IndependentFilm.com

New York, NY [March 29, 2007] – Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Eva Mendes, Julia Stiles, Tiki Barber, Ishmael Beah, Jonathan Lethem, Rachel Dratch and other film, literary and media industry personalities are scheduled to participate in a series of conversations and discussions as part of the 2007 Tribeca Talks Panel Series from Thursday, April 26th to Saturday, May 5th. Tribeca Talks is a series of conversations that touches on current trends across the world of entertainment. The program encompasses everything from laughter in the movies to film as a cultural tool for change. This years Tribeca Talks series topics include film and the Internet, the fame game and violence in film. Tribeca Talks take place during the Tribeca Film Festival, which is presented by American Express.

Highlights from this year’s Tribeca Talks include “Bringing Home the Bacon” - a conversation with women who have gone from working in front of the camera to behind it - featuring Rosario Dawson, Eva Mendes, Julia Stiles, Mary Stuart Masterson and Julie Delpy. Chris “Ludacris” Bridges will discuss his career past, present and future and Jonathan Tisch will host a conversation with Tiki Barber where they will explore his transition from football to a career in news and entertainment. Hotel Rwanda director Terry George and Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier in Sierra Leone, will participate in Real Horror Stories, a discussion about pop culture’s ability to effect change on the ground in some of the world’s most devastated places. Cinema 2.0 looks at the ever-changing landscape of Internet and film and how, with current technology, anyone can be a film star. Josh Bernstein, Les Stroud and Phillippe Cousteau, Jr. will discuss making films while battling the elements of nature in And Then…He Ate a Snake while Rachel Dratch and Rachael Harris explore women in comedy during Look Who’s Laughing.

TRIBECA TALKS PANEL SERIES DISCUSSIONS:

THE KID SLAYS IN THE PICTURE
If it bleeds, it leads. Blood, guts and severed limbs have historically been box office cash cows but as Capitol Hill turns up the heat on television violence, studios and filmmakers wonder…will the big screen be next on the chopping block?
PANELIST: Jim Steyer (CEO, Founder, Common Sense Media)

DATE: Thursday, April 26
TIME: 7 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

BRINGING HOME THE BACON
They act. They write. They produce. And they direct. We sit down with some of Hollywood’s super hyphenates—those multi-tasking film stars who have become media conglomerates of their own.

PANELISTS: Eva Mendes (Live!, Hitch), Julie Delpy (2 Jours A Paris, Before Sunrise), Julia Stiles (Raving, Save The Last Dance,), Rosario Dawson (Kids, Descent) and Mary Stuart Masterson (The Cake Eaters, Fried Green Tomatoes)

DATE: Friday, April 27
TIME: 7 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

AND THEN…HE ATE A SNAKE
Statistically, the person most likely to get attacked by a shark is the one with the most flesh exposed. Get tips like this and more when we sit down with some seriously adventurous filmmakers—those who immerse themselves in the elements, so that you don’t have to! Let’s compare scars.

PANELISTS: Josh Bernstein (Digging For the Truth) Les Stroud (Survivor Man) and Philippe Cousteau, Jr. (President, EarthEcho International, Ocean’s Deadliest).

MODERATOR: Boyd Matson (Wild Chronicles, National Geographic Today)

DATE: Saturday, April 28
TIME: 1 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

SPIES LIKE THEM
Before, he was evil and my enemy; now, he is evil and my friend.
Alec Leamas, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

Wondering what side that G-Man’s on? Or if she’s a sparrow? We join real life secret agents and the ones that play them to crack the code behind the public’s fascination with espionage on the big screen.

PANELISTS: Milt Bearden (CIA consultant on The Good Shepherd), Robert Baer (Syriana), and Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
MODERATOR: Christopher Isham (ABC News)

DATE: Saturday, April 28
TIME: 7 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

TRIBECA TALKS: TIKI BARBER, NO PAIN...NO GAIN
Broken bones, torn ligaments, concussions. Tiki Barber’s tenure as the New York Giants' premier running back may prove to be the perfect training ground for a career in entertainment and news. Jonathan Tisch sits down with the master of rushing and receiving to discuss what the future holds for this neo-renaissance man.

DATE: Sunday, April 29
TIME: 1 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

LOOK WHOSE LAUGHING
And they are not supposed to be. A recent study out of Stanford University suggests that women are not, well, funny. We beg to differ and our guests are hilarious proof.

PANELISTS: Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), Rachael Harris (Notes From the Underbelly, Evan Almighty)

DATE: Sunday, April 29
TIME: 4 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

CINEMA 2.0: ME, MYSELF AND IPOD
Today, you are the master of your own domain, the creator, the conjurer. Whether in Beirut, Bangkok or Brooklyn, your audience is a webcam away. Our panel of web-celebs and content creators step out from behind their laptops to take a look at the revolution and responsibility of this socio-technological phenomenon and what it means for the future of creativity.

PANELISTS: Charles Leadbeater (Author, We-think, Up the Down Escalator) Brent Weinstein (President, UTA Online) Kathleen Grace (Co-Creator: The Burg), Jonathan Lethem (The Promiscous Materials Project, You Don’t Love Me Yet: A Novel), and Jerry Paffendorf (Electric Sheep Factory, Second Life).

