Italy and learn about how these reefs are a “crystal ball” that show the future of all the world’s oceans.

DRAGONFLIGHT

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Project Creators: Michael Conelly, Will Telford, Keith Goldfarb, Lyndon Barrois/Blackthorn Media

A spectacular dragon embarks on a hero’s journey to do battle against a duplicitous sorcerer and protect the world from the second coming of his ancient and powerful progenitor. DRAGONFLIGHT is the debut project of VR studio Blackthorn Media, an Academy and Emmy Award-winning team of story-tellers, visual effects veterans, programmers and artists.

HARD WORLD FOR SMALL THINGS

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Project Creator: Janicza Bravo/Wevr
Key Collaborators: Wevr, Seed&Spark, Han West

Award-winning film and theater director Janicza Bravo ventures into the world of VR with an exploration of the circumstances and lives affected by a single tragedy in Los Angeles. Drawing from a real-life experience, Bravo and studio collaborators Wevr craft a remarkably powerful narrative that culminates in a devastating conclusion.

Read an interview with Janicza Bravo about making Hard World for Small Things and tackling social justice through film, at TribecaFilm.com.

HOLIDAYS: CHRISTMAS VR

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Project Creators: Distant Corners/John Hegerman, Scott Stewart, Amanda Mortimer, Gabriela Revilla Lugo, Wevr

When a man stoops to dangerous new lows to get his son the ultimate VR headset for Christmas, he finds out more about himself and his family than he ever wanted to know. From writer/director Scott Stewart (LEGION, PRIEST) and starring Emmy Award-winning actor Seth Green and Clare Grant, CHRISTMAS is part of Distant Corners’ HOLIDAYSanthology feature created by John Hegeman and produced in association with XYZ Films.

Read an interview with Christmas VR filmmaker Scott Stewart about tapping into virtual reality's potential in the horror genre, at TribecaFilm.com.

INVASION

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Project Creators: Eric Darnell, Maureen Fan/Baobab Studios

Directed by Eric Darnell (Antz and Madagascar), this interactive and animated film 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.

KANJU

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Project Creator: Stephanie Riggs / Azimyth Creation Studios
Key Collaborators: The Nantucket Project, Harbers Studios

Journey across Africa in search of Kanju, “creativity born of struggle.” Visit a floating school rising from the slums of Makoko. Witness President Obama's historic speech in Nairobi from the press pit. This uplifting, immersive documentary seamlessly layers traditional narrative techniques and 360o live action. Feel the power of storytelling merged with technology and rediscover Africa as the bright continent.

KILLER DEAL

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Project Creators: Irad Eyal, Aaron Rothman, Anthony C. Ferrante, iMan Productions, Better VR Studios
Key Collaborator: Ian Ziering

Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante (Sharknado 1, 2 & 3), Killer Deal follows a struggling machete salesman who runs into trouble when his discount hotel room comes with an unwelcome guest. A very unwelcome guest. The experience takes all the things we love about over-the-top horror and puts the viewer right in the middle of the “splash zone.”

Read an interview with Killer Deal filmmaker Anthony C. Ferrante about tapping into virtual reality's potential in the horror genre, at TribecaFilm.com.

MY MOTHER'S WING

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Project Creators: Gabo Arora, Ari Palitz/Vrse.works
Key Collaborators: Chris Milk, Patrick Milling Smith, Samantha Storr

In Gaza, foundations are built, destroyed, and built again. This virtual reality experience follows the struggle and strength of a mother coping with the death of her two children in the 2014 war.

Read an interview with My Mother's Wing co-creator Gabo Arora about working with the United Nations to expand virtual reality's potential, at TribecaFilm.com.

OLD FRIEND

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Project Creator: Tyler Hurd/Wevr

Lose yourself in a vibrant psychedelic dance party brimming with joyful insanity. VR filmmaker Tyler Hurd and Wevr present a fun animated VR music video experience for Old Friend by Future Islands. Gaze upon the elegant dance routines and enjoy the blissful absurdity. Unhinge yourself, feel the ridiculousness and dance like everyone is watching.

