New York, NY [March 16, 2010] – The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Virtual (TFF Virtual), a new online extension of the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), supported by founding partner American Express, has announced the full film slate for its inaugural edition. Eight full-length 2010 Official Selection TFF features, running the gamut from adventure documentary to mystical drama to uproarious teen comedy, will be available to TFF Virtual premium passholders to screen from their computers, anywhere in the continental United States from April 23–April 30. Premium passes are available to U.S. residents for $45 each and are on sale atwww.tribecafilm.com/virtual.

Tribeca also announced that passholders will have the opportunity to vote for the TFF Virtual Best Feature Film Award (which comes with a $25,000 cash prize for the best film) and the TFFV Best Short Film Award (which comes with a $5,000 cash award). Both TFF Virtual Awards are sponsored by American Express.

TFF Virtual will bring the experience of Tribeca outside of New York for the first time via the Internet.  Complementing TFF’s theatrical screenings in New York City, TFF Virtual premium pass will enable a broad online audience to experience the following:

• Eight full-length 2010 TFF features, which will screen day-and-date with each film’s Festival premiere. Following each film’s TFF and TFF Virtual premiere, passholders will be able to view it an unlimited number of times until TFF Virtual ends April 30
• An eclectic collection of TFF 2010 short films
• Conversations with filmmakers and fellow audience members both online and at the Festival
• Panel discussions featuring top voices from the world of film
• Exclusive filmmaker interviews
• Live coverage of red-carpet premieres

The first-ever TFF Virtual will open April 23, with the world premiere of Edward Burns’ Nice Guy Johnny, which will play simultaneously with the film’s premiere at TFF.  Three additional films in the TFF Virtual slate are world premieres, while the other four are making their North American premieres.

All visitors to www.tribecafilm.com/virtual now have access to a robust array of free content, including selected short films from previous editions of TFF, conversations with filmmakers and industry experts and, when TFF kicks off on April 21 – footage from the TFF Opening Press Conference, a daily highlight reel of the day’s biggest moments and live streams of Festival red carpets.

A key feature of both the premium and free sections of TFF Virtual is the opportunity to join the conversation unfolding online.  Those conversations will include real-time dialogue with fellow film enthusiasts around the world, Q&A’s with filmmakers and thought-provoking panels streamed online.  These new forms of interacting with TFF will give audiences globally a chance to share in the Festival experience.

“One of our core missions at Tribeca is to cultivate wider, more diverse audiences for film and to offer filmmakers broader opportunities for their work,” said Geoff Gilmore, Tribeca Enterprises Chief Creative Officer. “Our virtual extension will do just that, breaking new ground with interactive capabilities, original content and a range of full-length feature films.”

All feature titles have been previously announced in their respective sections as part of the 2010 TFF program and the short films will be announced in the coming weeks.

The complete list of feature films showcased at TFF Virtual is as follows:

• Nice Guy Johnny, directed and written by Edward Burns. (USA) – World and TFF Virtual Premiere, Narrative. A master of the modern relationship dramedy, Edward Burns crafts a summery gem centered on baby-faced 24-year-old Johnny Rizzo, who’s about to trade his dream job in talk radio for some snoozeville gig that’ll pay enough to please his fiancée. Enter Uncle Terry (Burns), a rascally womanizer set on turning a day in the Hamptons into an eye-opening fling for his nephew. Nice guy Johnny’s not interested, of course, but then he meets Brooke….

• Elvis & Madona (Elvis e Madona), directed and written by Marcelo Laffitte. (Brazil) – North American and TFF Virtual Premiere, Narrative. The lives of a beautiful biker babe and a tall blonde trannie intertwine in this vibrant Rio-set romantic comedy. Elvis is an aspiring young photographer delivering pizzas to make ends meet. Madona’s plans for a spectacular drag show have just been dashed when her rotten sometime lover steals all her money. When they meet by chance, Elvis and Madona’s unlikely love will help them chase their dreams and deal with the obstacles that arise along the way. In Portuguese with English subtitles.

• Spork, directed and written by J.B. Ghuman, Jr. (USA) – World and TFF Virtual Premiere, Narrative. Junior high isn't easy for anyone—especially if you're a frizzy-haired, pink-cheeked hermaphrodite like Spork. But when the talent show shines a chance for Spork to show up Betsy Byotch's mean girls gang, her recently best-friended trailer-park neighbor, Tootsie Roll, steps it up to coach her in booty-poppin’ moves. This ’80s-inspired dance send-up is littered with colorful dialogue from a tween cast with mouths beyond their years.

