The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Free Events

The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by Founding Sponsor American Express, today announced the return of its signature free community events: the Tribeca Drive-In (April 19-21), Family Festival Street Fair (April 28), Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day (April 28) and the second annual Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day (April 21).

The Festival also announced the three film titles that will be screened at the Tribeca Drive-In, co-sponsored by JetBlue and Time Warner Cable, hosted by Brookfield and supported by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. TFF’s much-loved outdoor screening series will entertain families and movie lovers of all ages with special screenings of the classic summer thriller Jaws, the swashbuckling adventure-comedy The Goonies, and the premiere of the baseball documentary Knuckleball! Each evening will feature games and activities inspired by the films, including baseball trivia and pitching clinics with pitchers R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets, Tim Wakefield, formerly of the Boston Red Sox, and former New York Yankee Jim Bouton, a treasure hunt, and live music courtesy of the New York Downtown Jazz Festival.

Returning this spring for the second year is the Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day, presented in partnership with NYFEST (New York Film & Entertainment Soccer Tournament), an organization co-founded by Sony Pictures Classics executive Dylan Leiner and film director Jeffrey Saunders. The event will feature a five-aside industry soccer tournament where professionals from film, television, music and sports will participate; a celebrity match; a youth soccer showcase with professional coaches and soccer legends for kids of all skill levels; a freestyle juggling clinic with World Juggling Freestyle champion Eli Freeze, and other entertainment and activities throughout the day. Proceeds from the team registration fees will benefit non-profit organizations and charities focused on the betterment of youth in the inner city. Festival-goers, athletes and the general public are invited to participate.

“Since its inception, the Tribeca Film Festival has strived to give back to the neighborhood and the city with free community events for New Yorkers and visitors of all ages,” said Nancy Schafer, Tribeca Film Festival Executive Director. “We are thrilled to continue the tradition with Festival favorites like the Drive-In, Family Festival Street Fair and Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day, and to challenge our industry colleagues, young athletes and soccer fans with the Tribeca/NYFEST Soccer Day tournament.”

For more information, visit http://www.tribecafilm.com/.