Issue 14 BACKLOT Almost Christmas Still Rudd Giamatti - H 2013
Courtesy of Tribeca Film FestivalThis story first appeared in the April 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Bookended by Sundance in January and Cannes in May, the Tribeca Film Festival offers buyers a chance to open their wallets during the once-quiet month of April.
Although Tribeca is not a traditional market festival, it increasingly is attracting opportunistic distributors. Last year, 37 out of 60 available films sold, including the foreign-language Oscar nominee War Witch. This year looks to be even more impressive with such high-profile films as the comedic teaming of Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti in Almost Christmas and In God We Trust, a doc about the Bernie Madoff financial scandal.
VIDEOS: Tribeca Film Festival 2012: THR’s Red Carpet Interviews
“I see Tribeca increasing in prominence as one of the few stops on the U.S. festival circuit where deals can happen,” says Submarine’s Josh Braun, who is repping six features this year including the docs Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, the James Franco-produced Gucci chronicle The Director and the circus strongman opus Bending Steel. “With robust sales at Sundance and SXSW, I’m hopeful the trend will continue at Tribeca.”
Says director of programming Genna Terranova: “We have films that are available for acquisition that are a broad spectrum of styles and genres. Last year, one out of two available films found distribution, so we can only hope the films this year find audiences beyond Tribeca.”
Email: Tatiana.Siegel@THR.com, Twitter: @TatianaSiegel27
