New York’s Tribeca Film Festival

Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Martin Scorsese, and Craig Hatkoff in January 2002, the Tribeca Film Institute was established to create cultural events dedicated to the economic redevelopment of lower Manhattan. It’s signature event, the Tribeca Film Festival, celebrates New York City as a major filmmaking center with proceeds contributing to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan.
 
Debuting in May of last year, the Tribeca Film Festival takes place in various locations throughout lower Manhattan. This year’s event was held from May 3-11 and featured several up-and-coming filmmakers, as well as lavish opening and closing night events.
 
Lighting Designer and Lighting Programmer for both the opening and closing was Michael Appel, who incorporated Martin MAC 2000 Performance effects into the events’ lighting scheme - 20 MAC 2000 Performance units for the opening and 26 for the closing. Michael used the venue’s conventional gear and other automated gear as well. Fourth Phase of New Jersey provided the lighting gear for the opening while Scharff-Weisberg Lighting of New York City provided the gear for the closing.
 
Opening gala
The opening gala took place at the Wintergarden in the World Financial Center. The Wintergarden is a huge public space covered by glass barrel-vault. It contains permanent palm trees and is used to present a variety of events. Directly across the street from the former World Trade Center, it was partially destroyed on 9/11.
 
“The producers were interested in an ‘organic’ feel for the room which is 300’ long and 120’ wide with an all glass ceiling,” Michael commented.  “The room also contains sixteen 30’ palm trees. I went with the MAC 2000 Performances because they are the only moving light that has the animation wheel and a naturalistic stock gobo load. I was able to create a feeling of moving palm leaves using the linear gobo with the radial animation wheel (DHA 12). I was also able to work with the producers and production designer to achieve a color palette that worked in conjunction with the film “Down With Love” which premiered on the festival’s opening night.“
 
Closing night
The closing night event took place at the Embassy Suites Atrium just north of Ground Zero. “This space is 120’ long, 40’ wide and approximately 15 stories high,” Michael states. “For this event, the main element of the room was a 100’ high mural. The mural has a water feel and I wanted to accentuate that with the lighting. I used 20 MAC 2000 Performance units to bring this mural to life. Using the water template and the tangential animation disc, I created a moving sea on the wall of the atrium. I used another 5 MAC 2000 Performance units to animate a 15-story wall of hanging vines and one unit was used to light a helium balloon suspended in the atrium. The framing shutters enabled me to keep the mural lit from end to end while keeping the outer edges of the mural clean.”