Yesterday I posted a PREVIEW of some of our most anticipated films at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Since there are a lot of other things going on besides movie screenings, I thought I’d share with you some of the coolest events also taking place as part of TFF. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend nearly all of these events but hopefully some of you will be able to check them out!

100 Years of Universal

In celebration of 100 years of Universal Pictures, join us for a conversation with iconic actors and directors Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Judd Apatow as they share their favorite moments and memories from Universal’s extraordinary history. Moderated by Film Editor for Deadline Hollywood Mike Fleming.

****This event will be streamed for FREE at TribecaFilm.com today at 3 PM! ***

MEET THE FILMMAKERS AT APPLE

The SoHo and 14 St. Apple stores will be hosting a series of Meet the Filmmaker events with people like Jenna Fischer, Lynn Shelton, Morgan Spurlock & many more. These events are usually recorded and available for free download via itunes. They are also free for the public to attend but space is usually very limited. For a full schedule of Apple events, visit http://www.apple.com/retail/tribeca/.

DRIVE-IN SCREENINGS

Yes, I know I said this article is meant to focus on events & not screenings. Trust me, these two film screenings are EVENTS. And they are FREE!

JAWS

With the summer beach season in full swing, a bloodthirsty great white shark begins terrorizing the small island community of Amity. A police chief, a marine scientist, and a grizzled fisherman set out to hunt it down… but they’re going to need a bigger boat. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw lead the cast of this groundbreaking Academy Award-winning thriller. Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece returns to the big screen! See the movie that thrilled a generation, launched the summer blockbuster, and has become one of the most enduring action-suspense films of all time. Come early to celebrate Universal Studios’ 100th Anniversary with trivia contests, live music from Afro-jazz pioneers Nomo, and surprise special guests, courtesy of the upcoming New York Downtown Jazz Festival. Later this year, fans can own Jaws for the first time ever on Blu-ray featuring an all-new, fully restored and digitally remastered picture from original 35mm film elements. Fans of John Williams’ iconic score will also love the Blu-ray’s DTS-HD Master 7.1 sound, which optimizes the film for the home screening environment.

THE GOONIES

When their Oregon neighborhood—affectionately dubbed “the Goon Docks”—is threatened by real estate developers, a group of pre-teen friends needs to find enough money to halt the demolition. Lucky for them, they’ve discovered an old treasure map, sparking an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of 17th-century pirate One-Eyed Willie. Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Josh Brolin, and Joe Pantoliano star in the movie that captured a generation’s imagination. Relive the adventure with Mikey, Mouth, Stef, Data, Chunk, and all the unforgettable characters in this beloved classic. Come early to take part in the “truffle shuffle” contest and win prizes in the first-ever Tribeca Treasure Hunt. Live music from afro-jazz pioneers NOMO, courtesy of the upcoming New York Downtown Jazz Festival.

These panels are always fun and informative. They are filled with great information and usually are a must for filmmakers attending the fest. Here are some of the most interesting panels at this year’s fest:

Film and Brands

Brands and filmmakers are increasingly collaborating on film projects to achieve a range of objectives from marketing and public relations to corporate storytelling and philanthropy. As the number of projects as well as the platforms for distribution increase, the bar has been raised for how to make these projects effective corporate storytelling pieces as well as quality filmmaking. Join producer and director Brett Ratner, American Express’ Vice President of Global Media, Sponsorship and Experiential Marketing Rich Lehrfeld, GE’s Global Executive Director of Advertising and Branding Judy Hu, the Norman Lear Center’s Managing Director and Director of Research Johanna Blakley; and Chief Marketing Officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill Mark Crumpacker for a conversation about how they are collaborating and where this increasingly complex and sophisticated world is heading. Moderated by Jon Patricof, President and Chief Operating Officer of Tribeca Enterprises.

Imagine More

Project Imagin8ion was the first photo contest to inspire a Hollywood film, resulting in the Ron Howard production when you find me, shot using Canon cameras. Join us for a screening of this short film, followed by a discussion with Canon representatives and filmmakers about the versatility of shooting with Canon cameras and creating films through collaborative storytelling. Panelists include Canon USA Technical’s Chuck Westfall, The Russian Winter director Petter Ringbom, CatCam director Seth Keal, and others.

