Tribeca Reveals Audio Storytelling and Games Lineup, Including ‘Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’ Event

Jordan Moreau
·16-min read

The 2024 Tribeca Festival has revealed its lineup of events and selections for audio storytelling and games. The audio storytelling program takes place June 9-13, and the games lineup is from June 12-16.

The audio storytelling program includes the 10th anniversary of Vox Media’s true crime podcast “Criminal” with special guest Melissa McCarthy; Stitcher Studios’ “Vibe Check” with Lena Waithe; I”MI and Audio Flux Presents Pet Sounds,” short audio stories inspired by the artwork of NYC-based pet portrait artist Ben Lenovitz; Slate’s “Slow Burn,” a narrative history podcast exploring the Briggs Initiative; Crooked Media’s “Strict Scrutiny” an analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases; and Slate’s “Death Sex & Money,” a special event on the art of the interview with Kara Swisher. Tribeca is also recognizing the impact of audio journalism and celebrating achievements in the medium by honoring the New York Times’ “The Daily” with an inaugural Excellence in Audio Journalism Gala.

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The games program features “Goodnight Universe,” an action-adventure that follows a six-month-old baby who begins to develop mysterious psychic abilities; a special discussion with Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,” and the game’s producer Yoshinori Kitase; and more.

See the full lineups below.

AUDIO STORYTELLING

LIVE TRIBECA AUDIO EVENTS

Criminal: 10-Year Anniversary Live Show with Guest Melissa McCarthy (Vox Media) – Live show. Criminal is an award-winning podcast that explores the unexpected side of true crime. Tune in for thoughtful, complex stories — deeply reported with compassion — of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, and/or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Launched January of 2014, Criminal was one of the first podcasts of its kind. The show is one of the most popular podcasts in the US, and has been featured in “Best of” lists in the New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Wired, and more. The show will kick off with a conversation with special guest and friend of Criminal, Melissa McCarthy.

Inaugural Excellence in Audio Journalism Gala to Honor The Daily (The New York Times) – Live event. At this special event hosted by a surprise guest, the Tribeca Festival will recognize the vital impact of audio journalism and celebrate excellence in the medium. In this first year, Tribeca honors The New York Times’s landmark podcast, “The Daily”. Since its launch in 2017, “The Daily” has redefined what the news should sound like. Hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise and powered by New York Times journalism, “The Daily” brings listeners the biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world.

Vibe Check Live with Guest Lena Waithe (Stitcher Studios) – Live taping. Join acclaimed writer Saeed Jones, podcast host Sam Sanders, and Tony Award-winning producer Zach Stafford for a special live taping of their podcast, SiriusXM’s Vibe Check, where the three culture experts and close friends dissect news, entertainment, politics, and everything in between through a Black, queer lens. Named one of the 10 Best Podcasts of 2022 by The New York Times, Vibe Check is a funny, smart, very candid group chat, come to life. For this special live event, they will be joined by a special guest, Emmy-winning writer, actress, producer and founder of Hillman Grad, Lena Waithe (The Chi, Master of None). Vibe Check is a production of SiriusXM’s Stitcher Studios in collaboration with Agenda Management & Production.

The Interview: Death Sex & Money Live with Guest Kara Swisher (Slate) – Live taping. Join us for a special episode of the beloved podcast, Death, Sex & Money, where we’ll witness an intriguing experiment in the art of the interview. Anna Sale, the skilled host of Death, Sex & Money, and Kara Swisher of Vox, both renowned for their unique interviewing styles, will meet for the very first time in this exclusive live episode in conversation with one another.

An Exclusive Live Taping of Slow Burn (Slate) – Live taping. Named Apple Podcasts 2022 “Show of the Year”, Slow Burn, the hit narrative history podcast from Slate, will tape an exclusive episode of this season live from Tribeca. Slow Burn season 9, “Gays Against Briggs,” explores the Briggs Initiative—a ballot initiative that threatened to ban lesbians and gays from teaching or working in public schools in 1978—and the thousands of LGBTQ people who stepped up and came out to stop it. It’s a story of fear and anger among LGBTQ people, and of cynical politicians stoking a moral panic to further a repressive agenda. But it’s also a story of unlikely coalitions, intra-community drama, joy, sex, and the queer cultural ferment of late-’70s San Francisco. This Pride month, join host Christina Cauterucci and special guests for a live taping you won’t want to miss!