SEEKING PLUTO'S FRIGID HEART

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Project Creator: New York Times Key Collaborators: Lunar Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association

Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart is a stereoscopic VR experience that brings viewers to Pluto. Watch the New Horizons spacecraft zoom through space, soar over rugged mountains and bright plains, and stand on Pluto’s unique surface as its largest moon hovers over the horizon.

THE CLICK EFFECT

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Project Creators: Sandy Smolan, James Nestor
Annapurna Pictures, Vrse, Vrse.works, The New York Times Op-Docs, The Sundance Institute

Free-dive one hundred feet below the ocean’s surface to discover the “click” communication of dolphins and sperm whales. The Click Effect is a live-action VR experience from Annapurna Pictures, Vrse.works, Sandy Smolan, and James Nestor; the first in a series of immersive journalism experiments commissioned by New Frontier at Sundance Institute, published by The New York Times Op-Docs.

GRATEFUL DEAD: TRUCKIN’

Project Creator: Jaunt VR
Key Collaborators: Ryan Wiederkehr, Patrick Meegan, Joey Santana, Dennis “Wiz” Leonard, Cliff Plumer

A sneak peek VR experience of the Grateful Dead's historic "Fare Thee Well" final tour. Mixed in Dolby Atmos, the audience is given unprecedented access to the bands performance of the hit song "Truckin", from a vantage that is otherwise impossible to experience.

COLLISIONS

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Project Creator: Lynette Wallworth
Key Collaborators: Nyarri Morgan (featured); Nicole Newnham (producer); Curtis Taylor (narrator); Karryn de Cinque (editor); Patrick Meegan (director of photography); Jaunt VR

From acclaimed Australian artist/filmmaker Lynette Wallworth, Collisions is a virtual reality journey to the homeland of indigenous elder Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe in the Western Australian desert. It explores the dramatic collision between Nyarri's traditional world view and the cutting edge of Western science and technology, when he witnessed firsthand and with no context, an atomic test.

PERSPECTIVE 2: THE MISDEMEANOR

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Project Creators: Rose Troche, Morris May
Key Collaborators: Amy Lo, Charles Ottoway

When two young men are stopped by a police officer in Brooklyn, a simple misdemeanor spirals out of control. A gripping drama shot live-action in 360 degrees and weaving between four distinct points-of-view, The Misdemeanor highlights the subjectivity of memory and personal experience with an ambitious approach to narrative storytelling in virtual reality.

Conversation with Daniel Burman from THE TENTH MAN #TFF2016

Daniel Burman from THE TENTH MAN - conversation with Art Shrian, from myNewYorkeye, at Tribeca Film Festival 2016

Director Daniel Burman (All In, TFF 2012) returns to Tribeca with THE TENTH MAN, continuing to wrestle with notions of identity, home and the intricacies of the father-son relationship. This well-observed comedy is at once a heartfelt valentine to the El Once district, Burman’s own Jewish upbringing and his continuing desire to use cinema as a means of self-exploration.

THE TENTH MAN tells the story of Ariel, a man who returns to his childhood neighborhood in Buenos Aires, a Jewish district named El Once, after a long stay in New York City. In the process of trying to meet his father Usher, and getting entangled in his charitable commitments, Ariel also reconnects with his own Jewish roots. But Usher appears to be staving off a meeting with his son; instead he keeps roping him into a number of small assignments during the course of which Ariel meets Eva who volunteers for Usher’s charity. Eva’s radiant inner strength and independent spirit inspires Ariel to come to grips with the religious customs of his Jewish community as well as the traditions that once divided him and his father and rethink his own identity.