Sponsored by Canon

The Business of Entertainment

Now in its second decade as a signature sponsor of TFF, Bloomberg returns with its Business of Entertainment program at the Festival. This year’s discussion, entitled “Going Global: Will Co-Production Save the Film Industry?” will focus on the recent rise of international co-production, exploring the benefits and obstacles of this often complex but rewarding strategy. Bloomberg convenes major producers, financiers, and other key industry decision-makers who play leading roles in financing today’s film and entertainment industries. Panelists include co-producer of The Girl and CEO of Bonita Films Tania Zarak, Chairman and CEO of Endgame Entertainment James D. Stern, and Director of European Film and TV Group, Exclusive Media, Ben Holden. Moderated by Bloomberg News entertainment reporter Michael White.

Sponsored by Bloomberg

The Future is Short: Storytelling in the Digital Age

As the Internet and other platforms like Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo!, and the New York Times become more commercially viable as distribution outlets for good stories told through film, the opportunities for creating original short-form content have never been bigger, or more lucrative. What do content producers want from original episodic or serial programs, and how do filmmakers who’ve dipped their toes in short-form storytelling, even as brief as three minutes, feel about the work they’ve done? Where might it all be headed? Join CINELAN co-founder Morgan Spurlock (Mansome), filmmaker Annie Sundberg (Knuckleball!), Jason Spingarn-Koff of the New York Times Op-Docs series, and others to discuss the power, art, and business of short-form storytelling. Moderated by Jason Wishnow, Director of Film and Video at TED.

Sponsored by GE / FOCUS FORWARD – Short Films, Big Ideas

New Filmmakers on Film

Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program has helped young directors and cinematographers break into the industry for the past 25 years, supporting films such as Requiem for a Dream and Napoleon Dynamite. While a growing number of filmmakers turn to digital technology, Panavision’s grant program still offers artists the chance to shoot on film by providing them with exclusive camera packages with legendary Panavision lenses, as well as a wide range of digital cameras. Join Una Noche director Lucy Mulloy, Kodak’s US Account Manager of Features and Post-Production Bob Mastronardi, cinematographer Guy Godfree, and other film artists as they discuss the program and new opportunities for emerging talent. Moderated by Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program Manager, Mike Dallatorre.

Sponsored by Panavision

The Pen Versus the Sword

Social change can be implemented through a variety of creative methods—from artists who write and create work that makes people look at society from a new perspective, to bloggers spreading information, opinions, and images to those who need it most, to regular individuals speaking out. Hear from TFF filmmakers Antonino D’Ambrosio (Let Fury Have the Hour), Raymond De Felitta (Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story), and Stephen Maing (High Tech, Low Life) on how writing and action can make an impact in the world. Moderated by film and culture critic Caryn James.

All descriptions come from the official Tribeca website. There are many more events taking place throughout the festival so be sure to visit http://TribecaFilm.com for more info!

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – JerryCavallaro.com

4 years ago, I attended a screening of SUPERBAD the day it came out. Immediately after that screening, I was inspired. The film was a series of long conversations. The story had been done a million times. But it worked because the dialogue was brilliant and everyone could relate to the characters. I have been a fan of CLERKS. & Kevin Smith for years prior to this but something just clicked. It had gone mainstream. So I started thinking about what the simplest idea for a story could be that would showcase the characters and the dialogue. I immediately came up with the age old idea of people stuck in a room. I began to realize that this was actually something I could do so I started working on the idea. A week later I started writing the script. 6 months later we started shooting. A year and a half after that, we premiered at our first film festival and went home with Audience Choice Comedy. And now, exactly 4 years after the idea was born, the film is now available for free online. Watch it. Enjoy it. And get inspired!

If you like the film and would like to help out, you can make a donation of $1 or more right HERE. As a token of appreciation, everyone who contributes will received access to nearly 10 hours of bonus features including deleted scenes, a feature length making of, behind the scenes videos, a commentary track and more. You can also help out by purchasing a t-shirt from DIRECTOR’S CAMEO. Several of the shirts featured in the film are available on that site, as well many more shirts designed specifically for filmmakers, movie geeks & pop culture junkies.

