In a significant milestone for Portugal’s fast-growing arts community, TribecaEnterprises, SIC, the Portuguese broadcast company, its streaming platform OPTO and the City of Lisbon will be hosting the first-ever European edition of the Tribeca Festival in Lisbon on the 17th to the 19th of October.
The festival will consist of an opening night followed by a two-day event on Lisbon’s waterfront. Award-winning filmmaker Patty Jenkins, EGOT Whoopi Goldberg and Oscar-nominated actor Griffin Dunne have signed on as early headline speakers.
Programming, led by Tribeca’s SVP of Programming and Festival Director Cara Cusumano, in partnership with SIC and OPTO and executive producer Tony Gonçalves, former WarnerMedia executive and Portuguese native, will include a curated collection of both Portuguese and international films, live talks with Portuguese and international talent, immersive installations, networking opportunities, and more.
Beato Innovation District on the River Tagus, home of Lisbon’s Unicorn Factory and a cultural hub for startups, scale-ups and unicorns, will serve as the main venue for Tribeca Festival Lisboa.
“At its core, Tribeca is about uplifting a community of artists–whether that community is below 14th Street in Manhattan or across the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon,” said Robert De Niro, co-founder of Tribeca Enterprises.
“We believe a city thrives when its artists thrive,” added Jane Rosenthal, co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, “We’re honoured to partner with Impresa this fall to champion the young generation of filmmakers, artists and creators coming out of Portugal today.”
Tribeca Festival Lisboa will celebrate Portugal’s burgeoning arts and entertainment community on a global stage. “The entire team at SIC and OPTO is proud to bring the prestigious Tribeca Festival to Europe for the first time. Our main media platforms will present Tribeca Festival Lisboa with the same innovative spirit with which they were created,” said Francisco Pedro Balsemão, Impresa’s CEO.
Carlos Moedas, the Mayor of Lisbon, highlighted: “Tribeca Festival aligns perfectly with Lisbon’s cultural ethos and policy, where we engage with our people in their neighbourhoods, on the streets of Lisbon. Culture is rooted in a city’s people and events like this put it on display and bring our community together. That is the spirit of Tribeca.”
Tribeca Festival Lisboa will bring together artists and storytellers from across the globe and attendees can look forward to talks from some of Hollywood’s most acclaimed filmmakers and actors. “I love the way Tribeca spotlights emerging talent from across the globe,” said Jenkins. “I’m thrilled to be joining the festival in Lisbon this fall to share what I can, but also to immerse myself in Portuguese culture and cinema. I know it’s going to be an incredibly inspiring and enriching experience.”
Tribeca’s footprint in Lisbon signals global ambitions for the media and entertainment company, which first expanded internationally between 2009-2012 with the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, the first-ever film festival in Qatar. In recent years, Tribeca has cemented its presence beyond New York City with annual events in Los Angeles, through a partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Company and the Uninterrupted Film Festival, as well as in Miami through a partnership with Art Basel Miami.