THE TENTH MAN (EL REY DEL ONCE) (Section: International Narrative Competition)

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Director: Daniel Burman (Lost Embrace, All In)

Starring: Alan Sabbagh (Focus), Julieta Zylberberg (Wild Tales), Usher, Elvira Onetto, Adrian Stoppelman, Elisa Carricajo

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2016 - PUBLIC SCREENING SCHEDULE:

Friday, April 15 at 6:15PM at Regal Cinemas Battery Park 06 (US PREMIERE)

Sunday, April 17 at 3:15PM at Bow Tie Cinemas Chelsea 04

Tuesday, April 19 at 3:30PM at Regal Cinemas Battery Park 01

Wednesday, April 20 at 9:30PM at Bow Tie Cinemas Chelsea 06

Running Time: 82 Minutes/ Language: Spanish / Country: Argentina

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Berlin Film Festival 2016 (Opening Night Film-Panorama Section)

KINO LORBER will release THE TENTH MAN theatrically in New York and major cities in August 2016.

https://www.kinolorber.com/film/thetenthman

Conversation with Justin Tipping of KICKS #TFF2016

Art Shrian from myNewYorkeye, in conversation with Justin Tipping, director of KICKS. #KICKSfilm KICKS Twitter: https://twitter.com/kicksfilm KICKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kicksfilm/ SYNOPSIS: When his hard-earned kicks get snatched by a local hood, Fifteen-year old Brandon and his two best friends go on an ill-advised mission across the Bay Area to retrieve the stolen sneakers.

Art Shrian had an opportunity to talk with wonderful director Justin Tipping at the Tribeca Film Festival, where he had premier of his debut feature film KICKS. Let me warn you, he  is a director to lookout for. His debut feature shows what a talent house he is. He's also the debutant writer, with his co-writer Joshua Berine-Golden, and the story is as wonderful as the film. It entertains, it's funny, it's dramatic, its thriller and it's good. Very well edited, with amazing music as well, that you could practically call it a musical. Watch the interview above for more insight from the man himself!

In director Justin Tipping's feature debut Kicks, nothing is as simple as it seems. Fifteen­-year-­old Brandon longs for a pair of the freshest sneakers that money can buy; assuming that merely having them on his feet will help him escape the reality of being poor, neglected by the opposite sex and picked on by everyone ­­ even his best friends. Working hard to get them, he soon finds that the titular shoes have instead made him a target after they are promptly snatched by local hood, Flaco. Seemingly the embodiment of menace, Flaco harbors complexities of his own that will be revealed when Brandon goes on a mission to retrieve his stolen sneakers with his two best friends in tow

Boasting a strong ensemble cast, and featuring a memorable lead performance by newcomer Jahking Guillory, the film transcends a deceptively traditional hero's journey to deliver an entertaining and sobering look at the realities of inner city life, the concept of manhood and the fetishization of sneaker culture. Visually and thematically rich, with an amazing soundtrack of both hip hop classics and Bay Area favorites, Kicks creates an authentic and original portrait of a young man drowning in the expectations of machismo.

This summer Focus Features will be taking us on a new journey with the July release of their anticipated film KICKS. 

Cast: Jahking Guillory, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer, Kofi Siriboe, Mahershala Ali

#KICKSfilm

KICKS Twitter: https://twitter.com/kicksfilm
KICKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kicksfilm/

Tribeca Talks: Kickstarter as audience engagement #TFF2016

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The process of running a Kickstarter campaign is about so much more than just raising funding: it's be an opportunity to introduce yourself and your film to a whole new audience of fans, industry, and press. Hear directly from a few of Kickstarter's 17 Tribeca Film alumni about how they utilized Kickstarter to build and engage an audience, and to help launch their films into the world. 

Panelists include directors Kahane Cooperman (Joe's Violin), Kel O'Neill (The Ark), and Sophia Takal (Always Shine) - who went through Kickstarter to find funding and audiences ahead of their premieres at Tribeca.

