One of my favorite aspects of this (at times) overwhelming festival is its panel discussions. The Tribeca Film Festival, since its inception, has always brought in well-respected, usually very blunt professionals to talk about everything from films they've made to industry topics. And what better time to hear what the state of the business is than right now. Here's the panels I feel will help benifit a filmmaker the most.
“Tribeca Talks Panels”
The Future of Independents
Sponsored by the Directors Guild of America
Great art often comes out of great struggle. With the film industry suffering the same upheaval as many other great American industries, where does the future of independent filmmaking lie? Please join members of the DGA's Independent Directors Committee in a discussion of how an independent film gets made in today's rapidly shrinking global economy. Directors Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, TFF '07), Rose Troche (The L Word, Go Fish), Raymond De Felitta (City Island, TFF '09), Gary Winick (Bride Wars, Tadpole) will discuss some of the challenges ahead for independent directors with David Carr of The New York Times.
DATE: Friday, May 1
TIME: 5 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater
“Tribeca Talks: Industry”
Tools of the Trade: Alternative Distribution, Marketing 2.0, and Beyond
Sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter
Every filmmaker is looking for an audience. With the emergence of innovative and widely successful strategies such as marketing on Facebook or digitally distributing on YouTube, the old studio-driven business model of film distribution and marketing has been turned on its head. There are now multiple ways that filmmakers can control what happens to their film once they’ve made it, so how do they come up with the best formula for success? Does one size fit all? This panel will explore a number of key marketing and distribution strategies available to both short and feature filmmakers. Panelists include Sara Pollack, Entertainment Marketing Manager, YouTube; filmmaker Jon Reiss; and Cynthia Swartz, Partner, 42 West. Moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik.
DATE: Tuesday, April 28
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
(Untitled): A Case Study for Digital Workflow
Sponsored by Panavision
With today’s quickly evolving technology, choosing the best resources and workflow for your project can be a challenge. Decisions made months prior to principal photography will impact the post-production process, back-end costs, and ultimately, the success of your production. In this case study, Panavision and Merge Creative Media will review the workflow employed on the feature film (Untitled), directed by Jonathan Parker and starring Adam Goldberg and Marley Shelton. Panelists will explain the process from acquisition on the Panavision Genesis® camera system all the way through the end of the post process.
Panelists include Svetlana Cvetko, (Untitled)’s director of photography; Gavin Rosenberg and Jeremy Evans from Merge Creative; and Chris Konash and John Fishburn from Panavision.
DATE: Wednesday, April 29
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
Film: A Matter of Choice
Sponsored by Kodak
Most directors and cinematographers who shoot on film will tell you that nothing is more satisfying than the sound of the stock running through the camera gate or the sight of light pushed through film at 24 frames per second. But really, it is all about the image and how that image will live on celluloid. Whether they’re using 35mm or Super 16mm, filmmakers have a certain aesthetic in mind when they choose to shoot on film.
Join a discussion with Damien Chazelle (Guy and Madeline On a Park Bench) and Julio DePietro (The Good Guy) and other 2009 Festival filmmakers who have made this choice. Moderated by Screen International.
DATE: Thursday, April 30
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
Here's the whole lineup of Talks.
Advance selection ticket packages are currently on sale. All advance packages can be purchased online at www.tribecafilm.com/festival or by telephone, toll free, at (866) 941-FEST (3378). “Tribeca Talks Special Events”
Poliwood
World Premiere
In this fascinating documentary, legendary Academy Award®-winning director Barry Levinson sets out to explore the collision and collusion between politics and Hollywood. The film gives the viewer a front-row seat and backroom access to the most significant presidential campaign of the 21st century. Featuring interviews with high-profile celebrities and powerful political figures, Poliwood gives insider access to the influence Hollywood has over today’s political process as we discover the thin line between politician and actor, news and entertainment, policy and tabloid. Trailing a number of politically active actors, writers, directors, and musicians, this documentary is sure to spark debate about the role media and celebrities should have in modern day politics.
