The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is happy to announce the line-up for the second annual TFI INTERACTIVE conference, which will feature presentations and keynote speeches from  filmmaker and Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain and from representatives of the National Film Board of Canada, Zeega and Kickstarter. Made possible through support from the Ford Foundation, TFI INTERACTIVE assembles the brightest thinkers and innovators from all types of media to explore storytelling in the digital age.

Through a full day of panels and presentations on Saturday, April 20, TFI INTERACTIVE participants will share their insights and knowledge with TFF attendees. Their goal is to inspire content creators to shake things up, and they will be exploring the digital media ecosystem and the tools and trends that are changing the art of business and film. Conversations will range from the ways that rich narratives are created in adventure games, led by Kill Screen co-founder Jamin Warren, to a look at the reasons that telling stories is a vital component of a vibrant society.

TFI INTERACTIVE joins a variety of other TFF and TFI initiatives that bridge filmmaking and technology.  These include TFF’s Storyscapes – a juried, multi-platform transmedia section created in collaboration with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® that will launch at the 2013 Festival – and the annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. TFI regulars also enjoy year-round programming in this vein such as the Future of Film discussion series, Tribeca Hacks, a nationwide series of workshops that brings together content creators with technology experts, and the Tribeca Online Festival. In addition, the TFI New Media Fund, in partnership with the Ford Foundation, provides funding and support to non-fiction media projects that integrate film with social commentary across media platforms.

This year’s TFI INTERACTIVE will take place on Saturday, April 20, from 9:30 am – 5pm at the IAC Building and is open to all TFF badge holders and invited guests. Continue the conversation online with share comments and insights by using the Twitter hashtag #TFII.

TFI INTERACTIVE: Program & Schedule:

9:50AM: OPENING REMARKS

Beth Janson, executive director of the Tribeca Film Institute

10AM: KEYNOTE: THE CLOUD FILM MAKING MANIFESTO

Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards

Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker, founder of The Webby Awards and recipient of 50 awards including one of Tribeca’s Disruptive Innovation Awards will present a Live “Cloud Filmmaking Manifesto” where she will describe her new participatory way of making films collaboratively with people all over the world.  She has released 3 of these films to date, customized for free for nearly 500 nonprofits worldwide (part of the Cloud Filmmaking concept), and the last one, Brain Power: From Neurons to Networks, was just selected by the US State Department as one of the films to represent America in the 2013-14 American Film Showcase. In this keynote she will share how she makes these films as well as premiere a new short film on Cloud Filmmaking.

10:40AM: A WISH FOR THE FUTURE

Lance Weiler, filmmaker and innovator

Wish For The Future is a creative platform to empower everyone to shape the world around them and create a better future now. Lance Weiler is known as an interactive media trailblazer and for TFI Interactive will be taking the digital into physical throughout the event with the help of the audience.

11:00AM: PANEL: ARE ADVENTURE GAMES THE NEW TELEVISION?

Moderated by Jamin Warren, co-founder of Kill Screen; confirmed panelists include Sarah Elmaleh (Kill Screen)

Think you know everything about narrative? When it comes to gaming you may be surprised. Adventure games are maturing and increasingly seen as a perfect narrative complement to the rich storytelling found on television. Jamin Warren of Kill Screen talks with panelists about the future of gaming and the evolution of narrative.

11:30AM: NFB INTERACTIVE SINCE BEAR 71

Loc Dao, head of digital content and strategy for English Programming at the National Film Board of Canada

Loc Dao will take attendees through the projects NFB Interactive has been working on since the smash hit Bear 71. They are about to do it again with Circa 1948 by Stan Douglas, a 3D historical augmented reality app that captures the stories and architecture of a transitional post-war era Canada. Get a sneak peak of this exciting project by a world-renowned artist.

11:50AM: STORY+WONDER

Jason Silva, filmmaker and futurist

Called a "Timothy Leary for the Viral Video Age", Jason Silva is known as an innovator and disruptor.  He definitely breaks the traditional media mould with his wide-ranging curiosity and infectious enthusiasm. His non commercial short films have been seen millions of times online and Jason has spoken at TEDGlobal and keynoted events for IBM, INTEL, Microsoft and SXSW.. In this 20 minute inspirational talk he will touch upon some of the highlights of his past work, the pace of technological disruption, and reflect on why telling stories is so important to us. Jason can be seen this April as the host of National Geographic Channel's new series Brain Games.

12:10PM: LOCALORE SESSION 1

Localore, an independent producer-driven public media production from AIR, Inc, has birthed a set of inspiring transmedia projects that open our imaginations to the new possibilities of “full spectrum storytelling.” Some of the most meaningful and powerful projects happen on our doorsteps. Discover ten of them.

• AUSTIN MUSIC MAP:Uncovering Austin’s surprisingly diverse sonic subculture in tandem with fans and performers.
• REINVENTION STORIES: Reinvention offers residents of Dayton a chance to reflect on how they’re remaking their lives and community. 
• PLANET TAKEOUT: Planet Takeout solicits perspectives from both sides of the counter on how Chinese carryouts have become an unlikely crossroads of community.
• HEAR HERE: Hear Here seeks residents’ most resonant place-based stories enabled in art by a custom-built booth inspiring mobile listening and contributions
• BLACK GOLD BOOM: Black Gold Boom traverses the oil rigs, man camps, and crossroads of North Dakota’s oil rush through a series of lively multimedia pieces.

12:40PM: A WEB-DOCUMENTARY MANIFESTO

Jesse Shapins, CEO/co-founder of Zeega

Zeega has quickly enabled film makers across the world to create non-linear, online stories without the need for a degree in computer programming. In this 10-minute presentation, Jesse Shapins will lay out a collaborative manifesto for web-documentary. 