Moderated by Dan Schoenbrun and Liz Cook (Kickstarter)

Read more here: https://tribecafilm.com/festival/events/kickstarter-as-audience-engagement

FREE Tribeca Talks: Unscripted & Immersive @ Samsung 837 #TFF2016

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This innovative talks series is designed to give audiences a direct line to storytellers and creators on the front lines of the cutting edge of storytelling. Tribeca Talks: Unscripted & Immersive will be taking place at Samsung 837, a first of-its-kind technology playground and cultural hub.

Guests will also have the opportunity to immerse themselves in experiential elements, including a VR Tunnel and the world’s largest multimedia display.

• Thursday, 4/14, 6:30-7:30PM

Tribeca Talks: Unscripted & Immersive – Behind the scenes: The New York Times’ Virtual Reality 

Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart is a stereoscopic VR experience that brings viewers to Pluto. Watch the New Horizons spacecraft zoom through space, soar over rugged mountains and bright plains, and stand on Pluto’s unique surface as its largest moon hovers over the horizon. 

Join the editorial team behind The New York Times’ virtual reality as they discuss this new world of storytelling and preview clips of Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart, premiering as part of Tribeca 2016’s Virtual Arcade. 

Panelists:

Jake Silverstein – Editor In Chief, The New York Times Magazine

Sam Dolnick – Associate Editor, Digital

Steve Duenes – Assistant Masthead Editor

Jenna Pirog – Virtual Reality Editor, The New York Times Magazine

• Friday, 4/15, 6:30-7:30PM

Tribeca Talks: Unscripted & Immersive - Making of Invasion! - Exploring Empathy and Agency in VR - 

“Invasion!” is an animated real-time VR interactive film directed by Eric Darnell, the director and writer for Madagascar and all Madagascar sequels. In this session, Eric is joined by “Invasion!’s” Executive Producer, Supervising Animator, and Art Director to take a behind the scenes look at the creative process.  From creating a character that becomes an avatar for the viewer, to telling a story that allows the viewer a sense of control, to creating characters that “interact” with you, to art direction that inspires the viewer to actively compose his or her own ‘shots’, to juggling different technical and creative needs of real-time versus 360 platforms, this panel shares insights and explains how a production team created “Invasion!” a ground-breaking short to life. 

Eric’s VR animation studio, Baobab Studios, brought together a coalition of industry experts and advisors to aid in Invasion’s creation: animation innovator Glen Keane (“The Little Mermaid,” “Tangled”); DreamWorks Animation Co-President Mireille Soria; David Anderman, Chief Business Officer of Jaunt and former Lucasfilm COO; Pixar Animation Studios co-founder and alpha channel co-inventor Alvy Ray Smith; Pacific Data Image co-founder and former DreamWorks Interactive CEO Glenn Entis; and Twitch co-founder and COO Kevin Lin. 

Panelists:

Eric Darnell, Director, Baobab Studios

Maureen Fan, Executive Producer, Baobab Studios

Maciej Gliwa, Animation Supervisor, Baobab Studios

Cody Gramstad, Art Director, Baobab Studios

• Saturday, 4/16  6:30-7:30PM

Tribeca Talks: Unscripted & Immersive - LoveTrue Director Alma Har'el in Conversation with Michael Cera

After winning Tribeca’s Best Documentary Feature Award in 2011 for her remarkable debut, Bombay Beach, Alma Har'el returns with the premiere of her anticipated sophomore feature. This genre-bending documentary brings Har’el’s signature poetic imagery and fascination with performance in nonfiction to three complimentary stories that seek to demystify the fantasy of true love, set to a hypnotizing score by Flying Lotus and executive produced by Shia LaBeouf. 

Panelists:

Har’el will be interviewed by Michael Cera about her process and unique vision, and share clips from her brand new film premiering in Tribeca’s Documentary Competition.