Now that it is finally available, what did you think of the film?

Jerry Cavallaro – JerryCavallaro.com

Although I don’t get to contribute nearly as much as I’d like to, I have been a part of WAMG for almost 3 years now. During that time, one film that I always liked to talk about was STUCK LIKE CHUCK and the reason why is simple. It is an awesome film… and I also happen to be the writer & director. In the past, I’ve posted stories about new trailers and festival screenings. Our very own Travis Keune even wrote a fantastic (and non-biased) review that you can read RIGHT HERE. But this news is much bigger.

I’m very excited to let you all know that starting August 17^th, STUCK LIKE CHUCK will be available to watch for free. Free streaming. Free download. FREE. It will launch on StuckLikeChuck.com but the player is embeddable so hopefully it will pop up on websites and blogs all over.

To celebrate the free release, on August 17^th I will host 3 separate “live-tweets” of the film. Just start watching the film at 8 PM, 10 PM or Midnight EST & tweet about it using #LiveChuck. You can also just tweet me anytime (@GetStuck) and I’m usually pretty good about responding.

Since no future DVD or Blu-Ray release is planned, I will also be releasing nearly 10 hours of bonus features. This includes a version of the film with audio commentary from myself and Nic Baisley from FilmSnobbery.com, an 88 minute fly on the wall behind the scenes documentary, the original 2 hour rough cut of the film, over 30 minutes of deleted scenes and much more. In order to access all these extras, just make a donation of $1 or more on StuckLikeChuck.com starting August 17^th.

Check out our newest teaser trailer below to see what you can expect in less than two weeks…

So who’s excited?

- Jerry Cavallaro, JerryCavallaro.com

Since Friday, I have been raving to people about RABIES (review here), which is my favorite film of the Tribeca Film Festival so far. I’ve also been telling everyone how it is available to watch for free as part of the festival’s online screening room. Pretty much no one knew what I was talking about. It occurred to me that I should write a post to explain a little bit about Tribeca’s online festival and how you can watch some great indie films for free.

By going to http://www.tribecafilm.com/tribecaonline you can get all the info. Basically you have to sign up for a free Tribeca film account and then reserve a virtual seat for one of the online screenings. Each of the films have set days when they are streaming and you should have 24 hours for each to check in and watch the film on those days.

There are 6 features and a bunch of shorts available, including a few award winning shorts from previous years. Also available as part of the online festival are streams from each red carpet and from the live Tribeca Talks panels, plus chats and interviews with some of the filmmakers.

There is a lot of great content on the site and you should check it out for yourself. To get you started, here are 5 recommendations on what to watch. Click on the title to be taken directly to that film’s virtual screening room.

RABIES – Feature

Israel’s first horror movie is one of the best horror films you will see in a while. It is a brilliant slasher film with the psycho killer removed from the equation.

THE DUNGEON MASTER – Short

A surprisingly dark but funny short about why it may not be a great idea to play Dungeons & Dragons when it has been a few years since your last roll. Written & Directed by Rider and Shiloh Strong.

MR. STACHE – Short

A whimsical tale of a man, his moustache and the girl of his dreams. Directed by Jac Schaeffer, who you may remember as the very talented writer/director of TiMER.

SOME BOYS DON’T LEAVE – Retrospective Short

Girl breaks up with Boy but Boy refuses to leave the apartment they once shared so she tries to ignore him while he lives in her hall. Expertly shot and yet another great performance from Jesse Eisenberg.

TRIBECA TALKS: AMPLIFY THE MESSAGE – Panel

A 90 minute discussion on how to use social media to build a web presence and engage with your audience.

BONUS FREE SCREENING INFO

In addition to the official online portion of the festival, several films from Tribeca are available at various VOD platforms. One of those platforms is Amazon.com and they are giving away free $6 in Tribeca credit in return for just one tweet. Go to https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000673791 for full details. None of the feature films available at Amazon are available for free on the Tribeca website so choose wisely or watch one for free and purchase the others. A few of the shorts are also available on Amazon for free, including MR. STACHE.

