TRIBECA FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES GALA EVENTS
Featuring World Premieres & Performances by Carlos Santana, Cyndi Lauper, & French Montana, Live Conversation with Megan Thee Stallion at New York’s Beacon Theatre Matt Damon- Produced Sarajevo Documentary Kiss the Future featuring US to Open Festival A Bronx Tale 30th Anniversary is Closing Gala Plus: Disney & Pixar’s Elemental added as centerpiece film
NEW YORK, NY — (April 27, 2023) — The 2023 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today announced its lineup of Gala events, along with Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece selections.
This year’s Festival kicks off on Wednesday, June 7 with the North American premiere of Kiss the Future, a stirring documentary that follows the story of a community of underground musicians and creatives throughout the nearly four-year-long siege of Sarajevo, as well as the 1997 U2 concert celebrating the liberation of the Bosnian capital. The film serves as a testament to art’s enduring ability to cast light even in the darkest of circumstances and reflects Tribeca’s founding mission of utilizing the power of storytelling to heal communities. Kiss the Future, produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Sarah Anthony, and featuring U2’s Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton, officially opens the 12-day festival and sets Tribeca’s tone with its theme of artists-activists.
“Ben and I are proud of this film and are honored that it has been selected to open the Tribeca Festival,” said Damon. “We are grateful to the people of Sarajevo and to U2 for giving us the opportunity to help tell this special story. Though this event happened almost 30 years ago, we feel it has strong relevance to today’s world, serving as a powerful reminder that human creativity can provide a powerful antidote to even the most horrific of situations.”
To close the Festival, Tribeca is commemorating the 30th anniversary of A Bronx Tale with a special screening of the classic film on Saturday, June 17. After the movie, the film’s director and star Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal, and writer and co-star Chazz Palminteri are participating in a live conversation with the editor of The New Yorker David Remnick.
“ A Bronx Tale is a very personal project that marked my directorial debut,” said De Niro. “I’m pleased to celebrate its 30th anniversary at Tribeca with my longtime producing partner and Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal, the wonderful Chazz Palminteri, and a live New York audience at the iconic Beacon Theatre.”
This year’s Centerpiece Gala is the New York premiere of Disney and Pixar’s Elemental. Set in Element City, where fire-, water-, earth- and air-residents live together, the film is about Ember, a fiery young woman, whose friendship with water-guy Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in and the person she wants to be. Directed by Peter Sohn, Elemental is voiced by Catherine O’Hara, Leah Lewis, and Mamoudou Athie.
The remaining Gala selections include the world premieres of music documentaries about Grammy-winning artists Carlos Santana, Cyndi Lauper, and French Montana with dedicated performances by each artist after the screenings. Additionally, Grammy-winning Megan Thee Stallion is participating in a live conversation. The Gala events, sponsored by City National Bank, take place at the Beacon Theatre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
“Music is an instrumental form of storytelling, and the Tribeca Festival is thrilled to weave dynamic performances into our Gala events. Our lineup features the best of soul, rock & roll, pop, and hip-hop,” said Tribeca Festival Director and VP of Programming Cara Cusuamno. “We hope our audiences are inspired by activism in art and riled up by the electrifying acts paired with the screenings.”
For more information visit the festival website, and follow us here for more movie news and film festival updates.
Originally published at https://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on April 27, 2023.