Following the screening, Emmy Award®-winning writer/producer and MSNBC political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell will lead a discussion about this convergence of politics and Hollywood with director Barry Levinson and actors Josh Lucas, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tim Daly, Lynn Whitfield, Tony Goldwyn, Robert Davi and Matthew Modine, who appear in the film.
DATE: Friday, May 1
TIME: 6 PM
LOCATION: BMCC Tribeca PAC
Passing Strange
New York Premiere
After a sold-out run at The Public Theater, a Broadway transfer, and multiple nominations and awards (including a Tony), the spectacular Passing Strange played its final super-energized performance in 2008. But before that final curtain, Spike Lee captured the show on film, amazingly retaining and transmitting the power and intensity of co-creator/star Stew and crew’s performances so that nobody has to miss one of the greatest theatrical productions in recent memory.
Following the screening, join Spike Lee, Stew, and co-creator Heidi Rodewald for a conversation about the stage show and the difficulties of trying to recreate that theatrical experience for the big screen.
DATE: Saturday, May 2
TIME: 7 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater
“Tribeca Talks: After the Movie”
Inherit the Wind
Sponsored by Alfred P Sloan Foundation
The Tribeca Film Festival pays tribute to the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth with a retrospective screening of Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind. Nearly a half century ago, Kramer and his all-star cast (including Spencer Tracy, Fredric March and Gene Kelly) brought this fictionalized version of the infamous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial to the big screen. The trial was triggered by a public outcry surrounding the teaching of evolution in schools in the 1920s. The anti-evolution movement persists to this day and continues to try to undermine the teaching of evolution in public schools across the country.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with special guests from the realms of film and science, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner, Jon Amiel, director of the Charles Darwin biopic Creation and Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education Dr. Eugenie Scott, who will take a closer look at how a scientific explanation of the world, backed by evidence, can bring with it both public and private controversy.
DATE: Saturday, April 25
TIME: 1 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi
In 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 24-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi and an Italian journalist. Naqshbandi was one of Afghanistan's best "fixers"–someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories. This gripping, tragic story is a behind-the-scenes look into the dangerous and unseen world that happens before we get the news.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring director Ian Olds, The Nation reporter Christian Parenti, former Afghan fixer Naqeeb Sherzad and New Yorker staff writer and author of "The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq" George Packer.
DATE: Sunday, April 26
TIME: 1 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
Making the Boys
The Festival presents a special work-in-progress version of Making the Boys, directed by Crayton Robey. This documentary, about the groundbreaking play that debuted one year before Stonewall, features the many people involved with the original stage play and subsequent film, including Crowley and Dominick Dunne, as well as Edward Albee, Robert Wagner, and Paul Rudnick. After the screening there will be a discussion moderated by Tony Award-winning producer and film documentarian Dori Berinstein, with director Crayton Robey, playwright/screenwriter Mart Crowley, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto and other special guests.
DATE: Monday, April 27
TIME: 8 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
The Girlfriend Experience
Director Steven Soderbergh follows five days in the life of a $2,000-an-hour Manhattan call girl (adult film star Sasha Grey) who thinks she has her life totally under control. She even has a devoted boyfriend who accepts her lifestyle. But when you're in the business of meeting people, you never know who you're going to meet.
Director Steven Soderbergh and stars Sasha Grey and Chris Santos will participate in a discussion following the film.
DATE: Wednesday, April 29
TIME: 8 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
American Casino
Politicians and the media like to talk about the relationship between Wall Street and Main Street, but investigative journalist Leslie Cockburn's debut feature gets to the guts of the matter, visiting defectors from Bear Stearns and Standard & Poor's and other high-level players in the subprime mortgage gamble and, on the flipside, visiting the working-class Americans who were the unwitting chips on the table.
Following the screening, director Leslie Cockburn, producer Andrew Cockburn, NYU Stern School of Business Economics Professor and Chairman of RGE Monitor Nouriel Roubini and Bloomberg News correspondent Mark Pittman will discuss the relationship between Wall Street and Main Street.
DATE: Saturday, May 2
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater
Outrage
Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) delivers a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who actively campaign against the LGBT community to which they covertly belong. Outrage boldly reveals the hidden lives of some of our nation's most powerful policymakers, details the harm they've inflicted on millions of Americans, and examines the media's complicity in keeping their secrets.
