IndependentFilm.com

New York, NY – May 3, 2007 – The 6th annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by American Express, today announced the winners of its competitions at an awards dinner at Jing Fong restaurant in Chinatown, New York City.

This year’s Festival included 157 features and 88 short films from 47 countries. The world competition winners were chosen from 18 narrative and 16 documentary features from 25 countries. Two awards were also given to honor New York films, which were chosen from 14 narrative and eight documentary features. Of the 62 short films in competition, awards were given for best narrative, best documentary and student visionary film. The winner of the Cadillac Award, determined by audience vote, will be announced on Saturday, May 5, 2007 at the Closing Night premiere of the HBO documentary film The Gates.

A full list of awards, sponsors, presenters, prize amounts and associated artwork is listed below. A separate document of film synopses is attached for your reference.

“The talent of this year’s award winners and their diverse storytelling styles is truly impressive,” said Jane Rosenthal. “We are thrilled that the Festival has helped to bring all of our filmmakers’ voices to light and that the film community and our New York neighbors have continued to embrace the Festival year after year.”

"I'm very proud that the Festival not only supports the community through this annual celebration of film but allows us to acknowledge great talent working around the world," said Robert De Niro. "Our congratulations to this year's award winners."

“It’s gratifying that several juries offered spontaneous enthusiasm for the high level of work they watched during this festival,” said Peter Scarlet, Executive Director of the Festival. “This in fact echoes remarks we’ve heard from viewers at many of our screenings: intelligent, challenging movies are indeed alive and well, and there is an appreciative audience for films that find new ways to open our eyes to the world around us.”

“It gives us tremendous pleasure to be able to support extraordinary filmmakers through our long standing partnership with The Tribeca Film Festival,” said John Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer, American Express. “We are honored to help recognize the accomplishments of these talented individuals and to help them advance towards future pursuits.”

In addition to cash awards and in-kind services provided by sponsors including: Budweiser Select, Apple, Delta Air Lines, Bloomberg, Empire State Development Corporation/I Love New York, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation - the Festival presented the winners with awards created by acclaimed artists.

This year’s award winning films will be screening throughout the weekend and tickets are available at www.tribecafilmfestival.org.

Following are the awards and their winners:

· The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – My Father My Lord (Hofshat Kaits), directed by David Volach (Israel). Sponsored by Axium Entertainment. Winner receives $50,000 cash and the art award "Maternal Nocturne,” created by Stephen Hannock. Award presented by Benj Whitehouse, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal.

· Best New Narrative Filmmaker – Two Embraces (Dos Abrazos), directed by Enrique Begne (Mexico). Sponsored by American Express. Winner receives $25,000 cash and the art award “Reach,” created by Kiki Smith. Award presented by Edie Falco and Nancy Smith, Vice President, American Express Global Media and Sponsorship Marketing.

· Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Lofti Edbelli in Making Of (Akher film), directed by Nouri Bouzid (Tunisia, Morocco). Sponsored by Delta Air Lines. Winner receives two business elite ticket vouchers for anywhere Delta travels. Award presented by Steve Scheper and Catalina Sandino Morena.

· Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Marina Hands in Lady Chatterley, directed by Pascale Ferran (France, Belgium). Sponsored by Delta Air Lines. Winner receives two business elite ticket vouchers for anywhere Delta travels. Award presented by Steve Scheper and Catalina Sandino Morena.

· Best Screenplay – Making Of (Akher film), written and directed by Nouri Bouzid (Tunisia, Morocco). Sponsored by Axium Entertainment. Winner receives $15,000 cash and the art award “Reel to Reel,” created by Joel Perlman. Award presented by Ruben Rodriguez and Marwan Hamed.
Honorable Mentions: Lost in Beijing (Ping Guo), screenwriters Li Yu &Fang Li, directed by Li Yu (China). Half Moon (Niwemang), screenwriter/director Bahman Ghobadi (Iran, Iraq, Austria, France).

· Best Documentary Feature – Taxi to the Darkside, directed by Alex Gibney (U.S.A.). Sponsored by Axium Entertainment. Winner receives $25,000 cash and the art award “Chuck Close SPII,” created by Chuck Close. Award presented by Benj Whitehouse and Raoul Peck.

· Best New Documentary Filmmaker – A Story of People in War & Peace, directed by Vardan Hovhannisyan (Armenia). Sponsored by American Express. Winner receives $25,000 cash and the art award “Nelson Mandela, Johannesburg, South Africa,” created by Bruce Weber. Award presented by Raoul Peck and Nancy Smith, Vice President, American Express Global Media and Sponsorship Marketing.

Special Jury Mention – Documentary - We Are Together (Thina Simunye), directed by Paul Taylor (U.K.).

· “NY Loves Film” - Documentary – A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory, directed by Esther Robinson (U.S.A.). Sponsored by New York State Governor's Office for Motion Picture and Television Development. Winner receives $5,000 cash and the art award “Ivy with Marilyn, Boston,” created by Nan Goldin. Award presented by Pat Kaufman, Pat Foye and Eric Bogosian.

· “Made In NY” – Narrative – The Education of Charlie Banks, directed by Fred Durst (U.S.A.). Sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. Winner receives $5,000 cash and the art award “Tribeca Film Festival Poster 2007,” created by Clifford Ross. Award presented by Julianne Cho and Eric Bogosian.

