Nancy Schafer
Executive DirectorWe watch for the startling, the surprising, the moving, the eye-opening, the new. When we find that, when we have that "aha!" moment, the next best part to seeing the film is bringing that feeling into the programming meetings and sharing it with my colleagues. Just as filmgoers like to talk about movies with their friends, we discuss movies—sometimes heatedly with opposing views, sometimes all in agreement (though this is not as fun!). The other great part about programming films is bringing them to our audience, hearing their thoughts on films, and watching them debate as we have.
David Kwok
Director of ProgrammingHaving been with the Tribeca Film Festival since its inaugural year in 2002, it’s been exciting and interesting to see how not only the Festival has changed and grown, but how the world of film has changed as well. Our first year yielded 1,300 submissions compared to 4,500 for 2009. The increase in the number of films has given us the ability to present a more diverse slate each year. We’ve seen new directors able to make films that perhaps they may not have been able to make seven years ago. Additionally, more countries are producing films than ever before. For me, that’s what makes putting together the program together exciting—the chance to view all these films from around the world—and bring them together in one place. Now, more than ever, we can say that our film program really has something for everyone.
Genna Terranova
Senior ProgrammerMovies are my favorite form of storytelling. Having the power to transport me to another place—whether I am ready for it or not—they range from a sweet escape to a sobering wake-up call. Before joining Tribeca, I worked for several years as a film acquisitions executive and watched movies at festivals around the world to determine what I believed audiences would want to see and what would thrive in the marketplace—an alchemic decision-making process that may never fully be mastered. Since festival programming allows for more range and diversity, and no less of a discerning eye, my own eclectic tastes can be entertained. Although my programming choices are made in an equally intellectual and intuitive way, it’s hard not to yield to my old sentiments—I like what works and moves me. However, in the end, the filmmakers are the true tastemakers, and I just try to sit back, enjoy the ride, and steer the good ones your way.
Jim Browne
Programmer2009 will mark my fourth year working at the Tribeca Film Festival. Each year I continue to be amazed by the variety and breath of work that we see from around the world. I'm so fortunate to be able to work with an incredible group of people who are so committed to finding the real gems out there and helping to bring them to the screen each spring. For me, part of the thrill of programming is about finding the titles that tell stories about people and ways of life that we don't usually get to experience. In the rapidly changing landscape of film distribution, film festivals are an integral part of the release for so many films, and it's a real honor to be able to help give some of these films a home at our Festival. I look forward to seeing this year's roster of inspired work on the screen.
Jon Gartenberg
Programmer, Experimental FilmsI have programmed the experimental, independent, and avant-garde films and videos for Tribeca since 2003. These films are integrated into the various sections of the Festival, enabling such cutting-edge works to be appreciated by a general audience. A number of these films have won prizes at Tribeca. My varied career as a film archivist, distributor, and programmer extends back several decades. I formerly worked as a curator in The Museum of Modern Art, acquired avant-garde movies for the permanent collection of the Department of Film, and restored the films of Andy Warhol. Currently, my company, Gartenberg Media Enterprises, distributes experimental films on DVD and licenses clips from these films for documentaries. I advise cutting-edge filmmakers on the economics of experimental film distribution and exhibition, and I have recently published an article (“The Fragile Emotion”) about this in the book Swimming Upstream: A Lifesaving Guide to Short Film Distribution.
Photo credit: Kyle Goldman
Sharon Badal
Short Films ProgrammerEach time I press play on that DVD, I’m looking for new talent, creative stories, and an invitation into a world that I haven’t seen before in exactly the same way. Yes, I’ll admit, I do have a short attention span. Be grateful for that. My eye is always searching for something that “gets me.” I mean it gets me to cry, to laugh, or to stop dead in my tracks. Jettison your theories of pre-conceived themes, desires for specific stories or genres, and a need for name actors. That’s not what it’s about—it’s about that moment when I am so impressed I pause the DVD and think about what I’ve just seen. That moment of discovery. Yeah, that moment. I watch around 1,500 shorts each season, which requires self-imposed exile, a great deal of concentration (and caffeine), and a true passion for short films. It’s the excitement that comes with seeing something that blows me away. That’s the rush. That’s why I wrote a book about it. That’s why I love being a programmer.
Maggie Kim
Short Films ProgrammerEven though a short film is, more often than not, characterized by its runtime, by no means does it define the short film. Having watched films for most of my life, I have experienced viewing moments ranging from the 10-minute piece that felt like a lifetime to the three-hour epic that flew by. No doubt, short films pose a unique challenge for filmmakers to be creative and skillful within a relatively short period of time that inherently is much less forgiving. What is amazing is the number of filmmakers that meet that challenge each year and completely blow us away with their creativity and talent. The privilege of being a shorts programmer is the opportunity to access and watch these films that would otherwise be unavailable. Bottom line, given the tremendous volume of shorts considered, sometimes it’s a no-brainer when making selections—because you know you have something special when that 11-minute short you saw 581 films ago is still stuck in your head.