Strict Scrutiny Live with Surprise Guest (Crooked Media) – Live taping. Tribeca will host a live episode of Crooked Media’s hit series, Strict Scrutiny. Hosted by three badass constitutional law professors – Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray – Strict Scrutiny provides in-depth, accessible, and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases, culture, and personalities. Each week, Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down the latest headlines and biggest legal questions facing our country, emphasizing what it all means for our daily lives. Whether you’re a lawyer or law student, or you’re just here for the messy legal drama, Strict Scrutiny has you covered.

IMI and Audio Flux Present Pet Sounds (IMI and Audio Flux) – World Premiere and performance. Audio Flux is a new home for independent audio, new voices and big ideas in podcasting. Join co-founders Julie Shapiro and John DeLore for the debut of eight original “fluxworks” – three minute audio stories inspired by the artwork of NYC-based pet portrait artist Ben Lenovitz. Featuring conversations with and original works by Kalila Holt, KalaLea, Ryan Ng and Mark Pagán, and four Circuit Selects from Audio Flux’s first-ever open call for public submissions. This circuit of Audio Flux is supported by Austin-based nonprofit, the Independent Media Initiative. Founder Stuart Sevier will announce the 2024 IMI Awards, in recognition of independent creators working in the place where the modern world listens, reads and watches – the internet.

Backfired: The Vaping Wars (Audible and Prologue Projects) – World premiere. Backfired is a new Audible Original podcast series from Prologue Projects about the business of unintended consequences. When two Stanford graduate students set out to create a cigarette that wouldn’t kill them, they didn’t foresee what lay in store. Did their invention provide the answer to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—smoking—or did it introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, spreading an intractable addiction? Hosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes unravel the polarizing story of Juul Labs and dive into the illegal vape market that sprouted up in its wake in Backfired: The Vaping Wars.

In the Dark London Variety Show – World Premiere and performance. Talia Augustidis is presenting a selection of short audio pieces from various creators that address big issues, get to the heart of big ideas, and generally loom larger than their short run-time. Talia is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts, she won Best Documentary Short at the Third Coast Awards and, at 5”2, she identifies as short, so she is more than qualified to host this event.

Official Selection Previews Hosted by Critics at Large: Nonfiction – Previews and discussion. The hosts of The New Yorker’s hit podcast, Critics at Large, will moderate this panel featuring the creators behind the 2024 Audio Storytelling Independent Official Selections. Previews from these creators will punctuate this conversation. The discussion will explore how each of these audio pieces came to be, the themes explored in these Official Selections, and what is next for this group of audio artists.

Official Selection Previews Hosted by Critics at Large: Fiction – Previews and discussion. The hosts of The New Yorker’s hit podcast, Critics at Large, will moderate this panel featuring the creators behind the 2024 Audio Storytelling Official Selections. Previews from these creators will punctuate this conversation. The discussion will explore how each of these audio pieces came to be, the themes explored in these Official Selections, and what is next for this group of audio artists.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: INDEPENDENT NONFICTION

The Audio Flux Podcast – World Premiere. Audio Flux invites established and emerging creators to produce short works inspired by a set of prompts. It features these “fluxworks” plus conversations with the producers behind them. In this debut episode, host Amy Pearl spends a few snowy hours in Brooklyn with Aaron Edwards discussing his “fluxwork”, GRAMS. In this episode: psilocybin therapy, self-empowerment, chagaccinos, voice memo treasures, the gift of good friends, and Gandolf. Series Creators: Julie Shapiro, John DeLore.

Back to the Water: More Than One Octopus – World Premiere. This story follows Pippa Ehrlich, the Director of My Octopus Teacher, and Zolani Mahola, The One Who Sings, as they work with a small community of filmmakers in South Africa. It is a quest through the history of Apartheid and their own histories to solve an ecological riddle: are cultural diversity and biodiversity connected? Creators: Catherine Jaffee, Pippa Ehrlich, Zolani Mahola.

Our Ancestors Were Messy – World Premiere. Our Ancestors Were Messy showcases the vibrance, diversity, and hopefulness of pre-Civil rights era Black communities through exploring their drama! an audio series based on society pages and gossip columns from Black newspapers in 1930s D.C. Creator: Nichole Hill.

