Irish feature film ‘Babygirl’ will be streamed online later this month as part of its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Written and directed by Northern Irish filmmaker Macdara Vallely, it is one of four features that will also be streamed on the web as part of the festival’s sister event, the Tribeca Online Film Festival.
The film will be viewable online as it simultaneously receives its world premiere proper at New York’s AMC Loews Village cinema at 9pm local time on April 19 (2am Irish time on April 20.)
It will also compete for the Best Tribeca Online Feature Film, a prize which is worth $10,000 (€7,600) and will be voted for by the festival’s online viewers.
‘Babygirl’ is the second feature from ‘Peacefire’ writer/director Vallely and tells the story of Bronx teenager Lena who has watched her mom Lucy squander her life on a series of deadbeat men. When Victor, her mom’s latest boy toy, starts hitting on Lena, she sets up a trap to expose Victor for the creep he is… but the plan backfires.
The “low-budget” film was produced by David Collins, Paul Miller and Gigi Dement for Samson Films and Escape Pictures. Post-production was done by Screen Scene in Dublin. The feature was also funded by the Irish Film Board and Werner Films.
Describing the movie as a “labour of love”, Collins said of the film’s inclusion in Tribeca’s online showcase: “We’re really pleased with the extra exposure this will give ‘Babygirl’, but we’re also particularly pleased because it’s a film that was shot in New York amongst the Puerto Rican community and written and directed by an Irish filmmaker. We’re very excited that it will receive its world premiere at Tribeca, which is its natural home.”
The Tribeca Film Festival gets underway in New York next week (April 18) and runs until April 29. Along with four features, its online sister festival will stream five short films.
Each film screened as part of the Tribeca Online Film Festival will have limited screening windows and capacity with reservations being taken from the general public from next Monday (April 16).
Online viewers will be able to vote for the Best Tribeca Online Feature Film, a prize of $10,000 (€7,600), and the Best Tribeca Online Short Film, a prize of $5,000 (€3,800). Winners will be announced at the Tribeca Film Festival Awards on April 26.
There will also be a social voting competition, based solely on popularity: the number of “likes” that film accrues on the Tribeca Online Film Festival film detail page. The feature film and the short film that drive the most Facebook likes on the page will each receive a separate $500 (€380) prize. Winners will be announced on April 30.
The complete list of feature films streamed on the Tribeca Online Film Festival are ‘Babygirl’ (Ireland, USA); ‘On The Mat’ (USA); ‘The Russian Winter’ (Russia) and ‘Town of Runners’ (UK).
The short films streaming include ‘BFF’ (USA); ‘CatCam’ (USA); ‘Scenes from a Visit to Japan’ (Japan, USA); ‘Transmission’ (Australia); ‘Doggy Bags’ (USA).
