Multicultural Arts and Entertainment News

The Tribeca Film Festival, founded in 2001, an annual celebration of film, music and culture, will be held this year on April 15-26 in New York. This year’s themes reflect the diversity of the film program including African American, Asian, Female Centric, Female Directors, Latin, LGBT, TFI Supported among others. The Tribeca Film Festival helps filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enabling the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. It is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors. For more information visit: www.tribecafilm.com. 

African American Themed Films at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival  

This year African American Themed Films include: 

• The Greatest Catch Ever - the new short film from director Spike Lee that revisits the New York Giants’ epic Super Bowl XLII victory over the New England Patriots. The event is part of the “Tribeca Talks” panel series which was designed to bring film enthusiasts together with some of the most prolific directors, actors and industry leaders to explore a wide array of topics and spark a richer dialogue about film.

Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) will expand its Tribeca All Access (TAA) program to include grants and resources for interactive storytellers statistically underrepresented in the media maker community, made possible by $200,000 in support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Since 2004, the diversity-focused TAA program has served as TFI’s premiere scripted and documentary filmmaker program, specializing in providing a range of programming for storytellers who create groundbreaking films that bring unheard voices to the mainstream. As a result of this expansion, TFI will implement three new programming initiatives under TAA: an Interactive Prototype Fund, a workshop for TAA Interactive grantees and a dedicated TAA hackathon. These initiatives will also broaden the program’s diversity of artistic mediums and create engaging and infinitely ‘share-able’ work to inspire dialogue and action about issues facing our society. Submissions for the inaugural Interactive Prototype Fund, which aims to build new bridges between technology and filmmaking, opened on January 8th. The grant will encourage the development of exceptional and novel ideas from applicants for projects, rather than work that is already in development. The second programming initiative is the residential workshop, which will be offered to TAA Interactive grantees and will run for three consecutive days during Fall 2015. Led by an experienced facilitator and TFI staff, this workshop will allow the grantees to engage with their projects and build community with each other in order to encourage more collaboration in this emerging space. Lastly, to amplify the message of the work being achieved through the TAA Interactive grants, TFI will design an audience-facing hackathon to rapidly prototype projects around a central issue or theme. TFI, in partnership with The MacArthur Foundation, will develop the topic and programming, which will reflect the organizations’ mutual goals for social impact. This hackathon will be held over a 4-5-day-long workshop with an emphasis on the final product. The participants will be different from the Interactive Prototype Fund grantees, and will be selected with an eye towards diversity in recognition of the serious lack of diversity in the technology field. For more information and Rules & Regulations on the grants, please visit Tribeca Film Institute website, https://tribecafilminstitute.org/pages/taa_interactive_rules_and_regulations.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present “The Last Laugh: An Alternate History of Spanish Comedy,” a series focusing on the tradition of grotesque humor throughout the history of Spanish cinema, from December 12-18, and will include appearances by Santiago Aguilar, José Luis Cuerda, Isaki Lacuesta, and Óscar Pérez. Politically charged, with healthy doses of black humor, the films in the series portray how drastically Spanish culture and society have changed over the last 60 years at the same time that they show how many aspects of Spain have hardly changed at all. The series includes: "20 Centimeters" by Ramón Salazar, "Amanece, que no es poco" by José Luis Cuerda, “Astronauts" by Santi Amodeo, "Holy Thriller" by María Cañas, "Caution to the Wind" by Isaki Lacuesta, "Justino: A Senior Citizen Killer" by Santiago Aguilar and Luis Guridi, "The Last Circus" by Álex de la Iglesia, "Mommy’s a Fool" by Santiago Lorenzo and several classics including "El verdugo" by Luis García Berlanga. For more information, visit filmlinc.com.

James L. Nederlander, Estefan Enterprises, Inc and Bernie Yuman announced that ON YOUR FEET! – a new musical based on the life story of seven-time GRAMMY® winning international superstar Gloria Estefan and her husband, producer-musician-entrepreneur Emilio Estefan – will have its Opening Night on Broadway on Thursday, November 5, 2015, withpreview performances beginning Monday, October 5, 2015 at the Marquis Theatre in New York City. ON YOUR FEET! is the story of two people who—through an unwavering dedication to one another and their pursuit of the American dream—showcased their talent, their music and their heritage to the world in a remarkable rise to global superstardom. Set to Gloria’s chart-topping hits such as “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” “1-2-3,” “Mi Tierra,” and “Conga,” in addition to new music penned by the Estefans, the show will be choreographed by four-time Drama Desk nominee Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys, Memphis) with a book by two-time Drama Desk nominee Alexander Dinelaris (The Bodyguard Musical, Zanna Don't). The musical, directed by two-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray), will land on Broadway following a five-week World Premiere engagement at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, from June 2 – July 5, 2015. The production also launched an international casting search, Reach Gloria (#ReachGloria) which offered performers around the world a chance to audition for all roles in the Broadway cast of ON YOUR FEET! by submitting audition videos online at www.OnYourFeetMusical.com.

The film is based on the Acclaimed Novel by James Welch. Directors Alex and Andrew Smith, in their first movie since The Slaughter Rule, (which introduced the world to Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams) have made a film that is true to the lyrical and unflinching spirit of James Welch’s classic 1974 novel of Native American life. The film was shot in the badlands of Montana and is accompanied by an unforgettable score from the acclaimed Austin band, Heartless Bastards and features brand new songs by Robert Plant, Cass McCombs, Cowboy and Indian and Black Prairie, among other musical artists. Associate produced by Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian who grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and is an internationally renowned Native American writer, poet, screenwriter and filmmaker.The film will be released by Kino Lorber in NYC at the IFC Center on August 20th with rollout to follow.