Sounds Current: Angel Island – World Premiere. This is the story of the creatives behind The Angel Island Project, a haunting, beautiful collaboration between the Del Sol Quartet and composer Huang Ruo, which weaves together poetry and music. In Angel Island, the whispers of poems carved into the immigration station walls by detainees ripple across time, connecting that shameful past to our current immigration debate. The series invites us to bear witness to the Asian American experience and explore how art builds community. Creators: The Del Sol Quartet.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: NONFICTION

A Field Guide to Gay Animals – World Premiere. Cheeky and contemplative, curious and raunchy, A Field Guide to Gay Animals shows you the natural world, more exuberant, more joyful, and more gay than you could possibly imagine. Creators: Katie Jane Fernelius, Nathan Harrison, Owen Ever, Laine Kaplan-Levinson from Canadaland.

The Beautiful Fire – World Premiere. In 2018, timber poachers accidentally set a disastrous fire while trying to smoke out a bees’ nest in a maple tree they were stealing. In the Gothic Northwest wilderness, this audio documentary creates an experience for listeners, unlike any crime podcast they’ve heard. Creators: David Weinberg, Bad Robot Audio, Pacific Content.

Delejos – World Premiere. In 2019, Julie lost her boyfriend Jose. It was sudden. He was 26 years old. A virtual reality video-game designer. Then… she had an idea. “Delejos” is a meditation on grief and the power of creation. Creators: Julie Piñero and Cristal Duhaime.

Empire City – World Premiere. Guided by Peabody award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika, Empire City a the story Black people are disappearing off the streets in 19th century New York City, but their families cannot call the Police, because the kidnappers are the police… Creators: Chenjerai Kumanyika, Crooked Media, and PushBlack

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: INDEPENDENT FICTION

The following titles are eligible for The Independent Audio Fiction Award.

Bird Talk – World Premiere. Bird Talk is an intimate interview show featuring real, uncensored birds. In each episode fictional co-hosts, celebrity Lars Bouchet and expert birder Tuesday Einhorn, interview one of their fine feathered friends. They discuss it all: flight, feathers, fame, philosophy. No subject is left unruffled. Creators: Nina Porzucki.

Five Conversations Before Sleep – World Premiere. A series of five intimate 15 minute dialogues between two people in a relationship, recorded in and around a bed. Each episode captures a different eavesdropped moment in time, going chronologically. Creators: Matt Kagan, Fern Diaz, and Asa Merritt.

Going Reno – World Premiere. Wilma Tülinen welcomes a naïve, puritan woman and a returning divorcée to stay at her ranch as they become the latest members of the Reno Divorce Colony. A story set in 1932 when Nevada cornered the migratory divorce market processing more than 30,000 divorce cases in a decade. Creators: Laura Knight, Elizabeth Quinn.

Red for Revolution – World Premiere. As 18-year-old Jazmine and her grandmother explore queer identity, listeners travel back in time to 1971 hearing the love story of an apolitical jazz singer and a revolutionary intellectual. Creator: Jana Naomi Smith.

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: FICTION

Gladstone Girls – World Premiere. Gladstone Girls (based on a true story) is an uplifting, joyful scripted-podcast about a group of female pottery workers determined to protect ‘Curl Friday’, a factory tradition that they hold dear, which is threatened to be taken away by their new boss. Creators: Rachel Shenton, Chris Overton, Bryony Pulizzi and Slick Films.

Inner Monologues of People Etgar Doesn’t Know – World Premiere. Going off very little and with no specific training to speak of, writer Etgar Keret analyzes complete strangers based on no input other than one picture they submit. In each 30-minute episode of this recurring podcast, Keret will write an intimate first-person narrative of this stranger based on a single photo and then encounter this person as they both try to sort out the truth in the fiction and fiction in the truth. Creators: Etgar Keret and Ian Chillag.

The Skies are Watching – World Premiere. The Skies Are Watching tells the thrilling story of a missing woman and the man who believes she is, somehow, the reincarnation of his mother, who also vanished decades ago… a mystery that ultimately proves to have extraterrestrial origins. Creators: Jon Frechette and Todd Luoto.