Most of this content is only available until the end of the festival so check it out now before it is too late. Hopefully this post makes you feel a little bit better about not being able to attend the festival in person. Enjoy!

Jerry Cavallaro  – www.StuckLikeChuck.com

Disney/Pixar is sending out the word to all college students. You are invited to a screening of the SPECIAL CLIFFHANGER EDITION of Disney/Pixar’s TOY STORY 3! Select your school from the list on the special FACEBOOK page and then click “I’m In!” for the chance to see the first 65 minutes of the gang’s newest adventure.

The 4 Missouri Universities that are eligible for the TOY STORY 3 Cliffhanger Screening: 

Webster University, Washington University, Saint Louis University, and University of Missouri St. Louis.

Where: Landmark Tivoli.

When: Wednesday, April 28 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

You MUST bring your valid college ID for admission, seating is first come, first serve.

If you dont live in MO, click here for a complete list of all the colleges nationwide that are eligible for the special preview. And make sure to check out the full 3D experience of TOY STORY 3 when it hits theaters nationwide June 18, 2010. Remember, the toys are depending on you.

For all thing TOY STORY 3, check out the director’s, Lee Unkrich, Twitter page.

We just got more swag for ‘The Hangover’ than we can possibly handle. Since there is so much of it we decided to have a contest for all of our lovely readers. We secretly hid this image:

on one of the many ‘The Hangover’ posts we have done previously. What we need you to do is go out and find the post that contains the picture above and email a link to tips(at)wearemoviegeeks.com. We will pick 1 lucky grand prize winner, and a couple runners up. Here is what we have up for grabs:

The Grandprize Winner will get the following:

• A White Castle Crave Case (White Castle ®.   What You Crave ®!)
• Some Drinkin Mate (Anytime you drink always use your Drinkin Mate to feel better the next day… check it out at drinkinmate.com)
• ‘The Hangover’ Tank Top
• ‘The Hangover’ T-Shirt
• ‘The Hangover’ Shot Glass
• A copy of ‘The Hangover’ Soundtrack
• ‘The Hangover’ Ice Pack

1 Runner Up will recieve:

• A White Castle Crave Case (White Castle ®.   What You Crave ®!)
• Some Drinkin Mate (Anytime you drink always use your Drinkin Mate to feel better the next day… check it out at drinkinmate.com)
• ‘The Hangover’ T-Shirt
• ‘The Hangover’ Shot Glass

After these have been chosen we will divvy up the remaining swag to randomly selected entries. Also make sure that you go out and see ‘The Hangover’ on Friday June 5th when it opens in theaters. You can see more on the official website http://hangovermovie.warnerbros.com

We are giving you the chance to win some ‘Terminator Salvation’ swag because we love all of our faithful readers and what better way to help serve you in this recession.

The grand prize winner is going to take this home with them:

We will also pick some other random winners to get Tshirts, Shot Glasses, Hats, Temporary Tattoos and mini posters.

This contest will be a little bit different, what you are going to have to do is look through our old Terminator posts and find this logo for The Resistance:

We put it at the bottom of one of the old Terminator posts, and you need to find it, email tips(at)wearemoviegeeks.com with the subject of Terminator Swag.

The contest will be up and running until end of day Friday when ‘Terminator Salvation’ opens in theaters. What are you waiting for? Get to searching…

All of my editors are raving about this movie so I decided to inform you guys about a bar night happening Saturday and Sunday night here in St Louis at Heartbreakers.

Come to Heartbreakers to win prizes from the new film GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST. First 50 ladies each night receive a special gift! Ask to try the Ex-Girlfriend/ Ex-Boyfriend shot special of the night. Not to mention some of the movie geeks will be on hand to sign autographs and possibly even offer up free dates, who knows.

Here is the address for Heartbreakers, and all of the fun starts at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday night.
700 N. 2nd. Street, Saint Louis MO

So what are you waiting for, call all of your friends and tell them to come out.

