2015 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Short Film Selections

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its lineup of 60 short films, 40 of which are world premieres. The selections were curated from 3076 submissions.  The 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival will take place April 15-26.

The shorts will be presented in nine programs made up of five narrative, three documentary, and one combined, narrative and documentary programs. The 2015 program includes shorts from 18 countries, including Argentina, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“Forty of the 60 shorts are making their world premiere at TFF, a record for the Festival. We’re excited to have discovered this wonderful new work,” said Sharon Badal, Director of Short Film Programming and Initiatives, Tribeca Enterprises.

Several TFF Alumni return this year as part of the short film program. Filmmaker Stefan Nadelman, who screened his short film Terminal Bar at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003, returns to premiere his short film Last Call. Producer Ellen Bar returns to the festival this year with narrative Early Sunday Morning, starring American Ballet Theatre dancers Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside.  Bar produced the documentary feature Ballet 422 which premiered at TFF 13.  Also returning is Andrew Jenks with the short documentary film All American Family, a personal story about four generations of star football players in California who happen to be deaf.  In 2008 Jenks screened his sports documentary The Zen of Bobby V.

This year’s selection features exceptional talent on both sides of the camera. Olivia Wilde produced the short documentary Body Team 12 about the Ebola outbreak, directed by four-time returning filmmakers David Darg and Bryn Mooser.

In the the artistic and cerebral ‘Gallery Opening’ program, JR’s Les Bosquests, reveals his experience in the Montfermeil ghetto, where he created Portraits of a Generation; and artist Daniel Arsham directs Juliette Lewis in Future Relic 03. 

Boman Modine’s Merry Xmas stars Dick Van Dyke, Valerie Harper, Glenne Headly, and his father Matthew Modine, and Katie Holmes directs Eternal Princess starring Nadia Comaneci. The lineup also features performances by Patrick Fugit, Tim DeKay, and SNL alums Fred Armisen and Paula Pell. 

Recipients of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short Awards will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the Annual Academy Awards® provided the film complies with the Academy rules. Last year’s Festival winner for Best Narrative Short, The Phone Call, won this year’s Academy Award® for the Best Live-Action Short.

“Our New York shorts return with a narrative and a documentary program, and we’ve also added a uniquely artistic program called ‘Gallery Opening,’ as well as ‘FML,’ a program that’s curated for today’s online-living audience,” said Badal. “Each year we try to do something a little different, and that is particularly reflected in this year’s programs.”

This year, audiences across the country, and around the world can experience a selection of the Short Films online. Each of the seven stories featured in ‘FML’, a program created for modern-day audiences living online, will be part of the Tribeca Online Festival.

Three hours after ‘FML’ premieres in the cinema, it will be available for the world to view online at tribecafilm.com, through to April 26. These present-day and futuristic short stories confront the consequences of living a digital life, touching on many intriguing topics including wearable tech, online dating, and homeland. 

A list of the short film selections follows:

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