Tribeca film fest moving online
The Tribeca Film Festival, postponed by the pandemic, is moving some elements of its annual New York event online.
Tribeca organizers said Friday that much of its programming will be available either to the public or to the film industry over roughly the same days that the festival would have taken place in April. That maintains a showcase for the filmmakers and artists who were relying on Tribeca’s platform for exposure.
Film festivals give not only upcoming films an opportunity to make a splash but exhibit many smaller movies that are seeking distribution deals. Of the largest festivals canceled by the pandemic — Cannes, SXSW, Tribeca — each has taken a different approach to the crisis.
France’s Cannes Film Festival, scheduled for May, is aiming to postpone to June or July.
South by Southwest, in Texas, was closed by the city of Austin just a week before its mid-March opening. On Thursday, it announced plans to stream participating films for a 10-day period later this month on Amazon Prime.
Tribeca is still hoping to hold a festival in the fall, but Jane Rosenthal, Tribeca’s co-founder and chief executive, acknowledged that would be a smaller scale event taking place over fewer days.
The 19th Tribeca had been scheduled for April 15 to 26.
“There’s still more we want to do in addition to what we’re releasing,” said Rosenthal. “There are certain programs we’d like to be able to do at a later time this year when that’s safe. But this right now serves the filmmakers and the industry for what they need at this time. Getting those films seen by industry and sales people is vital to those creators.”
Some elements of Tribeca will go straight to viewers, including the festival’s virtual reality and immersive storytelling entries (available via Oculus) and the advertising exhibition, Tribeca’s X Awards (on tribecafilm. com). The festival has already been hosting “A Short Film a Day Keeps Anxiety Away,” with shorts from the festival and Tribeca alumni.
Judge lets rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine go home: Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was ordered immediately freed from a Manhattan federal lockup four months early Thursday by a judge who cited his asthma and the greater danger he would face behind bars during the coronavirus outbreak.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer made the ruling a day after telling lawyers on both sides that he intended to do so.
He cited “a raging and virulent pandemic that has entered federal prisons in New York City.” Prosecutors did not oppose the action.
For Tekashi 6ix9ine, testimony against members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods gang earned him leniency from charges that could have subjected him to a mandatory minimum 37 years in prison for crimes that included orchestrating a shooting in which an innocent bystander was wounded.
April 4 birthdays: Actor Craig T. Nelson is 76. Singer Steve Gatlin is 69. Actor Hugo Weaving is 60. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 55. Actress Nancy McKeon is 54. Singer Jill Scott is 48. Magician David Blaine is 47. Actor James Roday is 44. Actress Natasha Lyonne is 41. Actress-singer Jamie Lynn Spears is 29.