TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL
The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Virtual (TFF Virtual), a new online
extension of the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), supported by founding partner American Express, has
announced the full film slate for its inaugural edition. Eight full-length 2010 Official Selection TFF
features, running the gamut from adventure documentary to mystical drama to uproarious teen comedy,
will be available to TFF Virtual premium passholders to screen from their computers, anywhere in thecontinental United States from April 23–April 30. Premium passes are available to U.S. residents for $45each and are on sale at www.tribecafilm.com/virtual.
Tribeca also announced that passholders will have the opportunity to vote for the TFF Virtual Best
Feature Film Award (which comes with a $25,000 cash prize for the best film) and the TFFV Best Short
Film Award (which comes with a $5,000 cash award). Both TFF Virtual Awards are sponsored by
American Express.
TFF Virtual will bring the experience of Tribeca outside of New York for the first time via the Internet.
Complementing TFF’s theatrical screenings in New York City, TFF Virtual premium pass will enable a
broad online audience to experience the following:
· Eight full-length 2010 TFF features, which will screen day-and-date with each film’s
· Festival premiere. Following each film’s TFF and TFF Virtual premiere, passholders will be
· able to view it an unlimited number of times until TFF Virtual ends April 30
· An eclectic collection of TFF 2010 short films
· Conversations with filmmakers and fellow audience members both online and at the Festival
· Panel discussions featuring top voices from the world of film
· Exclusive filmmaker interviews
· Live coverage of red-carpet premieres
The first-ever TFF Virtual will open April 23, with the world premiere of Edward Burns’ Nice Guy
Johnny, which will play simultaneously with the film’s premiere at TFF. Three additional films in the
TFF Virtual slate are world premieres, while the other four are making their North American premieres.
All visitors to www.tribecafilm.com/virtual now have access to a robust array of free content, including
selected short films from previous editions of TFF, conversations with filmmakers and industry experts
and, when TFF kicks off on April 21 – footage from the TFF Opening Press Conference, a daily highlight
reel of the day’s biggest moments and live streams of Festival red carpets.
A key feature of both the premium and free sections of TFF Virtual is the opportunity to join the
conversation unfolding online. Those conversations will include real-time dialogue with fellow film
enthusiasts around the world, Q&A’s with filmmakers and thought-provoking panels streamed online.
These new forms of interacting with TFF will give audiences globally a chance to share in the Festival
experience.
All feature titles have been previously announced in their respective sections as part of the 2010 TFF
program and the short films will be announced in the coming weeks.
Lauren Says: All this information was sent to me in a press release. I think it sounds amazing though to be honest. If you can’t actually attend the Tribeca Film Festival and I’ll wager that most can’t, then this is the next best thing. You get a chance to get up close and personal with the filmmakers as well as see all the amaing films being presented at the actual festival. I have to say, some of these sound really interesting and I’d love to be able to watch them. For only $45 (if you’re in the U.S.) you can get access to the website and all the fun, exciting goodies coming NEXT WEEK. So do not wait…Monday-Friday: 23 to the 30, I believe. Now on to the movie’s being shown…
The complete list of feature films showcased at TFF Virtual is as follows:
Nice Guy Johnny, directed and written by Edward Burns. (USA) – World and TFF Virtual
Premiere, Narrative. A master of the modern relationship dramedy, Edward Burns crafts a
summery gem centered on baby-faced 24-year-old Johnny Rizzo, who’s about to trade his dream
job in talk radio for some snoozeville gig that’ll pay enough to please his fiancée. Enter Uncle
Terry (Burns), a rascally womanizer set on turning a day in the Hamptons into an eye-opening
fling for his nephew. Nice guy Johnny’s not interested, of course, but then he meets Brooke….
Elvis & Madona (Elvis e Madona), directed and written by Marcelo Laffitte. (Brazil) – North
American and TFF Virtual Premiere, Narrative. The lives of a beautiful biker babe and a tall
blonde trannie intertwine in this vibrant Rio-set romantic comedy. Elvis is an aspiring young
photographer delivering pizzas to make ends meet. Madona’s plans for a spectacular drag show
have just been dashed when her rotten sometime lover steals all her money. When they meet by
chance, Elvis and Madona’s unlikely love will help them chase their dreams and deal with the
obstacles that arise along the way. In Portuguese with English subtitles.
Spork, directed and written by J.B. Ghuman, Jr. (USA) – World and TFF Virtual Premiere,
Narrative. Junior high isn’t easy for anyone—especially if you’re a frizzy-haired, pink-cheeked
hermaphrodite like Spork. But when the talent show shines a chance for Spork to show up Betsy
Byotch’s mean girls gang, her recently best-friended trailer-park neighbor, Tootsie Roll, steps it
up to coach her in booty-poppin’ moves. This ’80s-inspired dance send-up is littered with colorful
dialogue from a tween cast with mouths beyond their years.
Buried Land, directed by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes and Steven Eastwood, written by Geoffrey Alan
Rhodes, Steven Eastwood, and Dzeno Medanovic. (Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK, USA) – World
Premiere. The small town of Visoko heralds to the world a remarkable discovery: A valley of
ancient pyramids predating Egypt exists under the hills of central Bosnia. Tourists flood the warscarred
region, and locals are caught between the real and the imagined (mirroring the film’s
vacillation between documentary and fiction). With the help of a young man returning to his
homeland, an American film crew determines the role of faith in capturing what can not yet be
proven. In English, Bosnian with English subtitles.
Into the Cold, directed by Sebastian Copeland. (USA) – World and TFF Virtual Premiere,
Documentary. The absolute top of the earth is a place few try to reach on foot. Even fewer
succeed. With the vast arctic ice vanishing rapidly, photographer, extreme adventurer, and
environmental advocate Sebastian Copeland sets out to reach the North Pole on the centennial of
Admiral Peary’s reach in 1909. This inspiring documentary follows their tumultuous two-month
trek—not just through piercing cold and merciless terrain, but straight into the depths of the soul.
Possessed (Bool-sin-ji-ok), directed and written by Lee Yong-ju. (South Korea) – North
American Premiere. College student Hee-jin returns home in the wake of her younger sister’s
disappearance, only to find her mother a fanatical religious convert and the family’s neighbors
offing themselves in increasingly bizarre and grotesque ways. Together with detective Tae-hwan,
Hee-jin must unravel the tangled web of connections between the victims that will lead back to
the missing girl in this eminently creepy horror show. In Korean with English subtitles.
Freetime Machos, directed by Mika Ronkainen. (Finland, Germany) – North American and TFF
Virtual Premiere. Matti and Mikko play for Finland’s worst amateur rugby team. Overworked
and domesticated, the two men long for a space to revel in their masculinity and bond with other
men. Following the two friends and their teammates on a quest to end the season with just a
single win, award-winning writer/director Mika Ronkainen (Screaming Men) crafts a genuine and
disarmingly funny love story of modern male friendship. In Finnish with English subtitles. Part
of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.
The Sentimental Engine Slayer, directed and written by Omar Rodriguez Lopez. (USA,
Mexico) – North American and TFF Virtual Premiere, Narrative. Reality and fantasy entangle in
the semi-autobiographical tale of a twentysomething misfit’s loopy trip through manhood in the
dusty US-Mexico border town of El Paso, Texas. While director/writer/star Omar Rodriguez
Lopez’s psychedelic sonic sensibilities are most well-known for fueling the Grammy-winning
rockers The Mars Volta, it is piercingly clear that he is also a riveting and rare voice for
independent American cinema. In English, Spanish with English subtitles.
Leave a Reply