Beba tells the story of Rebeca Huntt through the eyes of Rebeca Huntt.
This past Wednesday, the Tribeca Film Festival hosted the Tribeca X event, co-sponsored by Roku, at the Indeed Theater at Spring Studios. Tribeca X “celebrates the intersection of advertising and entertainment and honors the creators and brands who share a love of creativity and a mission to connect with consumers through the power of storytelling.” It was an afternoon filled with in-person conversations with panels on different areas relating to advertising and media. Each conversation brought together “industry leaders from brands and agencies to examine the landscape of branded entertainment and recognize the achievements of companies and creators who are adventurous and distinctive in their work.”
I had the chance to sit in on the day’s conversation, which included breakfast and networking lunch, and hear all about the amazing work that is done at the intersection between business and entertainment. It is after all referred to as the entertainment business.
Some of the Tribeca X panels and topics of conversation were as follows:
OKX Global CMO Haider Rafique in Conversation with Samantha Barry featuring Haider Rafique and moderated by Samantha Barry
Designing a Diverse Future Presented by Nike Inc featuring Brandice Daniel and Dr. D’Wayne Edwards and moderated by Jarvis Sam.
Dear Santa: From X to ABC featuring Dana Nachman, Chris Karpenko, and Jennifer Donohue and moderated by Brendan Gaul
A Whole New Ball Game: How Sports Is Driving the Creator Economy featuring Saquon Barkley and CC Sabathia and moderated byRich Kleinman
and lastly
Advancing the Culture and Currency Through Inclusive Storytelling, featuring Marc Pritchard, Zoey Martinson, Don Jackson, and LL Cool J and moderated by Rose Pierre- Louis.
Other presentations were also by Converse, Roku, and Mast- Jägermeister US.
Panelists discussed their continued faith in cryptocurrency (Rafique), turning a documentary into a docuseries to be premiered on Hulu (Dear Santa), and their efforts to widen the screen and further the efforts of storytelling in marginalized communities (P&G), among many other topics. Many of the companies discussed their efforts both financially and in messaging by working with marginalized creators to expand the scope of storytelling in today’s world. It was humbling and fulfilling to know that more people are being given the opportunity and the access to showcase their talents on a larger scale, many of them with little feedback from these larger companies.
Also during the event, there was an awards ceremony to recognize some of the outstanding participants in Tribeca X. The awards “recognize the achievements of companies and creators who share a mission to connect with consumers through the power of storytelling. Tribeca X celebrates the best story-driven filmmakers and brand collaborations of the year in four categories: Feature Film, Short Film, Series, and Immersive.”
Full Winners List:
Feature Film:
The Beauty of Blackness (Sephora)
Directed by Kianna Moore, Tiffany Johnson
Short Film:
The Comeback (Apple)
Directed by Zhang Meng
Series:
Stories About Helpful People (Zendesk)
Directed by Sindha Agha, Erin Brethauer, Tim Hussin
Immersive:
Emerging Radiance (Meta)
Created by Tani Ikeda, Michelle Kumata
Netflix, a streaming platform once best known for its original series, is slowly becoming an immense library of documentaries.
Following the success of the first season, Hillman Grad Productions and Indeed partnered up again to launch Season Two of their Rising Voices filmmaker initiative at Tribeca Film Festival. This past week, Emmy winner Lena Waithe (“The Chi”, “Master of None”, BEAUTY, Founder of Hillman Grad) and partner Rishi Rajani (CEO of Hillman Grad), as well as Chris Hyams (CEO of Indeed) and LaFawn Davis (SVP of ESG at Indeed) were joined by the ten BIPOC filmmakers who were chosen as this season’s cohort. This season’s ten cohorts were: Cara Lawson, Gbenga Komolafe, Georgia Fu, Jalmer Caceres, Justin Floyd, Leon Cheo, Tara Motamedi, Travis Wood, Shanrica Evans, and Urvashi Pathania. At the Tribeca event, each filmmaker’s finished short film about “the power and impact a job can have on someone’s life” was premiered to a full audience.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 15: General atmosphere during Indeed’s Presentation of Rising Voices Season Two on June 15, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for 2022 Tribeca Festival)
The Rising Voices initiative was created “to uncover, invest in and share stories created by BIPOC filmmakers. Indeed’s goal with the Rising Voices initiative, is to expand the creation of sustainable job opportunities for talented underrepresented creatives and through their partnership with Lena Waithe and Hillman Grad Productions, they have been able to accomplish that with over 1,000 jobs created through the program since its inception.” Each filmmaker was awarded a $10,000 writing fee, $100,000 production budget, a line crew provided by Hillman Grad and 271 Films, an additional $25,000 COVID safety budget, and mentorship from this season’s mentors Calmatic, Destin Daniel Cretton, Justin Chon, Rayka Zehtabchi, and Melina Matsoukas. Eventually, one filmmaker will be selected by Indeed for showcasing the power and meaning of work in their film, and this filmmaker will receive an additional $100,000 as a non-exclusive filmmaker-in-residence, creating work for Indeed.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 15: Lena Waithe attends Indeed’s Presentation of Rising Voices Season Two on June 15, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for 2022 Tribeca Festival)
On the carpet ahead of the screening, I was able to speak to Lafawn as well as a few of the filmmakers about their journey. You can see clips of what they had to say below.
