The Wall Street Journal Spotlights Jon Gartenberg's Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) Programming

NY CULTURE  |  MARCH 12, 2011

Tale of Two Festivals: Tribeca vs. SXSW

By STEVE DOLLAR  [Excerpt]

Austin, Texas

Tribeca devotes half its roster to works by less-known filmmakers, with a wide spectrum of international titles that haven't been a significant part of SXSW's mission. But it also boasts high-wattage star power, with a healthy portion of its schedule devoted to marquee names and genre entertainments. "They really filled a void in New York," said Bill Morrison, a New York avant-garde filmmaker who will premiere "The Miners' Hymns," his first feature-length film at Tribeca, after four previous visits with short efforts. "They had a lot of corporate sponsorship and were able to make it a destination festival in a hurry."

Underneath the gloss, the festival has long championed experimental work like Mr. Morrison's, through one of its programmers, Jon Gartenberg. "If you can find someone like that in any festival, it's a great boon to bringing in different types of work," says Mr. Morrison.

Mr. Morrison, an East Village resident whose investigations into the nature of cinema have shown world-wide, also is happy to avoid JFK airport. When his movie premieres next month, "I can just ride my bike."                                                                                                                                     

Bill Morrison's THE MINERS' HYMNS (2011)  -  Miners’ Gala Day, Durham, 1963 

 Read the entire WSJ article by following this link:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597804576194702429879220.html