DATE: Monday, April 30
TIME: 7 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

REAL HORROR STORIES
From Blood Diamond and The Last King of Scotland to both real and fictionalized accounts of refugees in Sudan and Sierra Leone horrendous stories from the world's most devastated places have become a kind of cultural cache. Can the visibility afforded by pop culture actually create real-life change?

PANELISTS: Suliman Baldo (International Center for Transitional Justice), Ishmael Beah (A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier) Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, Reservation Road) Christopher Quinn (Director, God Grew Tired of Us) John Dau (God Grew Tired of Us, Director of Sudan Project, Direct Change, Inc.)

DATE: Tuesday, May 1
TIME: 7 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

TRIBECA TALKS: LUDACRIS
Three time Grammy® winner, multi-platinum musician, actor, record label executive and producer. Chris "Ludacris" Bridges is one of today's fastest rising screen talents. With critically acclaimed performances in Crash, Hustle & Flow and Law & Order SVU, Bridges is soon to be seen in the comedy film Fred Claus. He sits down with Vanity Fair's Lisa Robinson to talk about music, movies and more.

DATE: Wednesday, May 2
TIME: 7:30 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

FAME! I’M GONNA LIVE FOREVER!
In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. - Twelfth Night

Ah, to be famous. The money, the lifestyle, the paparazzi picking through your garbage cans….With the price tag on interviews, pictures, anything having to do with a celebrity growing higher each day, Tribeca Talks gets serious about fame. What drives it, who wants it and is it something you are born to have? Our panel of scientists and damage-control experts discuss the psychological roots behind the need to swivel necks and the collateral damage that comes with being a household name.

PANELISTS: Jake Halpern (Author, Fame Junkies), Robert Millman (Psychologist, Acquired Situational Narcissism) Bruce Dern (They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Things I've Said, But Probably Shouldn't Have: An Unrepentant Memoir), Janice Min (Editor In Chief US Weekly).
DATE: Thursday, May 3
TIME: 7pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

Alfred P Sloan Foundation presents:

PRODIGIES, NOBELISTS AND PENGUINS: SCIENCE AND STEREOTYPES IN THE MOVIES
Drawing on several new films at this years festival--Vitus, Nobel Son and Eye of the Dolphin--and such acclaimed movies as A Beautiful Mind, Proof, Good Will Hunting, The Aviator, March of the Penguins and more Tribeca Talks brings filmmakers and scientists together for an entertaining conversation about science in the movies.

DATE: Saturday, May 5th
TIME: 1 pm
LOCATION: BMCC TribecaPAC 2

Venues and Tickets
AMC Theatres® is the official theatre partner for the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and will help the Festival expand its reach with two new screening venues: AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 and AMC Loews 72nd Street 1. Clearview Chelsea West is another key venue addition for 2007. In addition to these three new venues, festival screenings will take place at the following venues: AMC Loews 34th Street 14, AMC Loews Village 7, Regal Cinemas Battery Park Cinemas 11, Tribeca Cinemas, BMCC Tribeca PAC, Pace University Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, Drive-in at the North Cove, Tribeca Film Center and The Grand Theater @ Tribeca Grand.

Please visit www.tribecafilmfestival.org or call 866.941.FEST (3378) to purchase Festival Passes, Packages and individual tickets. Single tickets can be purchased online, by phone, or at the Tribeca Film Festival box office, located at 15 Laight Street (between Varick and Avenue of the Americas, one block south of Canal Street) and additional satellite locations. Single tickets will be available to downtown residents (with proof of residency) at only the Tribeca Festival Box Office beginning on Friday, April 13th. Single tickets will be available for purchase to the general public online, by phone, and at the Box Office beginning on Saturday, April 14-Sunday, May 6.

About the Tribeca Film Festival:
The Tribeca Film Festival was founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff after the attacks on the World Trade Center to help economically and culturally revitalize Lower Manhattan through an annual celebration of film, music, and culture. The Festival’s mission is to assist filmmakers to reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film, and to promote New York City as a major filmmaking center.

In its first five years, the festival attracted over one and a half million attendees from the US and abroad and created more than $325 million in economic activity for New York City.

The sixth annual Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 25th to May 6th, 2007. The Festival is anchored in Tribeca with additional venues throughout Manhattan, and includes film screenings, special events, concerts, a family street fair, and Tribeca Talks panel discussions. For more information on this year’s festival, as well as for highlights on the festival and filmmakers as it takes place, please visit www.tribecafilmfestival.org.

About the 2007 Festival Sponsors:
As Founding Sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival, American Express is committed to expanding the Festival, bringing it to new audiences in compelling ways while offering Cardmembers and the general public special benefits that enhance the festival-going experience. As part of a long-term partnership with the Festival, American Express delivers on its Cardmembers’ passion for film, celebrates filmmakers, fosters community and brings energy and business to Lower Manhattan.

The Festival is pleased to announce the return of its Signature Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, AMC Theatres, Apple, Aquafina, Bloomberg, Brookfield Properties, Budweiser Select, Delta Air Lines, Empire State Development/I Love New York, General Motors, Jameson Irish Whiskey, NBC4HD, RR Donnelley, The New York Times, Telemundo 47, Tribeca Grand Hotel and Vanity Fair. The Tribeca Film Festival is also honored to welcome the following new Signature Sponsors: AARP, Axium, Montblanc, and Target.