Geoffrey Gilmore
Chief Creative Officer, Tribeca EnterprisesGeoffrey Gilmore joined Tribeca Enterprises as Chief Creative Officer. He is responsible for Tribeca's global content strategy and leads creative development initiatives and expansion of the brand. Gilmore has also joined the Board of Directors of Tribeca Enterprises. He came to Tribeca from the Sundance Institute, where he served as the Director of the Sundance Film Festival. He was responsible for film selection and the overall direction of programming from 1990 through 2009. In addition, Gilmore was a consultant for the Sundance Channel and also served as consultant to the Sundance Cinemas. He directed the Sundance Institute’s Annual Independent Producers Conference for 18 years and worked with the Institute on numerous international and national projects and symposia. For 14 years, he served as head of the UCLA Film & Television Archive's programming.
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 5,055 for 2010. 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.
Sharon Badal
Head of Shorts ProgrammingI’ve been with Tribeca since the Festival’s inception, and thousands of short films later, I’m still excited by this unique art form. I silently plead with each film to “tell me a story” because in the end, that’s what it’s about. Programming is gold-mining - sifting through the submissions to discover those brilliant nuggets with new talent, unique stories, and an invitation into a world that I haven’t seen before in exactly the same way. The solitary experience of watching the submissions leading to the communal experience of screening the programs with an audience is a journey that never ceases to amaze me. It fosters my belief in both the human connection and the power of film. I have worked in the film industry my entire life, starting at age 14 as an usher in my father’s movie theatre. So many years later, I still love being part of this creative universe, especially programming this 10th Tribeca Film Festival.
Roya Rastegar
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.
Ben Thompson
Shorts ProgrammerGrowing up as a lad in the seedy London underworld I’ve always seen myself as a bit of an underdog, fighting my way up the ladder for recognition and respect. Ever since I watched my first short film for Tribeca back in 2003, I can’t help but see shorts in the same way. Although they seldom bring about the buzz of a hip new indie feature or the hype and glamour of a Hollywood blockbuster, the best ones are crammed with just as much talent and creativity, and despite being vertically challenged, can pack one hell of a punch. For many, shorts films are the springboards for filmmakers to develop and refine their craft while exploring and experimenting with new ideas. To me though they will always be the little guys, the underdogs, in the back alleys and behind the scenes fighting their way to the top, and that is the reason why I love watching them.
Ian Hollander
Associate ProgrammerGrowing up in northern Michigan, I was fortunate to live in the one town with a cinema that showed movies outside of the mainstream—foreign and indie fare was the norm. Despite my geographic isolation, I was treated weekly to new perspectives from around the globe. Film, perhaps more than any other medium, has the ability to transport you to an entirely unfamiliar milieu and to let you see the world through another set of eyes. The Festival experience takes this transportive power and amplifies it, bringing together a staggering array of voices for an 11-day stretch. As programmers, we are charged with condensing a pool of thousands of submissions, each of which represent years of effort on the part of the filmmakers, into a select few-a truly humbling task. In my second year on the programming team, it's been an honor to help seek out fresh voices in film and take part in the impassioned debates that shaped this year's slate.
Ashley Havey
Assistant ProgrammerWhether 50 minutes or 150 minutes, from horror to satire, each film has something unique to offer to its audience. I want to thank all the filmmakers who submit to Tribeca each year for having the courage and tenacity to share those stories with us, and for opening our eyes to different perspectives, ideas, and worlds. I am a better person for watching your films, and I look forward to giving others that same opportunity.
Nancy Schafer
Executive Director, Tribeca Film FestivalNancy Schafer oversees all programming, budgeting, and operations for the Festival as well as working closely with the sponsorship team to raise funding. She joined the staff for the first Festival in 2002. As a Senior Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises, Schafer is responsible for Tribeca Film and Tribeca Film Festival Virtual, where she oversees programming and business development. In addition, she is responsible for the organization’s programming of Tribeca Cinemas. Prior to joining Tribeca, she created and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas for eight years. Along with her festival experience, Schafer has worked on several films, including two from director John Sayles (Sunshine State, Limbo); two from director Robert Byington (Olympia, Shameless), and began her film production career on The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Schafer is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
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.
Cara Cusumano
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 serve on the Tribeca Film Festival programming team for my third year. 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 that 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 that I am honored to have had a 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.
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
Joel Hoglund
Associate ProgrammerWhen I tell people I watch movies for a living they usually look at me cockeyed, as if to say, “That’s a job?” I’m surprised sometimes too, but it can be harder than it seems. Every film we watch during the selection process, no matter how good or bad, requires us to feel something. Sometimes we get to feel the elation of young love or the adventures of Western outlaws, sometimes we’re forced to feel the horrors of war, poverty, and injustice being experienced around the world. Festival programmers often watch more films in a week than some people watch all year, and the emotional roller coaster that filmmakers take us on can be taxing, but it’s so rewarding when you find an amazing film that you can share with an audience. I’ve spent the last six years working at film festivals and meeting the incredibly passionate people who make movies for all the right reasons—to make audiences feel something. I’m more grateful than ever to be able to do this for a living.
Caroline Tran
Associate ProgrammerI work for the Tribeca Film Festival in many different capacities, but watching films is probably my favorite part of the job. My year begins in September when the first of the thousands of submissions the Festival receives arrives on my desk. No matter how the films come or where they come from, there is nothing more exciting than to open a package that contains the chance to cross borders, travel across continents and even through time. For me, the surprises of the stories are endless and the experience of film, whether I am viewing as a part of the programming team or as a member of the audience, takes me on many different journeys and introduces me to worlds that I am not a part of. I think our program represents both the familiar and the unexpected and I hope our audience allows themselves to be swept away as well.
