For the last seven years, The Art Institute of New York City has been actively involved in this world-class festival. Our students filmed the proceedings, while Tribeca Kids Access, a group of elementary and middle school students from the neighborhood conducted the interviews.

Under the experienced leadership of Project Manager/alumnus Len Carter, who taught a production seminar in advance of the festival for the students, and with the invaluable support of Digital Filmmaking Department Chair Eve Okupniak, a team of 21 students filmed virtually all events taking place during the festival week (April 21 – May 2, 2010).

During this time, they also had the highly educational experience of editing the footage under a tight deadline to fulfill the “client’s” requirements.

The crew, dressed in black tee shirts with Ai logos, sported (large) press credentials, and thus had access to the assigned red carpet events. They filmed premiers, seminars and the Family Festival Street Fair, providing the edited footage to Tribeca officials as quickly as possible. This sometimes entailed editing late into the night, and on two weekends at both ends of the festival.

As in previous years, the Tribeca team provided media outlets such as WNBC with both print and video content to use in their coverage of the festival.

Participants gained valuable experience, not in just the real world, but in the world of international entertainment; the footage will be invaluable for their reels. Most students cite the opportunity to work with the festival as a highlight of their program. This connection makes the school unique in The Art Institutes system.

According to Peter Downing, Creative Director & Producer of the Festival, "We would never have had such great coverage of those opportunities if it weren't for the camera crews and the personnel from The Art Institute of New York City. I think the students from The Art Institute did an extraordinary job... It was terrific to have a professional come back in and lead that team and make things run so incredibly smoothly..."

Students expressed their feelings about participating in the Festival:

Kristina Siska: “I think our schools involvement in the film festival is a great privilege.”

Chris Conaway: “I found being part of the Tribeca Film Festival to be an awesome and very rewarding experience. I truly learned a lot from this hands-on opportunity. I felt that Len’s guidance was worth more than his weight in gold.”

Adam Forman: “Working on TFF is a serious privilege. I got an experience of the real world, as opposed to student projects.”

Ai New York City is extremely proud of all Tribeca team members: