Competition honors the best brand and filmmaker collaborations across feature film, shorts, episodic series, immersive
Tribeca Festival has unveiled the finalists and jury for this year’s Tribeca X Awards, which celebrates the best brand and filmmaker collaborations of the year across four categories: Feature Film, Short Film, Episodic Series and Immersive. The finalists represent brands ranging from The U.S. Postal Service to Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, KitchenAid, IWC Schaffhausen, Square, Dove Hair/Unilever Entertainment, as well as MongoDB. The selected finalists’ work will be screened online during the Festival from June 9-20.
The winning projects will be chosen by a jury that includes Justine Armour, chief creative officer of Grey; David Bornoff, head of consumer marketing at DoorDash; Morgan Cooper, filmmaker; and Senain Kheshgi, co-founder of MAJORITY.
The finalists competing for this year’s Tribeca X Awards are:
FEATURE FILM FINALISTS
Title: Dear Santa
Brand: The United States Postal Service
Agency: UM Studios
Director: Dana Nachman
Synopsis: “Dear Santa” shines a light on the 100-year-old ‘Operation Santa’ Program of the United States Postal Service. Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa arrive at Post Offices around the country. Through Operation Santa, the United States Postal Service makes it possible for the public to safely adopt these letters and make children’s dreams come true. This timeless documentary captures the warmth and spirit of Christmastime through the lens of this great American tradition, provoking audiences throughout the world to ask themselves how they can make the world a better place, one gesture at a time.
Title: Above & Beyond
Brand: Walmart
Agency: Art & Science
Production Company: Imagine Entertainment
Director: Brent Renaud
Synopsis: The year 2020 was one for the history books. A global pandemic. A national social movement for racial equity. Wildfires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. “Above & Beyond” is a feature-length documentary about incredible people that rose to the challenge of a truly unprecedented year. From Walmart associates & executive leaders, community members and beyond, this film goes out onto the front lines and tells the story of a group of ordinary men and women that proved to be extraordinary heroes when we needed them most.
SHORT FILM FINALISTS
Title: Chinese New Year – Nian
Brand: Apple, Inc.
Agency: TBWA/Media Arts Lab Shanghai
Production Company: Iconoclast
Director: Lulu Wang
Synopsis: Entirely shot on iPhone, the 12-minute movie “Nian” is an alternative take on a Chinese New Year folklore that traditionally portrays the titular character as a terrifying monster. In this version, a curious little girl confronts her fear of the unknown by seeking out the elusive, forest-dwelling Nian to find out if he was indeed as menacing as her parents often described – a ruse to discourage her from wandering off to the forest alone. Her curiosity was rewarded when she discovers the creature was misunderstood all along. Soon a beautiful friendship ensues.
Title: Coffee Shop Names
Brand: IWC Schaffhausen
Agency: Soho House
Production Company: Valerie Steinberg Productions
Director: Deepak Sethi
Synopsis: Three Indian people imagine their personas as their “coffee shop names,” the names they give baristas because their real names are hard to pronounce.
Title: Dear Future Me
Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Agency: Passion Point Collective
Production Company: Red Glass Pictures
Director(s): Sarah Klein & Tom Mason
Synopsis: Every June at Maplewood Middle School in NJ, 6th grade students participate in a rite of passage: they write a letter to their future 18-year-old selves. After the letters are completed and sealed, they are held for six years. When a class is about to graduate, the teachers mail the letters from their past selves. For over 25 years, this extracurricular assignment has encouraged students to imagine and reflect on who they are and who they will become.
Title: The Pope Of Dope: The Story of NYC’s First Delivery Service
Brand: FOXY
Agency: FOXY
Director(s): Alden Nusser, Ben Fries
Synopsis: Mickey Cesar first became active in the NY cannabis space as an activist and businessman in the late 70’s. He would go on to open the first telephone delivery service which he advertised with the phone number “1-800-WANT-POT.” Mickey is considered a true pioneer of the industry. The documentary features an interview with acclaimed photographer, Clayton Patterson. Sharing never before seen footage, imagery and interviews, the short film covers the conception of NYC’s first delivery service and the man behind it.
