The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is pleased to announce the projects that will receive financial and creative support from the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund, provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Out of 127 applicants from around the world, only four projects will be awarded a total of $140,000 and be recognized this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Chosen by a jury made up of film and science luminaries such as actors Clark Middleton, Ron Livingston, Dean Winters, biological anthropologist Helen Fisher and Havard professor John Quackenbusch, the winning films are: 2030, Newton’s Laws of Emotion, Oldest Man Alive and The Doctor. The projects, which all integrate science and technology themes and characters into their stories, focus on subjects ranging from climate change and genetic engineering to physics, medicine and invention.

2013 marks the 12th year of the partnership between TFI and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In addition to monetary support, Grant recipients will receive year-round mentorship from science experts and members of the film industry in order to complete their projects. Additionally, the Sloan Foundation will present a 20th anniversary retrospective screening and discussion of the internationally acclaimed AIDS film And the Band Played On during the Festival. 

TFI will also launch the TFI Professional Partnership, a program that will continue TFI's pledge to supporting the careers and projects of their grantees, including those involved with the Sloan Filmmaker Fund. The initiative will partner leading media companies with a pool of talented filmmakers, which will kick off with a professional development panel during the Festival. After the session, each partnering company (including NBC Universal and Warner Bros) will select at least two grantees for further one-on-one development and consideration for their business needs.  

Selected projects for funding:

2030

In a near future Vietnam where seawater has buried a large part of the land and cultivation has to be done on floating farms, a strong-willed woman has to make a critical decision about her ex-lover, a geneticist who could be her husband’s murderer. Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo (Screenwriter, Director), Bao Nguyen (Producer)

Newton’s Laws of Emotion

As a young Isaac Newton pursues the affections of a headstrong princess, he seeks to uncover the principles of love using his new system of mathematics. However, his equations start to break down when her former lover enters the scene. Eugene Ramos (Screenwriter), Andeep Singh (producer)

Oldest Man Alive

A suicidal 88-year-old inventor finds a reason to live in the young Romanian woman who saves him from drowning. But when she moves into his Manhattan townhouse, it upsets his son and daughter-in-law, who have waited decades to inherit the multi-million dollar dwelling.  Antonio Tibaldi (Screenwriter, Director), Ryan Brown (Screenwriter)

The Doctor

Salim, a disgraced young doctor from India, will do anything to get back into medicine. But when he takes a job at an illegal clinic in New York, he finds more danger than redemption. Musa Syeed (Screenwriter, Director), Nicholas Bruckman (Producer)

The Sloan Foundation and TFI will present a Sloan 20th anniversary retrospective screening of the film, And the Band Played On, followed by a panel that explores the science of AIDS through the arts and features prominent figures in film and science as part of “Tribeca Talks: After the Movie.”
 
And the Band Played On
Sloan Retrospective Screening and Panel  
Saturday, April 27 at SVA Theater, 3:30 p.m.

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary, And the Band Played On premiered at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the early ‘90s.  The film examines the facts surrounding the deadly disease and debunks many of its myths.  The film won three Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie.  Topping the incredible ensemble cast is Matthew Modine, who received Emmy and Golden Globe-nominations for his poignant portrayal of a doctor who heads an American research team.