Tribeca Film Institute Kicks Off 'TFI Interactive' Program Today

The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) previously announced the program for the second annual TFI INTERACTIVE daylong conference at the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF). Made possible by support from the Ford Foundation, TFI INTERACTIVE, which launched at last year's TFF, will assemble the brightest thinkers and innovators from the worlds of film, media, gaming, technology and society to explore storytelling in digital age through an all-day forum today, April 20.

Through a full day of panels and presentations, thought leaders will share their insights with TFF attendees and inspire content creators to rethink paradigms. The Day will explore the digital media ecosystem and the tools and trends that are changing the art of business and film. Conversations will range from the rich narratives found in adventure games led by Kill Screen co-founder Jamin Warren, to a look at why telling stories is so important and advantageous to society, to an examination of how code and maker culture can give artists and creators a rich new digital palette to work with. The event will take place from 9:30 am - 5pm at the IAC Building and is open to all TFF badge holders and invited guests. Attendees can participate and share comments via Twitter hashtag #TFII.

"At TFI INTERACTIVE, we will weave our way from hacking to maker culture, and from games to web docs as we explore the rapidly evolving field of transmedia through a number of project case studies," said Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives at the Tribeca Film Institute. "Last year we looked at the media industry with a wide lens to see how different fields apply theories of interactivity. So much has evolved in the last 12 months and this year's program seeks to highlight the creators and projects experimenting with audience involvement and immersive spaces. It's time for more big ideas, inspiring projects and amazing people."

The second annual TFI INTERACTIVE conference joins a range of other TFF and TFI initiatives that bridge filmmaking and technology, including TFF's Storyscapes - a juried, multi-platform transmedia section created in collaboration with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE Gin that will launch at the 2013 Festival along with the Bombay Sapphire Award for Transmedia, and the annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards; as well as year-round programming like the Future of Film discussion series; Tribeca Hacks, a nationwide series of workshops that brings together content creators with technology experts to increase understanding in the field of interactive storytelling; the Tribeca Online Festival; and the TFI New Media Fund, which, in partnership with the Ford Foundation, provides funding and support to non-fiction, social issue media projects that integrate film with content across media platforms.

TFI INTERACTIVE - PROGRAM & SCHEDULE:

9:50 a.m. - Opening remarks
Beth Janson, executive director of the Tribeca Film Institute

10 a.m. - KEYNOTE: THE CLOUD FILM MAKING MANIFESTO
Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards
Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker, founder of The Webby Awards and recipient of 50
awards including one of Tribeca's Disruptive Innovation Awards will present a Live "Cloud Filmmaking Manifesto" where she will describe her new participatory way of making films collaboratively with people all over the world. She has released 3 of these films to date, customized for free for nearly 500 nonprofits worldwide (part of the Cloud Filmmaking concept), and the last one, Brain Power: From Neurons to Networks, was just selected by the US State Department as one of the films to represent America in the 2013-14 American Film Showcase. In this keynote she will share how she makes these films as well as premiere their latest short film in the series, The Science of Character.

10:40 a.m. - A WISH FOR THE FUTURE
Lance Weiler, filmmaker and innovator
Wish For The Future is a creative platform to empower everyone to shape the world around them and create a better future now. Lance Weiler is known as an interactive media trailblazer and for TFI Interactive will be taking the digital into physical throughout the event with the help of the audience.

11a.m. - PANEL: ARE ADVENTURE GAMES THE NEW TELEVISION?
Moderated by Jamin Warren, co-founder of Kill Screen; confirmed panelists include Sarah Elmaleh (Kill Screen)
Think you know everything about narrative? When it comes to gaming you may be surprised. Adventure games are maturing and increasingly seen as a perfect narrative complement to the rich storytelling found on television. Jamin Warren of Kill Screen talks with panelists about the future of gaming and the evolution of narrative.

11:30 a.m. - NFB INTERACTIVE SINCE BEAR 71
Loc Dao, head of digital content and strategy for English Programming at the National Film Board of Canada
Loc Dao will take attendees through the projects NFB Interactive has been working on since the smash hit Bear 71. They are about to do it again with Circa 1948 by Stan Douglas, a 3D historical augmented reality app that captures the stories and architecture of a transitional post-war era Canada. Get a sneak peak of this exciting project by a world-renowned artist.

