JOSÉ RODRIGUEZ, Director of Documentary Programs, Tribecca Film Institute, USA

José F Rodriguez, a native of Puerto Rico, grew up with a passion for movies that led him to New York City, where he became a script/book reader for a production company and worked on commercials, short films and features. He is now the Director of Documentary Programs at Tribeca Film Institute, where he oversees the growth and funding for all of the documentary programs and leads documentary workshops in the US as well as throughout Latin America. He has written and directed the fiction short ‘Dead-End’ (screened in 2016), and his documentary short ‘Adolescencia’ (2017) screened at film festivals in the United States (Camden Film Festival 2017, New Orleans Film Festival 2017, DOC NYC 2017) and abroad (DOK Leipzig 2017), and his latest short film, ‘Mama,mama’ (2018), recently wrapped up its festival circuit.

INSTITUTE PROFILE

Tribeca Film Institute is a year-round nonprofit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001. TFI champions storytellers to be catalysts for change in their communities and around the world. Each year, a diverse group of exceptional filmmakers and media artists is identified and subsequently empowered with funding and resources to fully realise their stories and connect with audiences. The institute also designs education programs to empower students through hands-on training and exposure to socially relevant films, offering young people the media skills necessary to be creative and productive global citizens.