Tribeca Film Festival 2021 Day 2 Recap

Posted by Sean Tucker

Check out the pic and highlights of day 2 of Tribeca Film Festival. *Photo / Video Credit: Courtesy of Tribeca Festival

The second day of the 20th Tribeca Festival featured films, games, immersive experiences, musical performances, and podcasts. Highlights include:

 Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony Award-winner John Legend attended two events at the Festival, including  Storytellers: John Legend and Mike Jackson, a panel with his Get Lifted Film Co. co-lead Mike Jackson at Spring Studios. During the conversation, Legend noted that when it comes to filmmaking, “I bring my sensibility and my taste...I have a strong sense of who I am as a person and what I want my brand to represent.” He also revealed that, especially in documentary filmmaking, he likes being able to enter into people’s worlds to humanize them to show that their lives are valuable. Emmy Award-winning producer Jackson spoke to Legend’s hands-on involvement in the production process, and said when choosing projects for Get Lifted, he employs the “mic test,” meaning he needs to be able to imagine John speaking about it during an interview. Later in the evening, Legend introduced the documentary he executive produced, Legend of the Underground (HBO) at the film’s premiere. 

 Musicians D’Angelo and Rhiannon Giddens performed the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack alongside Daniel Lanois, the original soundtrack producer of the 2018 Game of the Year’s sountrack . This show marks the first live show in New York City to showcase tracks from the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack, along with the first time ever that American soul and R&B artist, D’Angelo joined Lanois and Rhiannon together to perform these songs live. 

 The screening of the comedy Mark, Mary, and Some Other People was followed by a conversation with producer Peter Williams and cast members Hayley Law, Ben Rosenfield, Odessa A'Zion, and Nik Dodani. The film was recently acquired by Vertical Entertainment.

 Jackie Collins’ daughters, Rory Green and Tiffany Lerman, joined director Laurie Fairrie on-stage after the screening of Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story to share their experience creating the documentary about their late mother, which included reading through her old diaries. 

 Director Pan Nalin watched the screening for Last Film Show for the first time alongside the audience. Since many of his India-based cast couldn’t travel to New York due to COVID restrictions, the film team had life size cutouts created so they could ‘walk’ the red carpet with him today at Pier 76. 

 At the Go Big screenings of shorts, snowboarder/surfer Jess Kumura and star Lucy Harris of The Queen of Basketball received a standing ovation for pushing boundaries and representing female athletes.   

 The world premiere of contemporary thriller Poser had cast and crew in attendance, including first-time feature filmmakers and directors, Noah Dixon and Ori Segev, at Hudson Yards. 

 Tribeca’s first-ever podcast event saw a sneak peak of the Red Frontier podcast, followed by a conversation with the creative team, including Head of Fiction at Gimlet Mimi O’Donnell, writer/director/executive producer Sarah Nolen, and cast member Kara Young.