• Monday 4/18, 5:00PM

Tribeca Talks: Unscripted & Immersive - The Artists of Vrse: A Conversation with Chris Milk (Vrse/Vrse.works Founder), Gabo Arora & Ari Palitz (My Mother’s Wing) and Sandy Smolan & James Nestor (Click Effect)

Chris Milk’s virtual reality company Vrse aims to tell extraordinary stories that connect humanity on a deeper level.  Join Chris and fellow Vrse.works creators Gabo Arora, Ari Palitz, Sandy Smolan and James Nestor as they discuss virtual reality as the last medium, the empathy machine, and the process of unlocking a powerful language of storytelling that is still vastly undiscovered

Panelists: 

• Chris Milk (Vrse/Vrse.works Founder)
• Gabo Arora (My Mother’s Wing)
• Ari Palitz (My Mother’s Wing)
• Sandy Smolan (Click Effect)
• James Nestor (Click Effect)

Samsung 837

837 Washington St

Admission: FREE

Visit below for more details:

https://tribecafilm.com/festival/events?type_of_events=57081532d4558f800d000001

JURIES ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

Jurors Include Mike Birbiglia, Danny Glover, Judy Greer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sheila Nevins, Laura Poitras, Parker Posey, Jean Reno, Liev Schreiber, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Jennifer Westfeldt, Roger Ross Williams and Jessica Yu

*** 

The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its jurors – a diverse group ofindustry leaders, including award-winning actors, acclaimed filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs, artists and cultural leaders. The jury will be divided among eleven competitive Festival categories. The winning films, filmmakers, actors, and storytellers in each category will be announced at the TFF Awards Night ceremony on Thursday, April 21 at 42 W NY.  The 2016 Festival runs from April 13 –24.  

The eight TFF juries for the film and experiential storytelling categories will award $155,000 in cash and prizes. Announced last month, ten 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.

“The Festival’s goal is to bring diverse minds together to spark conversation,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, Tribeca Film Festival, and Executive Chair, Tribeca Enterprises. “Our jurors are as unique and multi-faceted as the films they will judge.”

In addition to the main competition juries, the Festival announced the five jurors for the new Tribeca X Award, sponsored by GE, which celebrates branded storytelling and recognizes the intersection of advertising and entertainment.  The Tribeca X Award winner will also be announced during the April 21 TFF Awards Night ceremony. As previously announced, seven jurors will choose the winners of the first ever Tribeca Snapchat Shorts program, sponsored by Samsung Electronics America, which spotlights the best Snapchat stories from across the U.S.  The Tribeca Snapchat Shorts winners will be announced on Sunday, April 17.

Following is a list of all 2016 Festival jurors and their respective categories:

Feature Film Competition Categories

The jurors for the 2016 US Narrative Competition section, sponsored by AKA Hotel Residences, are:

Anne Carey

Taylor Mya

Jennifer Westfeldt

James Le Gros

• Anne Carey: Anne Carey is an Independent Spirit Award-winning producer and President of Production at Archer Gray.  As independent producer, Carey has collaborated with seminal filmmakers such as Ang Lee, Mike Mills, Liz Garbus and Mari Heller. Recent credits include Mr. Holmes and The Diary of a Teenage Girl and the upcoming 20th Century Women.
• James Le Gros: Independent Spirit Award-nominated and SAG Award-nominated actor whose credits include Drugstore Cowboy, Living in Oblivion, Safe, Lovely & Amazing, Zodiac, “Ally McBeal,” “Mildred Pierce,” “Girls” and the upcoming Certain Women.
• Chris Nashawaty: Chris Nashawaty has been a writer at Entertainment Weekly since 1993, and the magazine's film critic since 2013. He is the author of Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie. 
• Mya Taylor: Mya Taylor is an actress and singer best known for her acclaimed role as Alexandra in Sean Baker's award-winning 2015 film Tangerine.  For her performance, she was the recipient of an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress, designating her the first transgender actor to win at the awards show.
• Jennifer Westfeldt: Jennifer Westfeldt is a Tony-nominated actress and filmmaker, best known for writing and starring in the indie hits Kissing Jessica Stein and Friends With Kids (which marked her directorial debut).