You Are Cordially Invited To The Completely Informal WeAreMovieGeeks.com Pre-Tribeca Party!
A little over 6 months ago I lost out on $10,000 by placing third in the Netflix Movie Watching World Championship. Little did I know that a few days later, I would become the biggest winner of the competition because my little stunt led me to this gig writing for WAMG.

When I realized that a private screening of my film was set for the day before Tribeca, I decided to change it into a Pre-Tribeca bash for my fellow movie geeks. I am inviting several filmmakers/actors whose films are at Tribeca, as well as my fellow film bloggers and all the amazing PR reps that helped me bring awesome movie coverage to this site. I will also be giving away a few pairs of tickets to some lucky NY readers.

Here are the event details†¦
Who: I just said who. Pay attention.

What: Glad you asked. At the start of the event, there will be a 20-minute acoustic performance by The Scenic. (Go to www.myspace.com/thescenic to hear them play) The acoustic set will be followed by the premiere of the indie comedy Stuck Like Chuck, which has never been shown before and won’t screen again until it’s “official†ť premiere at the SINY Film Festival. The rest of the night will be for mingling. Oh and I forgot to mention, I am ordering a ton of pizza for after the film.

When: Tuesday April 21st, 7 – 10 PM

Where: 11^th Floor of the NYIT New Technology Building at 16 West 61^st Street – Please don’t show up if you are not on the guest list.

Why: Because I love movies.

This is going to be a lot of fun and I wish everyone could come. Unfortunately, space is very limited. If you would like to win a spot on the guest list good for 2, send an email to jerry@wearemoviegeeks.com telling me your favorite indie movie.

I’ll leave you with the trailer for Stuck Like Chuck. Enjoy!

Jerry Cavallaro – www.AreYouStuckLikeChuck.com

I just got a box full of movie swag for ‘Observe and Report’ and since we LOVE all of our readers so much we are going to pass it on to all of you.

In the comment secion I want you to all tell me the release date for ‘Observe and Report’ and all of the correct answers will be picked at random to win the prize packs. 3 lucky winners will score all the stuff below:

1 Observe and Report Tshirt
1 Observe and Report Shot Glass
1 Observe and Report Mug
1 Observe and Report Mini Poster
1 Observe and Report Hologram Card
1 Signed 8×10 of Scott Hutcheson I am fresh out of these, sorry people.

So what are you waiting for? Leave us some comments and try to score this swag for yourself, your friend, your mom or your child(what kind of parent are you?!).

Paul McCartney was in The Beatles, then Wings and finally went on to record and perform as plain ol’ Paul McCartney. Regardless of how you feel about the guy, he is a living legend.

And if you don’t know who he is, then you might be dead. Get that checked out.

But who in the hell is Matt Berry? And what is he doing with McCartney?

Matt Berry is many things: Actor, Comedian, Musician, Englishman. He may be more, but there is only so much awesome you can pack inside one man.

Berry is a familiar face to fans of the BBC and was a regular on ‘The IT Crowd,’ ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace,’ ‘The Mighty Boosh’ and the funniest damn show to ever air on broadcast television, ‘Snuff Box.’

For music fans, Berry has contributed his pop sensibilities to numerous shows, most notably ‘Snuff Box,’ which features numerous tunes in every episode. Berry wrote the lot of ‘em.

Currently, Berry can be seen in the film ‘Moon,’ which we recently reviewed as a part of our SXSW coverage (check it out).

I imagine Matt Berry will eventually win over the hearts and minds of all children. Until that happens, he will continue being awesome.

So awesome, in fact, that even Sir Paul McCartney is getting in on the action. He and Berry recorded a song together, ‘Rain Came Down,’ which will be included on Berry’s forthcoming album, ‘Witchazel,’ his follow up to the sublime ‘Opium.’

For a limited time, you can download ‘Witchazel’ for free by clicking HERE.

And if you’d like a taste of the ‘Snuff Box‘…

Attn all of our readers that will be attending SXSW, we have decided to run a contest just for you. I made a couple of wallpapers, formatted for the iPhone but can be used on any phone, for WAMG @ SXSW and if you use this wallpaper while you are at SXSW we will give you free swag. How will we know you are using it? Well we wont because we arent that advanced. We are leaving it up to you to find us, show us the wallpaper and happily receive your free SWAG. What free SWAG you ask? Well we have TShirts for ‘I Love You, Man’, DVD’s from ‘Role Models’, some Limited Edition We Are Movie Geeks tshirts, buttons, and all kinds of other things.