12:50PM: TFI NEW MEDIA FUND PRESENTS THE 2013 GRANTEES – Session 1

• HOLLOW – Elaine Mcmillion: Like many post-industrial communities across the country, McDowell County, W. Va., is struggling to survive. Through Hollow, the Appalachian community represents themselves and their challenges as they see fit. Hollow combines video portraits, interactive data visualizations, social media and user-generated content delivered on an HTML5 website to support engagement and inspire change.
• QUESTION BRIDGE: BLACK MALES – Hank Willis Thomas: A transmedia art project that seeks to represent and redefine black male identity in America. Through video mediated question and answer exchange facilitated through strategic digital channels, diverse members of this “demographic” bridges economic, political, geographic, and generational divisions.
• IMMIGRANT NATION – Theo Rigby: Nearly every person in the U.S. has an immigration journey — be it their own or the voyage of a relative in the past. As the topic of immigration divides communities across the country, our shared history can create commonality between recent immigrants and those whose families have lived in the U.S. for generations. Immigrant Nation will use documentary film, user-generated storytelling, and data visualization to provide a social space for communities to share and connect with their immigrant histories.

1:00-2:00PM: LUNCH

2:00PM:  TFI NEW MEDIA FUND PRESENTS THE 2013 GRANTEES – Session 2

• ALMA - Alexandre Brachet: For five years, Alma has been a member of one of Guatemala's most brutal gangs, the Maras. “Alma, a tale of violence” is a cross-platform project based on her life. In a moving confession, Alma tells her story through a unique interactive web/tablet concept in which the viewer moves between two screen levels, a face-to-face experience and a visual evocation of Alma’s recollections.
• NEW DAY NEW STANDARD – ​Marisa Jahn: A public art interactive hotline that informs nannies, housekeepers, elder caregivers, and their employers about New York’s landmark Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, passed in November 2010. Part I features episodes combining equal parts advice and humor; Part II features an expanded storytelling initiative for callers to record and share their own messages.

2:10PM: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY

Caspar Sonnen, curator, IDFA DocLab

In 2008 most of our attentions were turned to the impending doom of Wall Street. Caspar, however, was out creating the IDFA DocLab and setting forth on a journey that would lead the way for the exhibition of interactive documentary. Caspar will look at the past, present and the future of this work with an unusually broad base of experience to draw from.

2:30PM: SHARE THIS, YOUR STORY, BUT SOCIAL

Deanna Zandt, co-founder and partner of Lux Digital

Deanna Zandt, media technologist and author of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking, will show how social change movements take root through collaborative media and how to harness the power of social.

2:40PM: THE AATSINKI SEASON

Jessica Oreck, filmmaker, and Mike Knowlton, co-founder Murmur

Developed during a P.O.V. hackathon this seasonal and episodic online documentary is the companion piece to Aatsinki: The Arctic Cowboys (screening during the Festival). This experiential project lives alongside and supports the feature length documentary.

2:50PM: LOCALORE SESSION 2

• ED ZED OMEGA – Asking the question "what does school accomplish?"
• ISEECHANGE – Flipping the scrip on environmental reporting via a participatory hub
• CURIOUS CITY – Inviting locals to pitch in at newsrooms
• SONIC TRACE – A multiplatform documentary on the experience of Latin American immigrants
• MAKING OF – a musical performance from veteran radio producers The Kitchen Sisters

3:20PM: KICKSTARTING STORYTELLING

Stephanie Pereira, director of art programs at Kickstarter

Stephanie Pereira is a self-confessed make-it-happen kind of person who will explore how the Kickstarter crowd funding platform can be used as a storytelling tool – it's about the audience as much as it is the money.

3:30PM: PANEL: GLUE IT, CODE IT, TWEAK IT, PLAY IT

Confirmed panelists: Reshma Saujani (Girls Who Code), Sonali Sridhar (Hacker School), Amit Pitaru (Kitchen Table Coders), Adnaan Wasey (P.O.V.)

Maker culture is more than knowing how to code, it is about a state of mind - if you can think it you can probably make it. The theory isn't that far removed from that moment where you get the idea for a film, the only difference is the next step. This panel explores rapid prototyping and getting your hands dirty to get something made and into the hands of your audience as quickly as possible.

4PM: WELCOME TABLE

Joslyn Barnes, producer

WelcomeTable is a multiplatform project including a visual/auditory installation featuring large-scale photography, video portraits and live data to reveal the people behind the kitchen doors in restaurants across America. Joslyn Barnes will take us through all the elements of the project that shows that eating local is only half the battle.

4:10PM: CLOUDS

James George and Jonathan Minard, media artists

CLOUDS includes interviews with 30 new media artists, curators, designers, and critics, using a super-exciting new 3D cinema format called RGBD which uses a Kinect to create a videogame-like film environment. The creators of CLOUDS will take about the possibilities for creative code and creative filmmaking using their open-source RGBD Toolkit.

4:20PM: PANEL: STORYSCAPES - CREATING IMMERSIVE STORY EXPERIENCES

Moderated by Ingrid Kopp, director of digital initiatives at the Tribeca Film Institute; confirmed panelists include Hugues Sweeney (A Journal of Insomnia), Brent Hoff, Alexander Reben (Robots in Residence), Casey Pugh (Star Wars Uncut), Michael Premo (Sandy Storyline)

Storyscapes is a new section at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013, in collaboration with Bombay Sapphire, celebrating interactive transmedia projects across genres. The creators will talk about their projects and describe the process of bringing work from the web to an immersive, installation space at a film festival.

4:50PM: CLOSING REMARKS

Orlando Bagwell, director of the JustFilms initiative at Ford Foundation

5:00PM: Cocktail hour

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