TFI Celebrates 5th Year Of Tribeca All Access With 37 Projects For 2008 Program
The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, along with the Tribeca Film Institute today announced the selected projects for Tribeca All Access (TAA), a program designed to help foster relationships between film industry executives and filmmakers from traditionally underrepresented communities. Celebrating its 5th year, Tribeca All Access will present 37 new projects, its largest showing ever, at the six-day event taking place April 21 – 26 during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, held from April 23 – May 4.TAA will provide the participating directors and screenwriters with workshops and the opportunity to present their upcoming works in one-on-one meetings with more than 100 potential investors, development executives, producers and agents. The 37 narrative and documentary directors and screenwriters were selected to participate from an open call for submissions, which garnered over 550 entries from across the country.
This year’s jury for TAA is a notable group of industry professionals – actors, writers, producers, and directors – who will review script excerpts and work samples prior to the Festival. The 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award Narrative jurors are Adam Beach, Joy Bryant, Damon Dash, Kate del Castillo, William Greaves, Jessica Hagedorn, Chris Lee, Anthony Mackie, Jesse L. Martin, and Patricia Riggen; the 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award Documentary jurors are Neda Armian, Marysol Castro, and Sheila Johnson.
2008 Partnerships, Programs
New this year, Tribeca All Access will feature four projects in the narrative category through associations with the UK Film Council, Australian Film Commission and Canadian Film Centre. The collaboration marks the first time Tribeca All Access has expanded its program to include international delegates. UK participants are director John Akomfrah and producer Lincia Daniels, representing Games Men Play. Australian filmmakers joining in this inaugural year of international participation are director Leah Purcell, whose documentary Black Chicks Talking premiered at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival, and producer Bain Stewart, representing Netball. Canadian participants are writer Shannon Masters and producer Jennifer Podemski, representing Sight Unseen, and producer Larisa Andrews and director Claudia Molina, representing Red Velvet Girls.
Also new to this year’s Festival is “Tribeca All Access On Track,” an expansion of the TAA program designed to provide year-round support to TAA alumni. On Track will offer alumni filmmakers access to camera, lighting and sound packages, as well as loan out an on-site editing suite equipped with Final Cut Pro. Alumni may apply twice a year for support in any project in which the alumnus is serving as director or screenwriter; support is not restricted to TAA projects.
TAA Films in 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Since its founding in May 2004, TAA has supported 117 film projects, of which 14 have been completed, 18 are in production and 43 are in active development. This year, three TAA alumni were selected from 4835 submissions to premiere their films in the Tribeca Film Festival, the largest number of TAA projects ever to premiere at the Festival. The films will play in the Discovery program.
“Heading into its 5th year, Tribeca All Access has exceeded our expectations in terms of the quality of work it has consistently presented year-after-year and the immeasurable opportunities it provides for up-and-coming filmmakers to have a voice,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Institute. “It is extremely gratifying to have alumni come back as presenting filmmakers, and we couldn’t be more proud to have three TAA alumni projects enjoying their world premieres at this year’s Festival.”
• Fire Under the Snow, directed by Makoto Sasa (2006 TAA participant) – World Premiere, Documentary. Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk was imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese Communist Army for 33 years. Despite this, he remains unbroken, keeping the flame of his spirit ablaze. Fire Under the Snow tells an inspirational story: survival of the human mind and a soul under unthinkable duress.
• Going on 13, directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Dawn Valadez (2004 TAA participants) – World Premiere, Documentary. 4 years, 4 girls, a world of changes… Watch as Ariana, Isha, Rosie and Esme let go of childhood and fumble – or sprint – toward an uncertain future. Going On 13 goes into their world as they negotiate the precarious moments between being a little girl and becoming a young woman.
• Marina of the Zabbaleen, directed by Engi Wassef (2006 TAA participant) – World Premiere, Documentary. Zabbaleen opens with a mesmerizing shot of Marina, the film’s six year-old protagonist, swinging up into the azure Egyptian sky, and back down to the sandy Muqattam garbage village. Throughout the film we explore this theme of her life, floating somewhere between a poetic dream and a harsh reality. Marina’s family sorts garbage in this hidden village where most of Cairo’s garbage gets recycled daily, but she has hopes of returning to the farmlands of Upper Egypt. Marina of the Zabbaleen was funded through connections made at TAA.
Additional TAA alumni have made notable advancements in the past year alone. The 2007 L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth “Vision” Award winner Cherien Dabis is in pre-production on Amreeka after securing private financing through an introduction at the program. Roberto Marinas, another 2007 TAA alumni, was one of four writers chosen out of more than 1,200 submissions for the 2008 Disney Screenwriting Fellowship, the third TAA alumni to be chosen for this prestigious program. First-time screenwriter and 2006 TAA alumni Charisse Waugh optioned her project Catfish to Alicia Keys’ Big Pita, Little Pita Productions, and the 2005 project Eat, For This is My Body was selected to play at New Directors/New Films.
“The many accomplishments of our Tribeca All Access alumni indicate a healthy, successful program that is not only beneficial to the participants, but also to the industry,” said Beth Janson, Program Director, Tribeca Film Institute. “Tribeca All Access has become a reliable resource for industry to find talent.”
2008 Awards
The 2008 Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Awards include a new category for best emerging narrative and awards totaling $44,500. Three filmmakers and one screenwriter will be awarded the Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award, which comes with a prize of $12,000 for narrative, documentary and emerging narrative and $8,500 for screenwriting. L’Oréal Paris will once again present The L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth “Vision” Award in the amount of $15,000 to a promising female filmmaker participating in the Tribeca All Access program. Announcements regarding the winners will be made at the Tribeca All Access Awards Ceremony on April 25th at Buddakan in New York City.
TAA is made possible by Bloomberg. Additional support is provided by Time Warner Inc., NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The Charles Evans Hughes Foundation, The Academy Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
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