The Strange Case – World Premiere. Scientist by day, killer by night… All-action, modern-day Jekyll & Hyde from “John Wick” creator Derek Kolstad. Starring Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible, The Crown), David Oyelowo (Selma, Silo) and Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing). Globetrotting scientist Dr Jekyll (Vanessa Kirby) has a secret. Everywhere she goes, people end up dead. But she has no idea how or why. Until she receives a message…from herself. Full-cast thriller recorded in Dolby Atmos directed by John Scott Dryden. Creators: Derek Kolstad (Goldhawk Productions for Audible).

GAMES

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure, (United States) – New York Premiere. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure follows the story of Jemma, a small-town misfit on a journey of self-discovery. Venturing out beyond her stiflingly cozy confines, she finds an inspiring world – but also one ruled by fear, and a strange, immovable ‘static’ force. Can she disrupt a culture of stagnation, and find a place to fit into it? Find your way in a world of breezy, thoughtful puzzles.

Developer & Publisher: Furniture & Mattress LLC

Blue Prince, (United States) – New York Premiere. Simon has just inherited a large estate known as Mount. Holly, a location famous for its shifting rooms and puzzling floor plans. To him, the ever-changing nature of the house makes each day of exploration that much more exciting. Every door holds the promise of adventure and endless possibilities, as the rooms and mysteries beyond are never the same from one day to the next.

Developer: Dogubomb Studios

Publisher: Raw Fury

darkwebSTREAMER, (Australia) – World Premiere. Become an occult streamer on the dark web in this psycho-horror RPG streamer sim. Surf the net, stream weird shit and impress your viewers enough to become the #1 streamer… or die trying.

Handmade emergent narrative technology makes every playthrough + story unique
Explore the world’s first procedurally generated internet
First-of-its-kind generative dialogue, designed by an anthropologist
Go shopping, craft items, do rituals
Unique blend of RPG, simulation, roguelite, text adventure
Developer & Publisher: We Have Always Lived In The Forest

Goodnight Universe, (United States) – World Premiere. In the narrative adventure Goodnight Universe, you’ll play as Isaac, a six-month-old baby developing mysterious psychic abilities. What you want most is to be loved and accepted by your family, but a secretive tech corporation wants you for their own. The game features an immersive “face-tracking” mode, expanding on the innovative use of camera-based technology that the team is known for.

Developer: Nice Dream Games

Publisher: Skybound Games

Neva, (Spain) – New York Premiere. Neva chronicles the story of Alba, a young woman bound to a curious wolf cub following a traumatic encounter with dark forces. Together they embark on a perilous journey through a once-beautiful world as it slowly decays around them. As the cursed world threatens to overwhelm them, Alba and her courageous companion will do whatever it takes to survive and make a new home, together.

Developer: Nomada Studio

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Skate Story, (United States) – New York Premiere. You are a demon in the Underworld, made out of glass and pain. The Devil has given you a skateboard with a simple deal: Skate to the Moon and swallow it — and you shall be freed. Ollie, kickflip, and grind your way through the ash and smoke of The Emptylands as you take on a seemingly impossible quest.

Developer: Sam Eng

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Thank Goodness You’re Here!, (United Kingdom, United States) – New York Premiere. Thank Goodness You’re Here! is a comedy slapformer, which unfolds over time as the players’ exploration and antics leave their mark on the strange town of Barnsworth. With each completed odd job, new areas of the town open up, stranger and stranger tasks become available, and the clock ticks towards our salesman’s big meeting. The town’s colorful inhabitants are brought to life with vibrant hand-drawn animation, fully voiced dialogue, and wall-to-wall double entendres.

Developer: Coal Supper

Publisher: Panic

2024 TRIBECA FESTIVAL GAMES SPECIAL EVENT

From Fire to Firaga: Remaking FINAL FANTASY VII

Naoki Hamaguchi, the director of FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, and Yoshinori Kitase, the producer of the game and director of the original FINAL FANTASY VII, discuss what it was like remaking the beloved classic and bringing an iconic cast of characters to life in the modern age. With technology so much more advanced than when the original game launched in 1997, what narrative techniques did they use to update and reimagine a story that many video game fans consider one of the greatest tales ever told?

Location: SVA Theatre

Date/Time: Friday, June 14 at 7:30pm

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