Tribeca Film Institute® Hosts Fourth Annual TFI/A&E IndieFilms StoryLab
2016.11.02
Top Industry Mentors at Three-Day Workshop in New York City
[New York, NY – November 2, 2016] – Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), in partnership with A&E IndieFilms today announced the fourth annual TFI/A&E StoryLab for documentary filmmakers, which will kick off today in New York City. StoryLab is a three-day workshop that provides one-on-one mentorship, master classes, industry discussions, and networking opportunities for five selected filmmaking teams with documentaries in production or post-production.
The TFI/A&E IndieFilms StoryLab is designed to help prepare documentary filmmakers who are preparing to submit their projects to major film festivals and are currently working on story structure and character development.
This year’s workshop sessions will be led by notable filmmakers including Looking Glass Films founder Richard Hankin (Capturing the Friedmans), and Motto Films’ Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, and Carolyn Hepburn. Additionally, StoryLab alumni Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg will share stories of their success and struggles from the feature documentary Weiner (2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner), which they co-directed and produced.
“We can’t wait to start this year’s TFI/A&E StoryLab Workshop with our partners at A&E IndieFilms," said Amy Hobby, Vice President of Artist Programs at TFI. “We continue to be impressed by the caliber of filmmakers and projects selected for StoryLab and we are excited to see them work together with our mentors to advance their projects to the next level."
“A&E IndieFilms is committed to nurturing talent in the doc community, and we are delighted to partner with Tribeca Film Institute on StoryLab once again,” said Molly Thompson, Senior Vice President of A&E IndieFilms. “Filmmakers need every advantage in crafting the most powerful stories they can. This workshop has been incredibly successful at offering talented filmmakers tools and insights that help catapult their careers. It is truly an honor to be able to mentor this year’s gifted teams.”
The participants in the Fourth Annual TFI/A&E IndieFilms StoryLab are:
DID IT! FROM YIPPIE TO YUPPIE: Directed and Produced by Paul Lovelace and Jessica Wolfson; The documentary is an exploration of 1960's activist Jerry Rubin. A radical, yogi, social networking pioneer, and capitalist: his story is one of constant reinvention.
FIRE ON THE HILL: Directed and Produced by Brett Fallentine, Produced by Jenna Cedicci; Three black cowboys from Compton, California share their stories in the wake of a mysterious fire that burnt down the community's stables, leaving the fate of the culture in question.
MY COUNTRY, NO MORE: Directed and Produced by Rita Baghdadi and Jeremiah Hammerling; Three generations of family farming tradition go up in flames as the North Dakota oil boom leaves human memory, culture and identity scorched in its wake.
UNTITLED CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROJECT: Directed and Produced by Stephen Maing, Produced by Ross Tuttle; This project is an in-depth and cinematic look at a series of convergent criminal justice stories in New York.
WHIRLYBIRD: Directed by Matt Yoka; Through an aerial reporting of Los Angeles, Zoey Tur revolutionized news media and defined our recorded memory of the city. Her eye-in-the-sky video archive captured the spectacles of 1990s L.A. and revealed her own personal complexities. The film weaves intimate interviews with stunning archives, illustrating a person as fascinating as the city she flew above.
Projects from the three previous TFI/A&E IndieFilms StoryLab workshops have gone on to achieve critical success, including 2013 participant (T)ERROR, which won the Special Jury Award for Breakout First Feature at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and began its theatrical run October 7, and 2014 participant The Wolfpack, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and premiered in theaters earlier this year.
StoryLab is one of several labs and workshops TFI hosts each year as part of its mission to empower exceptional storytellers. Other such events include the Camden/TFI Filmmaker Retreat, in partnership with the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) and CNN Films, which takes place each June, and THROUGH HER LENS: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program, which was held this year from October 25-27.
About Tribeca Film Institute (http://www.tribecafilminstitute.org)
Tribeca Film Institute champions storytellers to be catalysts for change in their communities and around the world. Each year, we identify a diverse group of exceptional filmmakers and media artists and empower them with funding and resources to fully realize their stories and connect with audiences. Further, our education programs empower students through hands-on training and exposure to socially relevant films, offering young people the media skills necessary to be creative and productive global citizens. We are a year-round nonprofit organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001.
About A&E IndieFilms
A&E IndieFilms is the feature documentary production arm of A+E Studios. A&E IndieFilms is committed to developing the work of outstanding independent filmmakers and helping them reach the broadest possible audience. Films include the 2006 and 2007 Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature, Murderball and Jesus Camp; Nanette Burstein’s American Teen, which received the Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival; Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That; R.J. Cutler’s The September Issue; Amir Bar-Lev’s 2012 Emmy Award-winning The Tillman Story; Alex Gibney’s 2011 PGA Award and DGA Award nominee Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer; Bart Layton’s BAFTA Award-winning The Imposter; Mike Myers’ directorial debut, SuperMensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon; winner of the Directing Award in the US Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, Life, Animated by Roger Ross Williams; Author: The JT LeRoy Story from Jeff Feuerzig; and the 2016 Best Documentary Academy Award nominated film, Cartel Land from Matthew Heineman, winner of three 2016 Emmy Awards, including Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.