Title: A Woman’s Place
Brand: KitchenAid
Agency: Digitas
Production Company: Ventureland
Director: Rayka Zehtabchi
Synopsis: Academy® Award-winning director Rayka Zehtabchi gives an intimate look into the culinary world through the eyes of three women. Each one carving out a place for herself in the industry, not just as a woman, but as a butcher, chef and restaurateur.
EPISODIC SERIES FINALISTS
Title: Black Owned
Brand: Square
Agency: Even/Odd Films
Director: Rodney Lucas
Synopsis: “Black Owned” is a series exploring the history, experience, and voice of the Black entrepreneurial spirit and its essential contribution to the American economy.
Title: The D Cut
Brand: Dove Hair, Unilever Entertainment
Agency: Shaftesbury
Director: D.W. Waterson
Synopsis: “The D Cut” is an original series inspired by a true LGBTQ2S+ empowerment story. The D Cut follows a young superstar hairstylist named “D” as she navigates love, friendship and togetherness when her local community’s safe space comes under threat.
IMMERSIVE FINALISTS
Title: CURRENT
Brand: Brookfield Properties
Production Company: Octopus Theatricals
Creator: Annie Saunders
Synopsis: “CURRENT” is an immersive soundwalk through Lower Manhattan. Beginning at specific times of day, participants are guided on a walk using their own mobile device and headphones. Using binaural sound design and on-location recordings, “CURRENT” weaves an observed and imagined narrative of historic and anecdotal stories on themes of water, time, construction and destruction. It was commissioned by Arts Brookfield for One Liberty Plaza and One New York Plaza. CURRENT was created collaboratively by Annie Saunders (concept, direction, devising and narration), Andrew Schneider (concept development, devising, narration, on-location recording and audio design), Jackie! Zhou and One Thousand Birds (sound design, engineering and spatialization) and OpenEndedGroup (back-development and technology creation).
Title: Day Zero
Brand: MongoDB
Agency: Giant Spoon
Director: Benny Nicks
Synopsis: “Day Zero” is an interactive techno-thriller from MongoDB Atlas. The story surrounds Malena, an indie game developer, who strikes gold with an upstart video game heralded as the next Fortnite. She and her co-founder, Ji, are 24 hours away from launching their sophomore title when Ji suddenly disappears. Now, it’s up to Malena to navigate an IRL version of the game she’s built, and crack coding challenges at every turn, if she hopes to rescue Ji and save her life’s work from destruction.
Discussion sessions
Tribeca X will also convene on Friday, June 18, a prominent roster of marketing and entertainment leaders to the industry’s first in-person gathering in over 15 months in this year’s celebration of brand entertainment. On the eve of the Festival’s day-long Juneteenth celebration, corporate social justice and diversity and inclusion take center stage at Tribeca X as panelists will chart a path forward for the critical role of consumer listening, activism through branding and action-oriented storytelling amid a polarizing year of monumental political and social change.
Lupa Systems founder and CEO James Murdoch and Google CMO Lorraine Twohill will join previously anounced headliners Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Roku CEO Anthony Wood, Procter & Gamble chief brand officer Marc Pritchard, and many more forward-thinkers. During the festival,
“New York City is the global epicenter of commerce and entertainment and Tribeca X is where marketing leaders and innovative creators intersect,” said Jane Rosenthal co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Festival. “As the city re-opens, we are honored to collaborate with some of the most influential marketers this year. Their amazing work, under extraordinary circumstances, is a reflection of how to leverage creative storytelling for change.”
To inspire the new frontier of brand marketing and entertainment within today’s lens, this year’s day of panels and intimate fireside chats will kick off with a keynote conversation from Roku CEO Wood, focusing on the future of entertainment, followed by a one-on-one discussion with Walmart CEO McMillon and Lupa Systems CEO Murdoch.