The jurors for the 2016 International Narrative Competition section are:

Danny Glover

Hany Abu Assad

Jean Reno

Lydia_Dean_Pilcher

Sam Taylor Johnson

• Hany Abu-Assad: Hany Abu-Assad was born in Nazareth, studied in Holland, and makes movies globally. His movies Paradise Nowand Omar were both nominated for Oscars. 
• Jean Reno: Jean Reno is a renowned French actor who gained international recognition with pivotal roles in films such as Mission Impossible opposite Tom Cruise, Ronin opposite Robert De Niro, and The DaVinci Code opposite Tom Hanks. Reno will next appear on the big screen in The Promise, a film directed by Terry George, and The Last Face, directed by Sean Penn.
• Lydia Dean Pilcher: Lydia Dean Pilcher is founder of Cine Mosaic, and producer of over 35 features including a long term partnership with director Mira Nair. Recent films include the upcoming Queen of Katwe for Disney, The Lunchbox, and Academy Award nominated Cutie & the Boxer.
• Sam Taylor-Johnson: Sam Taylor-Johnson is an internationally renown artist working mostly in the photographic medium. She is also a critically acclaimed film director who has recently become the highest grossing box-office female director of all time. Film credits include Nowhere Boy, Fifty Shades of Grey and Love You More.
• Danny Glover:  Actor, producer and humanitarian, Danny Glover has been a commanding presence on screen and on stage for more than 30 years. His film credits range from the blockbuster Lethal Weapon franchise to smaller independent features. Glover co‐founded NY based Louverture Films, has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program and is currently serving as UNICEF Ambassador.

The jurors for the 2016 World Documentary Competition section, sponsored by Bira 91, are:

Doug Tirola

Roger Ross Williams

Laura-Poitras

• Laura Poitras: Laura Poitras is a filmmaker best known for her post-9/11 trilogy and Citizenfour. Her exhibition Astro Noise is at the Whitney museum until May 1, 2016. She is co-creator of Field of Vision (https://theintercept.com/fieldofvision/), and is editing a film about Julian Assange.
• Douglas Tirola: Douglas Tirola is an award-winning director and producer whose work includes Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, Kate Plays Christine, Hey Bartender and Making the Boys.  He is President of New York based production company, 4th Row Films.
• Roger Ross Williams: Academy Award winner, Roger Ross Williams, is the director of the acclaimed films Music By Prudence, God Loves Uganda and the recent Sundance award winning Life, Animated.

The jurors for the 2016 Best New Narrative Director Competition are:

Col Needham

Ry Russo Young

Hill Harper

• Hill Harper: Actor, author & humanitarian, Hill Harper…. Star of "Concussion", "1982" & CBS's ‘Limitless'.
• Col Needham: Col Needham is the founder and CEO of IMDb, the #1 movie website in the world.
• Ry Russo-Young: Ry has been making independent films for eleven years; her work has premiered and won awards at several international film festivals. She is currently in post-production on her fourth feature, Before I Fall based on the best-selling young adult novel of the same name. You Won’t Miss Me won a Gotham Independent Film award in 2009. Nobody Walks, co-written with Lena Dunham, won a special Jury Prize at Sundance. Ry has received accolades from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Tribeca Film Institute, the LEF Foundation, and the Sundance Institute.

