IFC Center’s First Annual Split Screens Festival Celebrating TV to Debut in June
Television is getting its own week-long festival, thanks to IFC Center and Matt Zoller Seitz.
IFC Center announced the launch of its new annual event, the Split Screens Festival, taking place in June. The celebration will be curated by noted critic and author Matt Zoller Seitz.
“There is no better time to take a close look at television as an art form,” said Seitz in a statement. “Split Screens Festival will offer an intimate venue to examine the medium’s Platinum Age, which has perfected new storytelling techniques and created characters that seem as vivid to viewers as the flesh-and-blood people they know and love. It’s an honor to chronicle this amazing time as a critic, and I’m pleased to be spearheading this amazing festival with IFC Center.”
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IFC Center’s GM John Vanco added, “The accomplishments of artists working in television have long been undervalued, and that’s why Split Screens couldn’t be better timed or more relevant. Our mission for this festival, very much like our fall film festival, DOC NYC, will be to provide a destination for audiences not only to consume but to connect with and celebrate brilliant work—but in the field of television instead of cinema.”
The festival will spotlight scripted TV content and its artists from the world of broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. In-depth conversations will be held with the directors, producers, showrunners and cast about the art of making great television. Split Screens will also premiere episodes of new pilots and showcase the next generation of visionaries who are using DIY methods to push the medium into new directions.
A full lineup of the programming will be unveiled in late April with tickets going on sale in early May.
Split Screens will take place June 2-8 in New York City.
Seitz, who has been a featured critic on IndieWire, is the Editor-in-Chief of RogerEbert.com, is the TV critic for Vulture.com, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism and is the co-author of “TV (The Book)” and author of studies on “Mad Men,” Wes Anderson and Oliver Stone.
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