The lineup includes: A conversation moderated by Rosenthal, uniting Google’s CMO Twohill with Google VP and founder of the Google Creative Lab Andy Berndt to discuss how Google has harnessed the power of storytelling to connect with users and audiences throughout the years; A discussion with sr. marketing director & commercial lead at Johnson & Johnson and studio content director for Neutrogena Studios, Sebastian Garcia-Vinyard and Peter Alsante, SVP and sr. creative director at BBDO New York on the thought provoking campaigns and traditional storytelling methods used to create and encourage a call to action; A diversity & inclusion-focused conversation hosted by P&G’s Pritchard with Saturday Morning co-founder Geoff Edwards and EBONY & JET CEO Michele Thornton Ghee on the importance and purpose behind P&G’s initiatives which celebrate creativity and support Black creators both behind the camera and on the screen. Additional Tribeca X conversations will bring together leading industry brands, agencies, and filmmakers for the first time this year.
“This is a critical moment for brands to engage audiences at scale and lean into storytelling in an impactful way,” said Chris Bruss, head of Roku Brand Studio. “As America’s #1 TV streaming platform, Roku is thrilled to support the creative and filmmaking community at Tribeca X.”
Hee’s the lineup of sessions:
TRIBECA X PROGRAMMING
–The Future of TV Streaming and Entertainment, led by Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku, opens the day with a conversation on the rise of TV streaming, the future of entertainment, and more.
–Looking Back & Looking Forward, a conversation between Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and Lupa Systems founder & CEO James Murdoch will explore what we’ve learned, how we’ve navigated through a historic year, rising to the occasion during a global pandemic, racial equity movements, natural disasters and the opportunities for recovery.
–A conversation moderated by Tribeca Enterprises co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal, uniting Google’s CMO Lorraine Twohill with Google VP and founder of the Google Creative Lab Andy Berndt, to discuss how Google has harnessed the power of storytelling to connect with users and audiences throughout the years.
–Aryeh Bourkoff, founder & CEO of LionTree, in conversation with NBC News sr. business correspondent and MSNBC anchor, Stephanie Ruhle, examining the concept of a “creator economy”
–Brands With Purpose includes Sebastian Garcia-Vinyard, sr. marketing director & commercial lead at Johnson & Johnson and studio content director for Neutrogena Studios, and Peter Alsante, executive creative director at BBDO, discussing the game changers and the change makers using thought provoking campaigns and traditional storytelling methods to encourage a call to action and raise awareness for important causes.
–Storytelling Today, For Tomorrow, hosted by Roku, with panelists Melissa Grady, global CMO at Cadillac, Julian Jacobs, co-head of UTA Marketing at United Talent Agency, and Angela Matusik, head of corporate brand, content & creative at HP moderated by Chris Bruss, head of the Roku Brand Studio, will explore creating successful collaborations with talent, filmmakers, content creators, and media publishers, as well as innovations in creativity and technology, which allow for more relevant and compelling content to be created and shared with different audiences across different platforms; from streaming services to social media and beyond.
–Widen The Screen To Widen Our View addresses the role of brands and companies as a force for good in society and a force for growth in business being permanently elevated – particularly in diversity, equality and inclusion. Marc Pritchard, P&G’s chief brand officer of, shares P&G’s journey and commitment to choosing equality, and building it into the organization as a systematic way of bringing creativity to life. Because when we make choices that “Widen the Screen” to represent more of the world’s consumers more fully, we can widen our view to see and create a more equal future. Marc will be joined by partners on P&G’s journey to “Widen the Screen” including Saturday Morning co-founder Geoff Edwards, EBONY & JET CEO Michele Thornton Ghee and filmmaker B.Monét to reflect on the stories we tell, the storytellers who tell them and how those stories are shared in the world.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More