The Tribeca Film Festival announced the finalists for the second annual Tribeca X Award. Ten finalists, 9 short films and 1 Virtual Reality project, were selected from a field of 600 entries that represent the best in storytelling at the intersection of advertising and entertainment from the past year. The award highlights excellence in creative, original and authentic storytelling that is sponsored or underwritten by a brand.
The selected projects were created by acclaimed filmmakers in partnership with a wide-ranging array of brands, including Apple, Beefeater, BMW, CHANEL, Diageo North America, Kenzo, Red Bull, Square, Visit Seattle, and YETI Coolers. The finalists include a futuristic short film with an A-list cast and action-packed driving stunts, a VR experience of an immersive play by “La Despensa” that follows the journey of Ulysses, a short film about a deaf choreographer who experiences and shares music and dance through waves of sound, and a short film that follows a bold woman’s climb to the tops of the Seven Summits.
Among the filmmakers involved are Alma Har’el who helmed Chanel’s JellyWolf produced by BRF (which reps her in the U.K.; she is handled stateside by Epoch Films), and Neil Blomkamp who directed BMW’s The Escape produced by Anonymous Content.
“Over the past year, branded content has grown leaps and bounds with an explosion of projects and collaborations. These finalists represent the best artist-brand pairings of the past year and demonstrate how authentic, original and creative storytelling truly rises above the rest,” said Andrew Essex, CEO of Tribeca Enterprises.
Eligible projects included scripted and documentary work for film, TV, digital, social, and virtual reality and/or augmented reality, in both feature and short length. The winner will be chosen by a jury that includes Joanna Coles, CCO at Hearst; Jae Goodman, CCO and co-head of marketing at CAA; Tim & Eric, a comedy duo and directors at PRETTYBIRD, founders of Abso Lutely; Jenna Lyons, president and creative director of J.Crew; Eli Pariser, CEO of Upworthy; and a proprietary A.I. solution developed by Celtra, providing quantitative creative analysis based on performance data and insights from hundreds-of-thousands of video advertising campaigns powered by Celtra’s creative management platform.
The selected projects can be viewed in a special section on TheAtlantic.com (The Atlantic is a Tribeca sponsor), created by Atlantic Re:think. The winner will be announced during the Festival at a celebration and screening of the work on Monday, April 24, followed by a dinner supported by WHOSAY.
The 10 finalists for the Tribeca X Award are:
BeefeaterXO
Brand: Beefeater
Directed by Jesús Hernandez
BeefeaterXO is an interactive experience inside the creative mind of the 3-Michelin-starred chef Dabiz Muñoz, where the viewer travels through 4 different cities in order to find the secrets behind the most avant-garde cocktails ever made.
Chris Fonseca: Keep It Moving
Brand: Diageo North America
Directed by Zachary Heinzerling
Deaf people are anything but disabled, and this film featuring the real story of deaf dancer Chris Fonseca proves it. Born profoundly deaf, Chris challenges the perceptions of disability as a social barrier by teaching his deaf students how to express themselves on the dance floor, inspiring self-confidence within them and pure awe in all of us.
The Escape
Brand: BMW
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
BMW Films were a groundbreaking series of eight short, online films released in 2001, starring Clive Owen as an enigmatic driver for hire who used a BMW for his thrilling exploits. To celebrate the film’s 15th anniversary, “The Escape” is a modern homage to the originals, with Clive Owen reprising his role as the driver and also starring Jon Bernthal and Dakota Fanning.
Five by Five
Brand: Visit Seattle
Directed by Terence Nance, Martha Stephens, Clea DuVall, Drew Christie and Ian Cheney
Five films by Five Filmmakers each exploring and celebrating Seattle through the lens of one of the five senses. Each film was conceived and directed by a celebrated independent filmmaker. The films cross genres including documentary, experimental, animation and scripted.
For Every Kind of Dream: Yassin Falafel
Brand: Square
Directed by Mohammad Gorjestani
Yassin Terou fled Syria with a suitcase and a few hundred dollars. He knew no one in Knoxville, Tennessee, and he spoke no English, but he went there to rebuild his life and pursue his dream of perfect falafel anyway. Every business starts with a dream, and Square exists to serve them—every kind of dream. “Yassin Falafel” is Square’s first short film chronicling their remarkable sellers and their tireless pursuit of their dreams.
JellyWolf
Brand: CHANEL
Directed by Alma Har’el
JellyWolf is a feminine-spiritual coming of age story told through notes of scent. CHANEL N°5 L’Eau speaks to a new woman, who are often portrayed as beautiful creatures whose only desire is to be desired. This film is to inspire young women to remember their voice and to see each other.
Mavens: Jocelyn Cooper
Brand: Red Bull
Directed by Salima Koroma
Jocelyn Cooper left the top of music industry to start a movement. She is a partner in AFROPUNK, a festival that unifies people through music, film, skate, and art. She inspires perseverance and empowers an underserved population, and that’s what makes her of a true maven.
The Realest Real
Brand: Kenzo
Directed by Carrie Brownstein
With social media ever more present in our lives, blurring the barriers between ordinary and instafamous, Kenzo invited writer and Director Carrie Brownstein to take a look at the invisible digital walls that separate us from our favorite stars, and the curious conceit of a dream come true.
Wasfia
Brand: Apple
Directed by Sean Kusanagi
As the first Bangladeshi to scale the Seven Summits, Wasfia Nazreen doesn’t just climb for the thrill; she climbs for the women of her country. Lyrical and poetic, this short documentary explores what it means to pursue the unknown.
Yeti Presents
Brand: YETI Coolers
John Shocklee: A Fairy Tale
Directed by Ryan Heffernan and Grayson Schaffer
Refusing to act his age has worked out well for John Shocklee. The 52 year old has devoted his life to doing what he loves. Powered by old school hip hop and fresh powder, Shocklee makes turns down untamed slopes with the freedom of a man half his age.
Soul of a City
Directed by Berndt Mader
Austin, TX has a rich artistic history sometimes not seen in a sea of new residents. Neon artist Evan Voyles represents the inventive spirit that makes Austin a creative haven, and his work continues to light up landmarks across our capital city.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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