Expanding on the issues raised in Outrage, director Kirby Dick, author and Sirius Radio talk show host Michelangelo Signorile and former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey will discuss political hypocrisy, public versus private lives, gay rights, homophobia in the media, and the controversy surrounding outing in a conversation led by author and activist Rodger McFarlane.
DATE: Friday, May 1
TIME: 8 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater
“Tribeca Talks Panels”
The Big Time to the Big Screen: 30 Years of Sports Filmmaking
Sponsored by ESPN
Whether played out on the field, in the ring, or on the court, every great sports drama is ultimately a human tale—of conflict, determination, passion, triumph, and loss. In honor of ESPN’s 30th anniversary, ESPN Films launches “30 for 30,” an unprecedented documentary film series featuring 30 of today’s finest directors bringing to life 30 of the most remarkable sports stories from 1979 to 2009—the ESPN era. These films represent an extraordinary and diverse mosaic of the impact of sports on America and world culture.
Chris Connelly will lead a discussion with four of the thirty accomplished and up and coming filmmakers contributing to this series: Dan Klores, Barbara Kopple, Barry Levinson and Albert Maysles.
DATE: Friday, April 24
TIME: 5 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
The Future of Independents
Sponsored by the Directors Guild of America
Great art often comes out of great struggle. With the film industry suffering the same upheaval as many other great American industries, where does the future of independent filmmaking lie? Please join members of the DGA's Independent Directors Committee in a discussion of how an independent film gets made in today's rapidly shrinking global economy. Directors Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, TFF '07), Rose Troche (The L Word, Go Fish), Raymond De Felitta (City Island, TFF '09), Gary Winick (Bride Wars, Tadpole) will discuss some of the challenges ahead for independent directors with David Carr of The New York Times.
DATE: Friday, May 1
TIME: 5 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater
“Behind the Screens: Films and Conversations about Truth, Clarity and Responsibility”
Sponsored by iShares
The Burning Season
TFF award winner Cathy Henkel (The Man Who Stole My Mother’s Face, TFF ’04) returns with this powerful portrait of three lives affected by deliberately lit fires raging across Indonesia. Destroying pristine rainforest, endangering wildlife, and contributing to climate change, these fires only benefit the lucrative palm oil industry. Following a carbon-trading entrepreneur, an orangutan rescuer, and a palm oil farmer, this doc inspirationally shows those caught at the intersection of big business and conservation. Hugh Jackman narrates.
Following the screening, Henkel and film subject Dorjee Sun, CEO of Carbon Conservation, along with The New York Times Environmental Correspondent Elisabeth Rosenthal will participate in a panel discussion about the multitude of issues raised in the film.
DATE: Monday, April 27
TIME: 7 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 1
Transcendent Man
Some hail him as a modern-day Nostradamus, others dismiss him as a crackpot. Futurist and famed inventor Ray Kurzweil is the preeminent theorist on the pending fusion of humans and super-intelligent machines as the next phase of evolution, a "singularity" he predicts will occur within thirty years. This fascinating (and at times terrifying) doc explores the personal ideals behind his controversial ideas.
Robert Krulwich (NPR Science Desk Correspondent, co-host of WNYC's Radiolab, and science correspondent for ABC News) will lead a discussion with Ray Kurzweil and director Barry Ptolemy following the screening.
DATE: Tuesday, April 28
TIME: 7 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 1
Burning Down the House: The Rise and Fall of CBGB
Fueled by vintage performances by the likes of Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Television, Bad Brains, and The Ramones, this doc charts the history and far-reaching influence of iconic downtown club CBGB and its fight for survival against the Bowery homeless shelter that sought to shut it down. Sonic Youth, Debbie Harry, Ice-T, Fab 5 Freddy, and others share their passion for the anything-goes spirit of the club and its founder, Hilly Kristal.
