Your front row seat to inspiring conversations awaits in ‘Tribeca Talks’

Tribeca Studios presents “Tribeca Talks,” featuring conversations from the Tribeca Film Festival’s archive. From actors to directors and musicians, too, this podcast speaks about artists’ inspirations, their careers, and sometimes reunites classic casts for enlightening discussions.

“Tribeca Talks” is Alesha’s pick of the week!

“Tribeca Talks” is Alesha’s pick of the week in Podsauce Episode 5. She raves about the show. As an actor and creator, Alesha is fond of stories detailing the creative journey, recounting the career and life trajectories of actors, producers, and directors. Alesha is a fan of the Tribeca Film Festival, and loves to learn more about her favorite films.

Specifically, Alesha enjoyed Season 1, Episode 9 with Ava DuVernay and Q-Tip. Ava is an Emmy, BAFTA, and Peabody award-winning writer and director. Q-Tip is a Grammy award-winning artist from the hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest. In this episode, Ava spoke about how she takes a cue from Spike Lee to constantly film, and why good lighting is key. She also spoke about how to frame dark-skinned actors. Ava discussed why it’s critical to find your tribe, as finding her crew enabled her to start working on films independently. Ava and Q-Tip agreed how important it is to keep your “creative muscles” active, strong, and running by working on consecutive projects.

When worlds collide…

In addition, Alesha was curious about how Ava and Q-Tip’s worlds collided in this episode. Q-Tip once acted. He was asked by director John Singleton to play one of the main roles in the film, Poetic Justice, with Tupac. But Q-Tip asked to play a smaller part instead. Q-Tip said at the time, countless rappers were getting into acting, and he’d be happy with a small role.

In Episode 5 of Podsauce, Alesha says she’s inspired by Ava’s story as an actor, creative, and Black woman. Ava shares her story, starting as a publicist, leading to her feature film directorial debut at age 38. Ava is now the highest-grossing Black female director in history. It’s an encouraging episode to listen to. Dax agrees that Alesha’s pick of the week is super solid.

Another memorable episode reunited The Godfather II’s iconic cast. Taylor Hackford moderated a panel discussion after a Tribeca Film Festival viewing in 2017. Actors Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, and Talia Shire joined director Francis Ford Coppola to share their on-set experiences. It’s interesting to hear about the pranks cast members played on each other. We’ll also hear how many issues were encountered during production.

Other episodes feature John Legend with Sara Bareilles, Jamie Foxx with Jacques Morel, Barbara Streisand with Robert Rodriguez, Common with Nelson George, and Paul Feig with Michael Che, just to name a few.