TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund at TFF 2009
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund will provide up to $170,000 towards innovative and compelling filmmaking that explores scientific, mathematical, and technological themes and storylines, or a leading character who is a scientist, engineer, innovator or mathematician in fresh ways.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a founding and signature sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival since 2002, makes grants in science, technology, economic performance and the quality of American life. The Sloan Foundation is proud to join with Tribeca in sponsoring screenings, panels and readings at the Festival and in developing and producing narrative films. Sloan’s partnership with Tribeca forms part of a national program to stimulate leading artists in film, television, and theater to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists, engineers and mathematicians in the popular imagination.
This year, the Foundation is presenting three diverse events at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
TFI Awards Ceremony
April 24
(By invitation only)
The TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund will award up to $170,000 in grants to the 2009 selected projects at an awards presentation and cocktail reception to be held at City Winery.
Retrospective Screening and
Panel Discussion
April 25, 1:00 pm
(Tickets will be available via the online Film Guide.)
A special screening of Stanley Kramer’s Inherit the Wind, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Liane Hansen of NPR with special guests from the realms of film and science 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. Panelists will include Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jonathan Weiner; Jon Amiel, director of Creation; and Dr. Eugenie Scott.
Inherit the Wind
Director: Stanley Kramer
USA | 1960 | 128 min | Feature Narrative
Nearly a half-century ago, an all-star cast (including Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly) and director brought this fictionalized version of the infamous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial to the big screen. Join us as we revisit this modern classic in recognition of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal (and to some, still controversial) On the Origin of Species.
Scene Readings
April 26
(By invitation only)
The TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund presents a reading of excerpts from the select 2008 & 2009 grantee screenplays. The showcased projects include Alex Lyras’s Alva, Greg Harrison’s Radioactive Boy Scout, and others. The readings will be performed by a star cast at the Helen Mills Theater.
Last year, the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund awarded a total of $110,000 to five projects: Face Value, the story of screen siren and inventor Hedy Lamarr; Radioactive Boy Scout, the true story of a high school student who attempted to build a nuclear reactor in his backyard; Alva, a biopic about inventor Thomas Edison; A Noble Affair, an account of the personal and professional life of Marie Curie; and Kitty Hawk, the story of the Wright Brothers’ first flight.
Past projects that have received funding for screenplay development through the TFI/Sloan Partnership include outstanding screenplays about Rosalind Franklin, Richard Feynman, Edwin Hubble and Ramanujan, as well as many comedies.
Learn more about all our programs: Tribeca Film Institute Sloan Filmmaker Fund.
About the Tribeca Film Institute
The Tribeca Film Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving audiences and artists year-round. While TFI’s mission remains grounded in the heart of its New York City founding, its reach and influence in the film community has expanded to capture international acclaim and participation. Since its inception in 2001, TFI has become an industry-recognized institution. Administering a dozen major programs annually, TFI reaches 10,000 people through its year-round programming in New York City as well as its featured initiatives at the Tribeca Film Festival.