Following the screening, 101.9 RXP DJ Matt Pinfield will lead a discussion featuring director Mandy Stein, music producer and original member of The Ramones Tommy Ramone, music producer and Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz, co-founder of Punk Magazine and former Spin Magazine senior editor Legs McNeil and musician Jesse Malin, co-owner of the late Coney Island High as well as the year-old Bowery Electric, to further discuss the legacy of the famous (and infamous) rock spot.
DATE: Thursday, April 30
TIME: 7 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 1
“Tribeca Talks: Industry”
Tools of the Trade: Alternative Distribution, Marketing 2.0, and Beyond
Sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter
Every filmmaker is looking for an audience. With the emergence of innovative and widely successful strategies such as marketing on Facebook or digitally distributing on YouTube, the old studio-driven business model of film distribution and marketing has been turned on its head. There are now multiple ways that filmmakers can control what happens to their film once they’ve made it, so how do they come up with the best formula for success? Does one size fit all? This panel will explore a number of key marketing and distribution strategies available to both short and feature filmmakers. Panelists include Sara Pollack, Entertainment Marketing Manager, YouTube; filmmaker Jon Reiss; and Cynthia Swartz, Partner, 42 West. Moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik.
DATE: Tuesday, April 28
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
(Untitled): A Case Study for Digital Workflow
Sponsored by Panavision
With today’s quickly evolving technology, choosing the best resources and workflow for your project can be a challenge. Decisions made months prior to principal photography will impact the post-production process, back-end costs, and ultimately, the success of your production. In this case study, Panavision and Merge Creative Media will review the workflow employed on the feature film (Untitled), directed by Jonathan Parker and starring Adam Goldberg and Marley Shelton. Panelists will explain the process from acquisition on the Panavision Genesis® camera system all the way through the end of the post process.
Panelists include Svetlana Cvetko, (Untitled)’s director of photography; Gavin Rosenberg and Jeremy Evans from Merge Creative; and Chris Konash and John Fishburn from Panavision.
DATE: Wednesday, April 29
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
Film: A Matter of Choice
Sponsored by Kodak
Most directors and cinematographers who shoot on film will tell you that nothing is more satisfying than the sound of the stock running through the camera gate or the sight of light pushed through film at 24 frames per second. But really, it is all about the image and how that image will live on celluloid. Whether they’re using 35mm or Super 16mm, filmmakers have a certain aesthetic in mind when they choose to shoot on film.
Join a discussion with Damien Chazelle (Guy and Madeline On a Park Bench) and Julio DePietro (The Good Guy) and other 2009 Festival filmmakers who have made this choice. Moderated by Screen International.
DATE: Thursday, April 30
TIME: 2 PM
LOCATION: SVA Theater 2
“Tribeca Talks: Pen to Paper”
Hosted by Barnes and Noble
As Good as the Book?
As Good as the Book?, moderated by Dana Stevens, Slate Magazine film critic, and featuring a panel including Julian Kemp (My Last Five Girlfriends) and Dave Callaham (Tell Tale), will explore the challenges facing a writer when translating a literary vision into the blueprint for a cinematic one can be daunting. Is it ever possible to create a movie that the audience will think is better than the book?
DATE: Saturday, April 25
TIME: 12 PM
LOCATION: Barnes & Noble Union Square
Directors as Writers
The relationship between what is on the page and what is on the screen is the key to the success of any film. Critic and Flavorpill Film Editor Lisa Rosman will explore the challenges faced when you are the keeper of both flames, with writer/directors Raymond De Felitta (City Island), Gloria LaMorte and Paola Mendoza (Entre Nos) and Jac Schaeffer (TiMER).
DATE: Sunday, April 26
TIME: 12 PM
LOCATION: Barnes & Noble Union Square
Writing Big and Small: A Conversation with Brian Koppelman and David Levien
Writing with a big budget is often perceived as different than writing with a small one. Does money affect the imagination of the writer? Join former Premiere film critic and current Some Came Running blogger Glenn Kenny as he discusses the intersection of production budgets and the creative process with Brian Koppelman and David Levien (The Girlfriend Experience, Ocean's Thirteen).
DATE: Monday, April 27
TIME: 3 PM
LOCATION: Barnes & Noble Union Square
Labels: Festival Ambassador
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 3/30/2009 12:08:00 PM
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