All ten short films from Rising Voices are available to watch here.
It’s the end of an era.
The final installment of the current Jurassic World franchise, Jurassic World: Dominion premiered in theaters on Friday. The film, directed by Colin Trevorrow, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, reprising their roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, follows “four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.” This adventure also includes the original actors from the Jurassic Park franchise, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. Audiences can expect to see “uncharted territory, featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects.”
I got a chance to speak with two stars of Jurassic World: Dominion, DeWanda Wise and Mamoudou Athie, who talked about their favorite scene in the film, how they feel about being part of the Jurassic franchise, and what they want audiences to get from the film. Watch the full interview with the stars on YouTube.
Jurassic World: Dominion is now playing in theatres.
Taylor Sele was still on set, in the middle of filming, when he stepped away for our quick interview.
The long-anticipated sci-fi/action epic had its North American premiere at New York Film Festival on October 7th. The film’s director, Denis Villeneuve, gave a brief speech and special thank you to the New York audience for being in attendance. He later was joined by the film’s composer, Academy Award winner, Hans Zimmer for a post-screening Q&A.
The Wu-Tang Clan are one of the most pivotal and important rap groups in music history, so it’s only fitting their rise to the top of hip hop be immortalized not only in song but also on-screen. Enter: Wu-Tang: An American Saga, created and executive produced by the legendary RZA and Method Man. The show stars Ashton Sanders, Shameik Moore, Erika Alexander, Zolee Griggs, and Bokeem Woodbine, to name a few. Now in its second season, Wu-Tang: An American Saga is switching tracks slightly to focus more on the group’s music. “The Clan is disillusioned with life in the projects, and Bobby knows that success in the music industry could be their ticket to better lives. But getting the Clan members to drop everything for music isn’t easy,” says Hulu on Season 2. Fans of the series will get a look at the group’s development of the Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album amongst other things. I got a chance to sit down with some of the cast ahead of its premiere on September 8th. We spoke about how getting to know members of Wu-Tang has inspired their performances, how listening to their music has impacted their lives growing up, and what to expect in this new season.
Wu-Tang: An American Saga streams on Hulu starting September 8th.
CODA follows “Ruby [is] the only hearing member of a deaf family from Gloucester, Massachusetts. At 17, she works mornings before school to help her parents and brother keep their fishing business afloat. But in joining her high school’s choir club, Ruby finds herself drawn to both her duet partner and her latent passion for singing.”
False Positive (2021) directed by John Lee and written by Lee and Ilana Glazer, and story by Alissa Nutting, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in their Spotlight Narrative section.
The film follows Lucy (Ilana Glazer) and her husband Adrian (Justin Theroux) as their struggle to get pregnant continues. Adrian, a doctor, suggests they visit his old teacher Dr. Hindle (Pierce Brosnan) who happens to be one of the best fertility doctors in the country. Soon, Dr.Hindle’s special fertility treatment works and Lucy becomes pregnant. Initially, a joyful experience, as she continues to be seen by Dr. Hindle, she grows increasingly paranoid and suspicious of the doctor, a concern she shares with another mom-to-be and friend, Corgan (Sophia Bush). Lucy also fixates on a midwife she comes across Grace (Zainab Jah). What follows is a wicked web of unending questions reminiscent of Rosemary’s Baby, that leads Lucy to uncover the truth behind Dr. Hindle and his practice.
The film premieres on Hulu, Friday, June 25th.
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