11:50 a.m. - STORY+WONDER
Jason Silva, filmmaker and futurist
Called a "Timothy Leary for the Viral Video Age", Jason Silva is known as an innovator and disruptor. He definitely breaks the traditional media mould with his wide-ranging curiosity and infectious enthusiasm. His non commercial short films have been seen millions of times online and Jason has spoken at TEDGlobal and keynoted events for IBM, INTEL, Microsoft and SXSW.. In this 20 minute inspirational talk he will touch upon some of the highlights of his past work, the pace of technological disruption, and reflect on why telling stories is so important to us. Jason can be seen this April as the host of National Geographic Channel's new series Brain Games.

12:10 p.m. - LOCALORE SESSION 1
Localore, an independent producer-driven public media production from AIR, Inc, has birthed a set of inspiring transmedia projects that open our imaginations to the new possibilities of "full spectrum storytelling." Some of the most meaningful and powerful projects happen on our doorsteps. Discover ten of them.

· AUSTIN MUSIC MAP - Uncovering Austin's surprisingly diverse sonic subculture in tandem with fans and performers.
· REINVENTION STORIES - Reinvention offers residents of Dayton a chance to reflect on how they're remaking their lives and community.
· PLANET TAKEOUT - Planet Takeout solicits perspectives from both sides of the counter on how Chinese carryouts have become an unlikely crossroads of community.
· HEAR HERE - Hear Here seeks residents' most resonant place-based stories enabled in art by a custom-built booth inspiring mobile listening and contributions
· BLACK GOLD BOOM - Black Gold Boom traverses the oil rigs, man camps, and crossroads of North Dakota's oil rush through a series of lively multimedia pieces.

12:40 p.m. - A WEB-DOCUMENTARY MANIFESTO
Jesse Shapins, CEO/co-founder of Zeega
Zeega has quickly enabled film makers across the world to create non-linear, online stories without the need for a degree in computer programming. In this 10-minute presentation, Jesse Shapins will lay out a collaborative manifesto for web-documentary.

12:50 p.m. - TFI NEW MEDIA FUND PRESENTS THE 2013 GRANTEES - Session 1

· HOLLOW - Elaine Mcmillion: Like many post-industrial communities across the country, McDowell County, W. Va., is struggling to survive. Through Hollow, the Appalachian community represents themselves and their challenges as they see fit. Hollow combines video portraits, interactive data visualizations, social media and user-generated content delivered on an HTML5 website to support engagement and inspire change.
· QUESTION BRIDGE: BLACK MALES - Hank Willis Thomas: A transmedia art project that seeks to represent and redefine black male identity in America. Through video mediated question and answer exchange facilitated through strategic digital channels, diverse members of this "demographic" bridges economic, political, geographic, and generational divisions.
· IMMIGRANT NATION - Theo Rigby: Nearly every person in the U.S. has an immigration journey - be it their own or the voyage of a relative in the past. As the topic of immigration divides communities across the country, our shared history can create commonality between recent immigrants and those whose families have lived in the U.S. for generations. Immigrant Nation will use documentary film, user-generated storytelling, and data visualization to provide a social space for communities to share and connect with their immigrant histories.

1:00-2:00 p.m. - LUNCH

2:00 p.m. - TFI NEW MEDIA FUND PRESENTS THE 2013 GRANTEES - Session 2

· ALMA - Alexandre Brachet: For five years, Alma has been a member of one of Guatemala's most brutal gangs, the Maras. "Alma, a tale of violence" is a cross-platform project based on her life. In a moving confession, Alma Tells her story through a unique interactive web/tablet concept in which the viewer moves between two screen levels, a face-to-face experience and a visual evocation of Alma's recollections.
· NEW DAY NEW STANDARD - Marisa Jahn: A public art interactive hotline that informs nannies, housekeepers, elder caregivers, and their employers about New York's landmark Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, passed in November 2010. Part I features episodes combining equal parts advice and humor; Part II features an expanded storytelling initiative for callers to record and share their own messages.

2:10 p.m. - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY
Caspar Sonnen, curator, IDFA DocLab
In 2008 most of our attentions were turned to the impending doom of Wall Street. Caspar, however, was out creating the IDFA DocLab and setting forth on a journey that would lead the way for the exhibition of interactive documentary. Caspar will look at the past, present and the future of this work with an unusually broad base of experience to draw from.

