An Open Letter to the Tribeca Film Festival Regarding Occupy Wall Street

Tribeca 2012 Film Coalition
,
 Tribeca2012.com
and
 Alternet.org
April 30, 2012

 We are filmmakers, programmers, craftspeople, film critics, and film lovers who applaud the work you’ve done making the Tribeca Film Festival an artistically important destination.

However, we are troubled to learn that the festival has allowed Brookfield Properties to be one of its major sponsors this year and that multiple advertising trailers for Brookfield play in preshow programs.

Given Brookfield’s role in evicting the Occupy movement from Zuccotti Park, Brookfield hardly seems an appropriate sponsor for any festival that aspires to support new creative and cultural ideas.  The company should not be given such a high-profile platform to help re-brand themselves as supporters of artistic expression and free speech.

We ask that in planning future festivals you are conscious of the larger message your choice of sponsors sends to the public and hope that such sponsorship does not prevent the festival from taking a strong stance on the freedom of speech issues that are so critical to our lives as artists and the films we love.

With hope this leads to greater discussion and greater art,

(in alphabetical order)

Alicia Van Couvering, Producer

Albert Ruben, Writer

Annie Nocenti, Screenwriter & Filmmaker

Astra Taylor, Filmmaker, Examined Life

Christian Parenti, Writer, Tropic of Chaos

Dan Georgakas, Cineaste

Dorian Batycka, Performance Artist

Gary L. Aguilar, MD

Jacques Servin (Andy Bichlbaum), Filmmaker, Yes Men Fix The World

James Ponsoldt, Filmmaker

Jay Arthur Sterrenberg, Filmmaker

Jem Cohen, Filmmaker

Jennifer Baichwal, Filmmaker

Jeremy Pikser, Writer

Laura Poitras, Filmmaker, The Oath

Laura Hanna, Filmmaker

Michael Tully, Filmmaker & Writer

Nick Shimkin, Programmer

Raviv Ullman, Actor

Robert Iskhakov, Film lover

Ron Mann, Filmmaker & Distributor

Richard Porton, Cineaste Magazine

Sam Green, Filmmaker, The Weather Underground

Sarah Goodman, Filmmaker

Sean Flynn, Filmmaker & Programmer

Sarah Plant, Composer, Film Scorer

Stewart Nusbaumer, Writer

Todd Chandler, Filmmaker

Vic Losick, Filmmaker

Williams Cole, Producer

Zachary Levy, Filmmaker

Zachary Sklar, Writer

JOIN US!  TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THIS LIST– Please email us with your name and how you would like to be identified (“Filmmaker” “Writer”, etc..)

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

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