Sundance’s Geoff Gilmore Jumps to Tribeca

A major shift in the festival world this morning as Sundance Film Festival director Geoff Gilmore announced that he is joining Tribeca Enterprises as the Chief Creative Officer for the company. The big change comes after Gilmore spent 19 years at Sundance, serving as the festival’s director. Prior to Sundance, he served as head of the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s Programming Department for 15 years.

According to today’s press release (published below), Gilmore will be responsible for “Tribeca’s global content strategy and lead creative development initiatives and expansion of the brand.” He will also join the board of directors of Tribeca Enterprises.

indieWIRE spoke with Geoff Gilmore for a story that was published on Tuesday afternoon.

“I believe that Tribeca Enterprises is well positioned to develop a film organization that can create a new paradigm for the future,” Gilmore said, in a statement today.  “The vision of its leadership, its structure and resources, and the track record of its brief history give me great excitement at the opportunity to join their enterprise.  I’ve had a wonderful nineteen years at Sundance and will always be grateful to Bob Redford.  For me this is a big decision, a huge change and an enormous opportunity.”

Gilmore was not immediately available for comment because he is traveling in Europe, according to a Tribeca press representative.

At the Sundance Institute this morning, a press rep was preparing to release a statement from Robert Redford. The spokesperson confirmed Gilmore’s departure, noting that he joined the organization in 1990 and reiterating that the timing of the announcement was appropriate given the recent 25th anniversary celebrated at the event this year. Insiders at Sundance do not plan to rush to make an immediate announcement of Gilmore’s replacement and feel confident in the depth of their leadership team at the Institute and the Festival, including executive director Ken Brecher, managing director Jill Miller, and John Cooper, the director of programming for the festival and director of creative development at the institute.

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“As one of the most accomplished creative forces in our industry, Geoff is the ideal person to guide content development for Tribeca Enterprises,” commented Jane Rosenthal in a statement.  “His talent and experience will benefit Tribeca immeasurably, particularly in creating new strategic alliances and opportunities such as our recently announced Tribeca Film Festival Doha. We are delighted that Geoff is moving to New York to join Tribeca at a time of unprecedented change in the world of film and media.” Tribeca Enterprises is the New York-based media company founded by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff that owns and operates the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival International, Tribeca Cinemas and other branded-entertainment businesses and initiatives. Login to recommend this article » posted on February 17, 2009 Films to Snag Comments 1 martin dantich says on February 26, 2009 at 10:52am Good luck, Jeff!! 2 levielder says on February 17, 2009 at 4:45pm what does this mean for peter s? or did i miss something? Login to Leave a Comment »