2:30 p.m. - SHARE THIS, YOUR STORY, BUT SOCIAL
Deanna Zandt, co-founder and partner of Lux Digital
Deanna Zandt, media technologist and author of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking, will show how social change movements take root through collaborative media and how to harness the power of social.

2:40 p.m. - THE AATSINKI SEASON
Jessica Oreck, filmmaker, and Mike Knowlton, co-founder Murmur
Developed during a P.O.V. hackathon this seasonal and episodic online documentary is the companion piece to Aatsinki: The Arctic Cowboys (screening during the Festival). This experiential project lives alongside and supports the feature length documentary.

2:50 p.m. - LOCALORE SESSION 2

· ED ZED OMEGA - Asking the question "what does school accomplish?"
· ISEECHANGE - Flipping the scrip on environmental reporting via a participatory hub
· CURIOUS CITY - Inviting locals to pitch in at newsrooms
· SONIC TRACE - A multiplatform documentary on the experience of Latin American immigrants
· MAKING OF - a musical performance from veteran radio producers The Kitchen Sisters

3:20 p.m. - KICKSTARTING STORYTELLING
Stephanie Pereira, director of art programs at Kickstarter
Stephanie Pereira is a self-confessed make-it-happen kind of person who will explore how the Kickstarter crowd funding platform can be used as a storytelling tool - it's about the audience as much as it is the money.

3:30 p.m. - PANEL: GLUE IT, CODE IT, TWEAK IT, PLAY IT
Confirmed panelists: Reshma Saujani (Girls Who Code), Sonali Sridhar (Hacker School), Amit Pitaru (Kitchen Table Coders), Adnaan Wasey (P.O.V.)
Maker culture is more than knowing how to code, it is about a state of mind - if you can think it you can probably make it. The theory isn't that far removed from that moment where you get the idea for a film, the only difference is the next step. This panel explores rapid prototyping and getting your hands dirty to get something made and into the hands of your audience as quickly as possible.

4 p.m. - WELCOME TABLE
Joslyn Barnes, producer
WelcomeTable is a multiplatform project including a visual/auditory installation featuring large-scale photography, video portraits and live data to reveal the people behind the kitchen doors in restaurants across America. Joslyn Barnes will take us through all the elements of the project that shows that eating local is only half the battle.

4:10 p.m. - CLOUDS
James George and Jonathan Minard, media artists
CLOUDS includes interviews with 30 new media artists, curators, designers, and critics, using a super-exciting new 3D cinema format called RGBD which uses a Kinect to create a videogame-like film environment. The creators of CLOUDS will take about the possibilities for creative code and creative filmmaking using their open-source RGBD Toolkit.

4:20 p.m. - PANEL: STORYSCAPES - CREATING IMMERSIVE STORY EXPERIENCES
Moderated by Ingrid Kopp, director of digital initiatives at the Tribeca Film Institute; confirmed panelists include Hugues Sweeney (A Journal of Insomnia), Brent Hoff, Alexander Reben (Robots in Residence), Casey Pugh (Star Wars Uncut), Michael Premo (Sandy Storyline)
Storyscapes is a new section at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013, in collaboration with Bombay Sapphire, celebrating interactive transmedia projects across genres. The creators will talk about their projects and describe the process of bringing work from the web to an immersive, installation space at a film festival.

4:50 p.m. - CLOSING REMARKS
Orlando Bagwell, director of the JustFilms initiative at the Ford Foundation

5:00 p.m. - Cocktail hour

To keep up with the Tribeca Film Institute, visit the website at www.tribecafilminstitute.org.

Like the Tribeca Film Institute Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TribecaFilmInstitute. Follow us on Twitter @TribecaFilmIns and join the conversation by using the hashtag #TFI. TFI INTERACTIVE attendees can participate and share comments via Twitter hashtag #TFII.

About the Tribeca Film Institute:

The Tribeca Film Institute is a 501(c)3 year round nonprofit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001. TFI empowers filmmakers through grants and professional development, and is a resource and advocate for individual artists in the field. The Institute's educational programming leverages an extensive film community network to help underserved New York City students learn filmmaking and gain the media skills necessary to be productive citizens and creative individuals in the 21^st century. Administering a dozen major programs annually, TFI is a critical contributor to the fabric of filmmaking and aids in protecting the livelihood of filmmakers and media artists.

For more information and a list of all TFI programs visit www.tribecafilminstitute.org.