Today the Tribeca Film Festival announced its slate of selected projects for its annual program, Tribeca All Access.
In its fifth year, Tribeca All Access is designed to promote relationships between filmmakers in underrepresented communities and prominent executives in the film industry. Running for six days throughout the festival, the 2008 All Access program takes place from April 21 through April 26th, and will present 37 new projects, its largest showing to date. The Tribeca Film festival will run from April 23rd to May 4th.
The 37 narrative and documentary filmmakers whose works were selected for the All Access program will be given the opportunity to screen their films, in an intimate one-on-one setting, to potential investors, producers, and film executives.
The Tribeca All Access program has had a history of jumpstarting the careers of young filmmakers, and has supported the development of a number of completed films. The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival will include works from three filmmakers who participated in the All Access program in the past.
The co-founder of the Tribeca Film Institute, Jane Rosenthal, commended the success of the All Access Program, saying, “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”.
Three All Access alumni, whose films were selected as official entries into the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, will each be presenting documentaries. “Fire Under the Snow”, by Makoto Sasa, tells the story of a Tibetan Buddhist monk who was imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese army for thirty-three years. “Going on 13”, by directing team Dawn Valdez and Kristi Guevara-Flanagan, follows four girls as they come of age, and Engi Wassef’s “Marina of the Zabbaleen”, explores the life of six year old Marina and her harsh life in Egypt.
The Tribeca All Access 2008 Program will include 23 narrative films, and 14 documentaries. The films cover a wide range of themes and genres, from a story of Aboriginal and White netball players in Australia coming together to compete in “Netball”, to “Beijing Taxi”, a documentary that looks at three Beijing taxi drivers and the way their lives have changed in a city playing host to the Olympics.
For more details, and a full list of the All Access films, visit http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tff/