Tribeca Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore shares his thoughts on the stigma associated with VOD, the phenomenon of festival favor, and, of course, cell phone usage at the movies.
When you have a resource like Geoff Gilmore merely a phone call away, you take advantage. After over twenty years in the film business (UCLA, Sundance), Gilmore came to Tribeca in 2009 and has continued to be a force in the world of film and media. After he returned from his trips to the festivals in Toronto and Venice (where he served as a member of the jury), we jumped at the opportunity to pick his brain.
From the seemingly common practice of standing ovations at film festivals to current buying trends in the marketplace, Gilmore candidly discusses a wide array of topics. Want to know his opinion on the state of independent films, the current lack of critical prestige, and whether or not 2013 is truly the year of the documentary? Read on.
Tribeca: Movies like 12 Years a Slave and Dallas Buyers Club received standing ovations at this year's Toronto Film Festival. When so much of the Festival atmosphere is pomp and circumstance, do you think that a standing ovation really means anything anymore?
Geoff Gilmore: It's kind of a fun question to talk about because the truth is that the answer is yes and no. You're absolutely right that standing ovations are in some ways a dime a dozen at festivals. They are given often. Audiences at certain festivals, like Toronto, give them even more frequently than audiences do at Sundance or Cannes.
That said, often times, standing ovations communicate respect more than awe. However, a standing ovation for a film like 12 Years a Slave probably does mean something. Sometimes ordinary films tend to get overhyped, and one has to consider whether an over the top response to the film constitutes what's called festival favor. Whether films that get standing ovations at festivals will be films that the Academy celebrates is a very different question, because festivals and the Academy are very different organizations that don't always share the same sensibility. The place that the standing ovation means the least is the mainstream marketplace.
I think that the "year of the documentary" phrase gets thrown around too arbitrarily.
Tribeca: Another hot topic that came out of Toronto was the cellphone incident that occurred during the press and industry screening of Ti West's The Sacrament. As a buyer, is the ability to use your cellphone at an industry screening really that necessary?
GG: I'll give you the answer that I really believe in yes, it is. However, there's a difference between having to use your cellphone and being on your cellphone for the whole screening. There's a difference between doing it like I do it I actually put it under my coat so as not to bother other people just clicking away on it out in the open regardless of whether you bother anybody.
I've come out of movies ready to make an offer just to find out the film already has been sold.
If you're a buyer, you may very well want to be communicating about bidding on the film, getting something arranged very quickly, even connecting with a sales agent. There are many cases where films have been bought during the screening. I've come out of movies ready to make an offer just to find out the film already has been sold.
Even in this hyper competitive atmosphere, you still should try to be discreet. Also, people at festivals don't just use their phones during P&I screenings; they use them during public screenings, and really annoy people. So cell phones are sometimes necessary, particularly at P&I screenings, but what happened at Toronto this year was out of the ordinary.
Tribeca: I remember when David Edelstein wrote that piece for Vulture about two people who wouldn't put away their cell phones at a Mother of George screening in Brooklyn.
GG: I think that's totally different. People have gotten so used to using their phones whenever they want that they don't recognize that they are disturbing people. Or if they do recognize it, they decide to ignore it. Obviously, there's a degree to which this is not just a film or film festival problem; it's a social problem.
The amount of money that's spent on a film is never indicative of how good the film is.
Tribeca: Since you were able to take in movies at both Toronto and the Venice International Film Festival, what do you think when people dub this the year of the documentary? Our own Festival seems to put an emphasis on documentary filmmaking.
GG: I think that the "year of the documentary" phrase gets thrown around too arbitrarily. Someone sees a documentary that they like, a jury decides to award a prize to a documentary, and the next thing you know Venice put two documentaries in their competition this year for the first time. That was unusual, that was a big deal. People didn't necessarily expect for them to win, but they did. Does that make it the year of documentary? No. That just makes it something that happened in a specific situation.
I think documentaries have established themselves as part of the film festival marketplace in general. It is no longer important or necessary to talk about this or that year being the year of documentaries because that kind of silly moniker doesn't help us think about what goes on in the world of documentary filmmaking.
Tribeca is not a documentary festival. Far from it. Do we treat documentaries here seriously? Absolutely, and maybe that's important in the sense that many other festivals sometimes do not. At Tribeca, we highlight independent films, international films and even in some ways traditional, mainstream Hollywood story telling that we think is interesting. So our festival is eclectic, and that's okay.
Often times, s
Most recent headlines
01/01/2026
Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Announces 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship The scholarship will cover tuition and housing for one Berklee College of Music stud...
01/01/2026
New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high fr...
31/12/2025
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Gameday on Netflix Scores Again With the Lions-V...
30/12/2025
As the College Football Playoff Enters the Quarterfinals, ESPN Blows Out Its Meg...
30/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Original ArticlesTake a look back at all our coverage of big-time productions, game-changing technologies, and state-of-the-art new faci...
30/12/2025
MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 30, 2025 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) will release its fourth quarter 2025 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, J...
30/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
30/12/2025
It marked the first civilian operational authorization for a HAPS flight in Europe, led by Space42's subsidiary, Mira Aerospace
The flight demonstrated HAP...
29/12/2025
San Francisco 49ers Strike Gold With Halftime Laser SpectacularStunning display caps $200 million renovation of Levi's Stadium techBy Dan Daley, Audio Edito...
29/12/2025
The Cup's Around the Corner: An Inside Look at Broadcast Preparations for th...
29/12/2025
SVG's Best of 2025: Longform VideoWatch the standout keynote conversations, deep dives, and panel discussions from the year for free on SVG PLAY!By Brandon ...
29/12/2025
From crisper Lossless audio and immersive music videos in beta to new Audiobooks+ plans, custom transitions between tracks, and in-app Messages, we keep levelin...
29/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
27/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
26/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today!By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
P...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
Tribeca Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore shares his thoughts on the stigma associated with VOD, the phenomenon of festival favor, and, of course, cell phone usage at the movies. 