· “Made In NY” Special Jury Recognition – Narrative – The Killing of John Lennon, directed by Andrew Piddington (U.K.). Sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. Winner receives the art award “Tribeca Film Festival Poster 2007,” created by Clifford Ross. Award presented by Julianne Cho and Eric Bogosian.

· Best Narrative Short – The Last Dog in Rwanda (Den sista hunden i Rwanda), directed by Jens Assur (Sweden). Winner receives $5,000 cash and the art award “Double Reading #21,” created by Joseph Kosuth. Award presented by Elizabeth Banks.

· Special Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short – Super Powers, directed by J. Anderson Mitchell & Jeremy Kipp Walker (U.S.A.). Winner receives $5,000 cash, generously donated by Todd Wagner of 2929 Entertainment. Award presented by Elizabeth Banks.

· Best Documentary Short – A Son's Sacrifice, directed by Yoni Brook (U.S.A.). Winner receives $5,000 cash and the art award “Deb 2000,” created by Deborah Kass. Award presented by Emmy Rossum.

· Student Visionary Award – Good Luck Nedim (Sretan Put Nedime), directed by Marko Santic (Slovenia). Sponsored by Apple. Winner receives an Apple Mac Pro Desktop with a 23" Display Final Cut Studio 2 and the art award “Study for Pink with Thorns,” created by John Newman. Award presented by Emmy Rossum.

Student Visionary Award – Someone Else's War, directed by Lee Wang (U.S.A./Philippines). Sponsored by Apple. Winner receives an Apple Mac Pro Desktop with a 23" Display Final Cut Studio 2 and the art award “Untitled (4/6/06),” created by Carroll Dunham and graciously donated by the Barbara Gladstone Gallery. Award presented by Emmy Rossum.
· Cadillac Award – Winner to be chosen by the Audience and will be announced on Saturday, May 5th. To be presented by Jane Rosenthal and Liz Vanzura, global marketing director for Cadillac. Winner receives $25,000 cash.

· Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award – Documentary – Dee Rees for her documentary work-in-progress, Eventual Salvation, which follows an 80-year-old grandmother who returns to Liberia to rebuild her life and community after years of civil war. Winner receives $10,000 cash and the art award “…with a soda on the side, video still from the Fatback series,” created by Jessica Ann Peavy.
Honorable mention – “Ultimate Christian Wrestling” by Jae-Ho Chang and Tara Autovino.

· Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award – Narrative – Ben Rekhi for his current screenplay, Waste, co-written by John Campo, which tells the story of a widowed NYC sanitation worker who must negotiate his relationship with his son after he becomes a key figure in a labor dispute. Winner receives $10,000 cash and the art award “Louis XVI, The Sun King,” created by Kehinde Wiley.

· Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award – Screenwriting – Marilyn Fu for her screenplay, The Sisterhood of Night, an adaptation of the short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Millhauser. Caryn Waechter is attached to direct. Winner receives $5,000 cash and the art award “Look at Me Now,” created by Alex Beard.
Honorable mention - “Last Road Home” by Roberto Marinas.

· Recipient of the 2007 Tribeca/Sloan Screenplay Development Program Grant – David Freeman for A First Class Man. Winner receives $48,000 cash.

· L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Vision Award – Cherien Dabis for her screenplay Amreeka. Winner receives $15,000 cash courtesy of L’Oréal Paris.

2007 Tribeca Film Festival Jurors
World Narrative Competition: Chris Cooper, Edie Falco, Goran Paskaljevic, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Barry Sonnenfeld.

World Documentary Competition: Heidi Ewing, Whoopi Goldberg, Jehane Noujaim, Raoul Peck and Gideon Yago.

Made in New York Competition: Minnie Driver, Dave Fear, Alex Gibney, Leah Rozen, Oren Rudavsky and Mercedes Ruehl.

New York Loves Film Documentary Competition: Eric Bogosian, Marshall Fine, Susan Lyne, Patrick McCarthy, Sheila Nevins, Gene Seymour and Ivanka Trump.

Short Film Competition, Narrative: Elizabeth Banks, Lee Daniels, Thelma Golden, Quincy Jones, Dany Levy, John Leguizamo, Alfred Molina and Todd Wagner.

Short Film Competition Documentary and Student: Frank Deford, Barbara Gladstone, Mario d’Urso, Ted Leonsis, Dan Lohaus, Emmy Rossum and Helen Zell.

2007 Full List of Eligible Films in Each Category of Competition
World Narrative Feature Competition
· Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature: 18 Films
· Best New Narrative Filmmaker: 6 Filmmakers, 6 Films
· Best Screenwriter: 27 Screenwriters, 18 Films
· Best Actress in a Narrative Feature: 17 Actresses, 15 Films
· Best Actor in a Narrative Feature: 24 Actors, 17 Films

World Documentary Feature Competition
· Best Documentary Feature: 16 Films
· Best New Documentary Filmmaker: 13 Filmmakers, 13 Films

New York Films
· “NY Loves Film” – Documentary: 8 Films
· “Made In NY” – Narrative: 14 Films

Short Films in Competition
· Best Narrative Short: 31 Films
· Best Documentary Short: 15 Films
· Student Visionary Award: 20 Films

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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 Entertainment, Montblanc, Target, and Yahoo!.