·         Buried Land, directed by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes and Steven Eastwood, written by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, Steven Eastwood, and Dzeno Medanovic. (Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK, USA) – World Premiere. The small town of Visoko heralds to the world a remarkable discovery: A valley of ancient pyramids predating Egypt exists under the hills of central Bosnia. Tourists flood the war-scarred region, and locals are caught between the real and the imagined (mirroring the film’s vacillation between documentary and fiction). With the help of a young man returning to his homeland, an American film crew determines the role of faith in capturing what can not yet be proven. In English, Bosnian with English subtitles.

• Into the Cold, directed by Sebastian Copeland. (USA) – World and TFF Virtual Premiere, Documentary. The absolute top of the earth is a place few try to reach on foot. Even fewer succeed. With the vast arctic ice vanishing rapidly, photographer, extreme adventurer, and environmental advocate Sebastian Copeland sets out to reach the North Pole on the centennial of Admiral Peary’s reach in 1909. This inspiring documentary follows their tumultuous two-month trek—not just through piercing cold and merciless terrain, but straight into the depths of the soul.

• Possessed (Bool-sin-ji-ok), directed and written by Lee Yong-ju. (South Korea) – North American Premiere. College student Hee-jin returns home in the wake of her younger sister’s disappearance, only to find her mother a fanatical religious convert and the family’s neighbors offing themselves in increasingly bizarre and grotesque ways. Together with detective Tae-hwan, Hee-jin must unravel the tangled web of connections between the victims that will lead back to the missing girl in this eminently creepy horror show. In Korean with English subtitles.

• Freetime Machos, directed by Mika Ronkainen. (Finland, Germany) – North American and TFF Virtual Premiere. Matti and Mikko play for Finland’s worst amateur rugby team. Overworked and domesticated, the two men long for a space to revel in their masculinity and bond with other men. Following the two friends and their teammates on a quest to end the season with just a single win, award-winning writer/director Mika Ronkainen (Screaming Men) crafts a genuine and disarmingly funny love story of modern male friendship. In Finnish with English subtitles. Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.

• The Sentimental Engine Slayer, directed and written by Omar Rodriguez Lopez. (USA, Mexico) – North American and TFF Virtual Premiere, Narrative. Reality and fantasy entangle in the semi-autobiographical tale of a twentysomething misfit’s loopy trip through manhood in the dusty US-Mexico border town of El Paso, Texas. While director/writer/star Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s psychedelic sonic sensibilities are most well-known for fueling the Grammy-winning rockers The Mars Volta, it is piercingly clear that he is also a riveting and rare voice for independent American cinema. In English, Spanish with English subtitles.

About the Tribeca Film Festival

Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music and culture.

The Festival’s mission is to help filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. Tribeca Film Festival is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors. 

The Tribeca Festival has screened over 1100 films from over 80 countries since its first festival in 2002. Since its founding, it has attracted an international audience of more than 2.3 million attendees and has generated an estimated $600 million in economic activity for New York City

About Tribeca Film & Tribeca Film Festival Virtual

Tribeca Film is a comprehensive distribution entity that is acquiring and marketing independent films across multiple platforms, including video-on-demand, theatrical and home video.  It is owned and operated by Tribeca Enterprises.  Tribeca Film Festival Virtual (TFF Virtual) is a new online extension of TFF, offering audiences outside of New York a chance to connect with movie enthusiasts around the world and experience all aspects of the fest including select 2010 Festival titles, panel discussions and live red carpet action via tribecafilm.com/virtual. Together, Tribeca Film and TFF Virtual provide new platforms for how film can be experienced, while supporting filmmakers and introducing audiences to films they might not otherwise see. American Express continues its support of Tribeca and the independent film community, signing on as the founding partner of Tribeca Film and TFF Virtual. 

About the 2010 Festival Sponsors

As Founding Sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival, American Express is committed to supporting the Festival and the art of film making, bringing business and energy to New York City and offering Cardmembers and Festival-goers the opportunity to enjoy the best of storytelling through film.

The Festival is pleased to announce the return of its Signature Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Apple, Bloomberg, Brookfield, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Delta Air Lines, Heineken USA,

NBC 4 New York, NCM Media Networks, New York Nonstop, The New York Times, RR Donnelley, and Vanity Fair.  The Tribeca Film Festival is also honored to welcome the following new Signature Sponsor:  Stolichnaya Vodka.

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