This June, we celebrate NYFA alumni premiering films at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. This year’s jurors include NYFA alum Francesca Scorsese, NYFA Guest Speaker Kim Cattrall, David O. Russell, Selma Blair, Asghar Farhadi, trailblazing director Chinonye Chukwu, as well as Nisha Pahuja, Nikyatu Jusu, Sheila Nevins, and Clara McGregor. So far, the festival has premiered films such as The Knife, Presumed Innocent, Darkest Miriam, and Swimming Home with NYFA Guest Speaker Christopher Abbott.
Tribeca also hosts an annual Shorts Program, which this year, includes a series of AI shorts, animated shorts selected by EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg, and shorts in themes such as “Course Correction,” “Get Comfortable,” “It’s Complicated,” “Life Cycles,” “Music Videos,” and even a segment for New York people watching.
NYFA Alums Premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival
At this year’s festival, NYFA alums Mariko Ide and Aaron Latta-Morrisette will premiere work, including Dust to Dust, which Ide edited, as well as Slave Play. A Movie. Not a Play, which featured Latta-Morrisette. In the Summers, produced by NYFA Producing alum Janek Ambros, will also screen at Tribeca.
“A landmark event both for the city of New York and the international film industry, Tribeca is a place where filmmakers around the world dream of screening their films. A big congratulations to Janek and Mariko for achieving that dream and to the team behind “Dust to Dust” for receiving the 2024 Human/Nature Award,” says Crickett Rumley, Senior Director of NYFA’s Film Festival Department.
Here are more about their accomplishments and new films.
Mariko Ide, Dust to Dust
Mariko Ide, a NYFA Documentary alum, served as editor of Dust to Dust. The film, directed by Kosai Sekine, Dust to Dust is Tribeca’s recipient of the 2024 Human/Nature Award. The award is given to films focused on environmental storytelling and the natural world.
The film, which is in Japanese but subtitled in English, follows Japanese haute couture designer Yuima Nakazato as he travels to Kenya to find inspiration for the future of Parisian fashion. Previously, Mariko worked at Yahoo! Japan and edited the short Temple Family, as well as the 2023 documentary The Making of a Japanese.
“We are so honored to accept this award and excited to share this film with the people in New York!” said Mariko regarding the film.
Janek Ambros, In The Summers
Janek Ambros, NYFA Producing alum, has produced and directed award-winning and nominated films including American Montage (2013), Unwarranted Influence (2014), Imminent Threat (2015), May 15th in Paris (2017), and Mondo Hollywoodland (2019).
He wrote and directed Ukrainians in Exile, produced by two-time Oscar winner and NYFA Guest Speaker Janusz Kaminski and actor Liev Schreiber, which screened at Cannes 2024 American Pavilion’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. In addition to screening at Tribeca, In The Summers debuted at Sundance, winning the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.
Aaron Latta-Morrisette, Slave Play. A Movie. Not a Play.
Tribeca will host the world premiere of Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play., based on the play of the same name written by playwright and director Jeremy O. Harris. Harris, who also directed the film, examines the relationships between three different interracial couples through “intimate workshop footage and candid interviews.”
In addition to NYFA alum Aaron Latta-Morrisette, the film also stars Amauta Firmino, Annie McNamara, Irene Sophia Lucio, and Jonathan Higgenbotham. Latta-Morrisette’s credits also include his film The Night Clubbers (2021), which won “Best Comedy Short” at the Oregon Short Film Festival, as well as “Best Writer” at the Alternative Film Festival. Latta-Morissette also starred in The Alpines (2021).
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