The jurors for the 2016 Albert Maysles Award (Best New Documentary Director Award) are:

Jason Biggs

Karen_Cooper

• Jason Biggs: Jason Biggs was most recently seen starring on Broadway in the critically acclaimed “Heidi Chronicles” opposite Elisabeth Moss. He can also be seen in the Emmy nominated Netflix series, “Orange is the New Black.”
• Karen Cooper: Since 1972 Karen Cooper has been Director of Film Forum, presiding over the growth of this NYC non-profit cinema. Cooper and Mike Maggiore co-program the theater’s NYC premieres.
• Sebastian Silva: Chilean writer, director Sebastian Silva has been one of the rare talents to win international acclaim very early in his career. His work has been recognized and awarded at the Golden Globes and Sundance on multiple occasions. He recently directed and acted in his film Nasty Baby which premiered at Sundance.

Short Film Competition Categories

The jurors for the 2016 Narrative Short Film Competition are:

Chole Grace Moretz

Mike Birbiglia

Sheila Nevins

• Mike Birbiglia: Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, writer, actor and director. He is currently starring in his third critically acclaimed one-person show, Thank God for Jokes Mike’s forthcoming feature film, Don’t Think Twice, which he wrote, directed, and stars in, will be released in 2016.
• Chloe Grace Moretz: Chloe Grace Moretz made her debut at age seven and has starred in more than 35 films since then. From TV, films, theatre to lending her voice for animated films, Chloe has done it all. Her recent releases include The Fifth Wave, If I Stay and The Equalizer. She has been recognized for her performances by leading publications and has won various awards as well.
• Sheila Nevins: Sheila Nevins, the President of HBO Documentary films is one of the most awarded producers of all time.  Her awards include 31 Primetime Emmys, 34 News and Documentary Emmys, 40 George Peabody Awards and a 2005 Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. 

The jurors for the 2016 Documentary and Student Visionary Competitions are:

Jessica Yu

Maria Cuomo Cole

Mark Consuelos

Parker Posey

Alan Yang

• Maria Cuomo Cole: Maria Cuomo Cole is an award-winning producer of the feature documentary, Newtown, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.  In her career, she has tackled such relevant subjects as gun violence, homelessness, veterans’ PTSD, Domestic Violence and sexual assault.
• Mark Conseulos: Actor and producer, Mark Conseulos will next be seen in the feature films Nine Lives, All We Had and the TV series “Queen of the South.” Recent credits include Kingdom and Alpha House. 
• Jessica Yu: Jessica Yu is an Oscar-winning director of documentaries, shorts, and scripted films, including Breathing Lessonsand Last Call at the Oasis, and TV shows like “American Crime” and “Parenthood.
• Parker Posey, also known as “Queen of Indies” recently appeared in Woody Allen’s Irrational Man and also co-starred with Louis CK in the critically-acclaimed series, “Louie.”
• Alan Yang: Alan Yang is the co-creator of the Netflix series “Master of None.” Previously, he was a writer and producer for “Parks and Recreation,” for which he was nominated for an Emmy in 2015. 

Storyscapes

The jurors for the 2016 Storyscapes Competition, presented by AT&T, are:

Jessica Brillhart

Mehta Jigar

SaschkaUnseld

• Jessica Brillhart: Jessica Brillhart is the Principal Filmmaker for Virtual Reality at Google.
• Jigar Mehta: Jigar Mehta is passionate about entrepreneurship and intersection of media. As the lead of digital operations at Fusion, he strives towards creating impactful online experiences. Formerly as the lead of engagement at AJ+ Jigar helped the news brand reach 2.2 billion Facebook views.
• Saschka Unseld: Saschka Unseld is a German-born writer and director. After directing multiple award winning short films, including the 2013 Pixar short The Blue Umbrella, he co-founded Oculus Story Studio where he now works as a Creative Director, exploring the future of VR storytelling. He’s currently finishing up his upcoming VR experience, Dear Angelica.