Inés Aslan
Associate ProgrammerThis is my second year as publicist at the Tribeca Film Festival and my first as Associate Programmer and Consultant for Latin American film. My passion for moving images began at three, when every Wednesday afternoon my dad would bring me to the movies. Years later, as a dancer and choreographer, I explored the different ways is which to tell stories through movement—how to represent ideas with action, how to thread them together. I transitioned to the film medium when I got the urge to get less abstract and closer to everyday life. For eight years I worked at Lincoln Center promoting every kind of world cinema and programming Latin American film. I love traveling around the world and getting to know how people live, feel and think without moving from my chair. I am captured by the inescapable political nature of documentaries and cherish the simple perfection of a well-told fiction tale. During this year’s selection process at the Festival, watching hundreds of movies in just a few months alongside my programming colleagues provided for an intense dose of these thrills. The Festival is a great opportunity to bring this same unique experience to our audiences, and it’s my pleasure to be part of it.
Aaron Dobbs
Associate ProgrammerDuring one college summer, I became a cliché in the most Tarantinoesque way: Working at a Blockbuster, I fell for film. From Wilder to Scorsese, De Sica to Kurosawa and all the burgeoning indie films of the early ‘90s, I became a junkie. With the announcement of the first Tribeca Film Festival, I knew I had to participate in this great new cinematic institution, and so I volunteered. Two years later, the powers that be noticed I wouldn’t leave, so they gave me a job. As my background was in different areas of the film industry and I already spent my free time talking about and watching movies, I was lucky enough to join the programming team. Four years later, I’m proud to help put together this wonderful program while also bring the audience a bit closer to some of the stories behind the stories through our wide assortment of post-screening discussions and other panel conversations. As Tribeca has grown, so has my appreciation for those filmmakers who continue to find new ways of expanding this art form through dynamic storytelling, both fictional and non. I encourage you to immerse yourself in this 8th Festival, and I hope you have as much fun doing so as I’ve had playing my part in putting this year’s program together.
Sara Nodjoumi
Associate ProgrammerI’ve been working with the Tribeca Film Festival since 2002. Each year we watch hundreds of films and with every film, there’s a sense of excitement—curiosity—what am I in for now? In the end, what catches my eye is a film with a certain level of social awareness—a window into the “other”—capturing anything from a child’s true life experience to teenage angst about life’s challenges to our state of affairs. Films that give people young and old a chance to empathize with a character—to come away empowered or with a greater understanding of the world. To me, films that can entertain and cause a certain level of introspection are successful films. A film festival has an obligation to present films outside of the mainstream. And our audience is hungry for such content. It’s a pleasure to be part of a team that presents an exciting slate of films to such a diverse and enthusiastic crowd. Hopefully festivalgoers will agree.
Kellen Quinn
Associate ProgrammerI first decided to pursue something in the world of film when it struck me that film has its own particular language. I quickly realized, though, that there are actually many languages in film and none of them is universal except that people the world over obviously love movies. Programming, for me, involves taking that love of movies and somehow amplifying and multiplying it by bringing different film languages, voices, and approaches into conversation with each other. It might be cacophonous or it might achieve harmony, but hopefully the ensemble offers what I most value in a film: encountering something new or seeing something familiar in a new way. Because my first engagement with film coincided with studying Russia and Eastern Europe, I have a particular interest in films from that part of the world, which played an influential role in cinema’s development and whose complexities and flux make it a fertile ground for new stories, new films, and new discoveries.
Roya Rastegar
Associate ProgrammerI believe films can change the world—but not without people. As screens become smaller and more individual, festivals are one of the few spaces people can inspire, provoke, and excite one another by sharing a cinematic experience. I come to the Tribeca Film Festival after experience at a number of festivals, including Sundance, the Arab Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. My passion for programming reaches nerdy depths: my doctoral dissertation examines the role of film festival curatorial practices on audience interaction. I heart programming because each great film delivers surprising surges of energy to unexpected outcomes. Whether they are quirky characters in everyday situations, or accessible characters with unique conditions, what gets me every time are earnest, well observed stories that reveal vulnerabilities and take me to the limit of humanity and back. Whether it be a documentary that makes the personal political, or a romantic comedy that shirks (co-)dependence on a single, infallible love interest… they all offer small steps towards a kinder world.
Cara Cusumano
Assistant ProgrammerMy first job in film, like so many other eager but not-yet-qualified young film nerds, involved wearing a bowtie and tearing tickets at a 99-cent second-run movie theater in my hometown. Somehow, I made it from there to here, and it was an honor to be asked to assist the programming team at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. I am in awe of the hundreds of talented filmmakers whose work I screened. These filmmakers have put their passion in the hands of the festival, and it is the programmers’ responsibility to be just as passionate, to advocate for those films which demand to be seen, and to work together to make sure audiences are getting access to the finest, freshest, most visionary voices representative of the breadth of works considered. The result of this collaboration is an exceptional program which I am honored to have had a small part in shaping. A decade after my summer at the 99-cent theater and I’m still essentially in the same place, standing between the films and the audiences, hoping you enjoy the show.
