Culture

Exclusivity is on pause as YouTube and Tribeca team up for a free film festival

Rejoice, film nerds.

Tribeca Film Festival and YouTube are collaborating on a free 10-day long film festival for the world. Under less abnormal times, these artistic gatherings tend to be paid-for affairs with tickets selling out quickly.

Under COVID-19, however, the rules are loosening up, forums are becoming more fluid, and viewership is expanding to a global and virtual audience with no price tag attached.

What we know so far — If you're interested in giving this collaboration a shot, here are the meaty bits of the plan.

  • Date: The virtual festival goes live on May 29 and lasts till June 7.
  • Donation: Viewers will have the option to donate to the World Health Organization as well as other coronavirus pandemic relief initiatives through links on the pages.
  • Content: It's not clear exactly which titles go live for viewing but Tribeca organizers told The Hollywood Reporter that the list contains "new and classic" films.
  • Lineup: On YouTube, Tribeca announced that the lineup carries titles from the "Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM), Jerusalem Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Venice Film Festival." Quite the variety.

#JuriedAwards at home — In addition to its efforts to create a free global film festival, Tribeca has made additional moves to present at-home #JuriedAwards. Set on Instagram, #JuriedAwards took place on April 27. Tribeca stated, "That’s right — an entire awards show is happening right here on our IGTV, and you get to be in the front row." Here's a quick clip for the announcement.

Streaming services and film archives are taking different steps to open their virtual theaters to everyone under COVID-19. Among them, Criterion Collection published a home viewing guide, HBO opened up some of its top-tier programming for everyone, and Tribeca offered a virtual reality version of its festival for Oculus headset users. In fact, there's a whole list of free streaming services for your pleasure.

E² aka exposure and entertainment — Quaran-tension, quaran-boredom, quaran-hell, whatever you want to call it, people following quarantine orders are feeling the weight of being stuck at home. Tribeca and YouTube's collaboration subsequently comes at an appropriate time, and carries the potential plus points of exposure for creators and entertainment for viewers. In this case, everybody has a good time (hopefully).