Here are the first wallpapers of few to come, save them now and put them as well phone wallpaper:

Everyone’s favorite Sundance breakthrough ‘Mystery Team’ will continue its traveling show of free screenings next week in LA. If you are in LA(who isnt these days?) then get your A out there and see this movie, you wont be disasppointed.

One of my favorite movies at Sundance, ‘Mystery Team‘, will be screening for FREE in NYC next week. This is freaking awesome, I had to travel like 1500 miles to see this movie, but if you are in NY you can see it for FREE. What are you guys still doing here reading this? Leave your house now and form a line at the Cinema Village theater for this… you don’t want to miss it.

Are you guys as excited as we are for ‘Watchmen’? If you are then we have an awesome contest for you! We are giving away 3 full size posters from the movie! These posters are very hard to get ahold of, but thanks to WB we got the hookup! These are the posters we are giving away:

So how do you win? Well this will take a little more work than you are used to. Open up your ‘Watchmen’ graphic novels, go to chapter 8, page 20 and tell me the first word.

Leave it in the comments, we will pick the winners at random. After you get your poster, take a picture of yourself holding it so we can put it up!

Because we absolutely LOVE all of our readers, we are giving all of you the chance to walk away with some fresh new DVDs for Christmas, and some other great swag. “What will I get if I win?” Well, that is a great question! Here is what you will receive:

Burn After Reading on DVD
Mamma Mia! on DVD
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor on DVD
Death Race on DVD
We Are Movie Geeks T-Shirt in a L or XL
Watchmen full size 27×40 Poster
The Spirit ROE Passes in St. Louis

So, what do you have to do to get all that sweet swag?! Well, we want all of our readers to send us a Christmas Themed fan sign! What do you mean by Christmas Themed? Well draw a Christmas Tree on your sign, wear a Santa hat, take the picture in front of your Christmas Tree… something related to Christmas!

Here is an example of a fan sign:

So what are you waiting for? Send your fan signs to scott(a)wearemoviegeeks.com!

If you live in St Louis and you plan on seeing ‘Quantum of Solace’ this weekend, hit up one of five AMC theater’s listed below, at the 7:00 o’clock showing and the first 100 people will get a free ‘Quantum of Solace’ poster! You cant beat free stuff, especially a hot poster like this one.

Here are the 5 participating theaters.

AMC Chesterfield 14 in Westfield Chesterfield Mall
AMC West Olive 16
AMC Creve Coeur 12
AMC Crestwood Plaza 10
AMC Esquire 7

So what are you waiting for? Go buy your tickets in advance so they aren’t sold out!

Be one of the first 100 guests toĂ‚  arrive at oneĂ‚  of these area AMC Theatres to see show in the 7:00 hour and receive a QUANTUM OF SOLACE poster from a dashing tuxedo-donned 007 AGENT!Ă‚   Poster supplies are limited and will beĂ‚  given away while supplies last.

That is the official verbage I was given just in case you had questions.

Michael Moore is giving back to his fans, and what better way than offering up his latest documentary ‘Slacker Uprising’ for free! To help celebrate the upcoming 20 year anniversary of ‘Roger & Me’ he will be giving the film away online.

“I thought it’d be a nice way to celebrate my 20th year of doing this,” Moore said. “And also help get out the vote for November. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do to help with the election this year.”

Starting September 23rd you can go onto the ‘Slacker Uprising’ website and sign up to download the movie.

“To receive the download, people can sign up at SlackerUprising.com …Ă‚  A “Night of a Thousand House Parties” is planned for Oct. 4, when local neighborhood screenings are hoped to be scheduled. A DVD will be released Oct. 7.”

For those of you that don’t know, this documentary followed Moore through a 62 city tour to rally young “slackers” to vote during the 2004 election. The movie will be available for free download for 3 weeks, and they will release the DVD in October.Ă‚