 Nora Ephron Prize

 The jurors for the 2016 Nora Ephron Prize, sponsored by Coach, are:

RachaelCook

Judy Greer

Mary Stuart Masterson

• Rachael Leigh Cook:  Rachael Leigh Cook is an American actress best known for her roles in She’s All That, Josie And The Pussycats,Into The West and Perception. She has also appeared in many critically acclaimed films alongside Hollywood’s biggest stars.
• Judy Greer: Judy Greer is a prolific actress of film and television that has appeared in over 80 roles to date including in The Descendants, Jurassic World, Ant Man, 13 Going on 30 and many more.
• Mary Stuart Masterson: Founder of Stockade Works, a net zero film and technology studio in Kingston, NY, Mary Stuart Masterson’s film, TV and theater career has received acclaim both as an actor and director. Her directorial debut, The Cake Eaters, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2007.

Tribeca X Award

 The jurors for the 2016 Tribeca X Award. sponsored by GE, are:

Hank Willis Thomas

Judy McGrath

Laurie Anderson

Liev Schreiber

Scott Carlson

• Laurie Anderson: Laurie Anderson is a multi-media artist and lives in New York.
• Scott Carlson: Scott Carlson is the man of many talents. Over the period of 20 years, he has worked at several agencies and co-founded Van’s General store. He is a renowned storyteller from the advertising industry who has mastered fine arts, films, digital media and pop-culture.
• Judy McGrath: Emmy award-winning MTV Networks veteran Judy McGrath has championed creating content for young adult consumers. In 2013 she founded Astronauts Wanted, a next gen digital studio and a joint venture between McGrath and Sony Music Entertainment.
• Liev Schreiber: Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy nominee Liev Screiber is one of the finest American actors who was recently seen in Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning film, Spotlight. He has also won Tony award for his Broadway performance. In 2005, he made his feature directorial debut with Everything is Illuminated.
• Hank Willis Thomas: Hank Willis Thomas is a New York based photo conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history and popular culture. He was recently appointed to the Public Design Commission for the city of New York. 

Tribeca Snapchat Shorts

The jurors for the 2016 Tribeca Snapchat Shorts, sponsored by Samsung, are:

David Gordon Green

Jessica Alba

Shay Mitchell

Vash

Steve Buscemi

• Jessica Alba: Jessica Alba is an actress, advocate and New York Times bestselling author.  She is founder and chief creative officer of The Honest Company and Honest Beauty.
• Steve Aoki: Steve Aoki is a Grammy-nominated international producer/ DJ, electronic music entrepreneur, and founder of the trendsetting record label, events/ lifestyle company and apparel line Dim Mak.
• Steve Buscemi: Steve Buscemi is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He starred in the HBO drama “Boardwalk Empire,” which garnered him a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy nominations. He is currently appearing in Louis C.K.'s critically acclaimed web series “Horace and Pete.”
• DJ Khaled: DJ Khaled is an American record producer, radio personality, DJ and record label executive.
• David Gordon Green: David Gordon Green is a director that made such films as George Washington, All the Real Girls, Pineapple Express, Your Highness, Prince Avalanche, Joe, Manglehorn, Our Brand is Crisis and the HBO series “Eastbound and Down.” Green is currently working on the Amazon series “Red Oaks,” the HBO series “Vice-Principals” and the film Stronger.
• Vashti Kola: Vashtie Kola is an accomplished music video director, designer & DJ from NYC. She’s directed videos for artists like Justin Bieber & Kendrick Lamar; designed collaborations with Puma and Brand Jordan; and DJs worldwide
• Marc Mathieu: Marc Mathieu is chief marketing officer of Samsung Electronics America responsible for marketing the company’s portfolio of mobile, virtual reality, home entertainment and home appliances as well as signature services including, the Milk platform and Samsung Pay.
• Shay Mitchell: Shay Mitchell is most recognizable for her leading role on ABC Family’s hit show “Pretty Little Liars.” She will next be seen in Mother’s Day opposite Jennifer Aniston. She recently released her first novel BLISS.

*Visit www.tribecafilm.com/festival for more information about TFF’s 2016 programs and the full line-up.