BY KRISTIN MCCRACKEN |
Tribeca's Online Extension
In its third year, the Tribeca Online Film Festival evolved into a multi-layered facet of the larger Festival, thanks to filmmakers, panelists, and viewers alike.
The 2012 Tribeca Online Film Festival (TOFF), presented by American Express, was a rousing success! Thousands of movie fans from across the country watched TFF 2012 features—Babygirl, Town of Runners, The Russian Winter, and On the Mat—and shorts—BFF, CatCam, Doggy Bags, Transmission, and Scenes from a Visit to Japan.
In addition, nine shorts from the FOCUS FORWARD—Short Films, Big Ideas platform also made an appearance. These 3-minute documentaries, from acclaimed filmmakers, shined a spotlight on smart people doing good things to make the world a better place.
The Future of Film Lunch Series debuted this year at 92YTribeca. For four consecutive days, an all-star lineup—from Kickstarter, Tumblr, College Humor, Constellation, GoWatchit.com, 18 Days in Egypt, Cowbird, Canon, Betaworks, @MediaReDEF, and more—talked us trhough what they are doing related to platforms, technology, and trends that are changing the art and business of film.
Rounding out TOFF were our select live events: the 100 Years of Universal Panel, featuring Robert De Niro and Judd Apatow; the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Awards Show, where War Witch and The World Before Her took home the evening’s biggest prizes; and the sellout Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, which featured the likes of Jack Dorsey, Ed Burns, Tiffany Shlain, Scooter Braun, and, yes, Justin Bieber. (Click the links to watch archived versions of the live streams.)
As you may know, there were some TOFF-only awards presented during the Festival this year. Online viewers voted On the Mat the Best Online Feature, garnering director Fred Golding a substantial prize of $10,000, and CatCam was the crowd favorite for Best Online Short, awarding director Seth Keal a $5,000 payday.
And finally, we’d like to announce here and now the winners of the Popular Pick: the filmmakers behind Babygirl and CatCam will both take home $500 for gathering the most “likes” on the film’s screening page. (Votes were tallied through April 29.)
Congratulations to all our winners! And thanks to everyone—filmmakers and viewers alike—for participating in this year’s Tribeca Online Film Festival. We look forward to seeing you next year, if not before.
