The film festival started by one of cinema’s greatest actors will give special focus to the next game from the makers of last year’s hit Red Dead Redemption.
Announced today in a statement from Rockstar Games, Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Film Festival has made L.A. Noire an official selection of the two-week celebration in downtown Manhattan. This marks the first time that a video game has earned such an honor at a film festival as prestigious as Tribeca. L.A. Noire will featured as part of the Tribeca Talks track with a live gameplay session and a Q&A moderated by Geoff Gilmore, Tribeca Enterprises’ Chief Creative Officer.
From today’s release:
“We’re thrilled that L.A. Noire is being recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival in this way,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “It’s a real honor, and another step forward for interactive entertainment.”
“What Rockstar and Team Bondi have accomplished with L.A. Noire is nothing less than groundbreaking,” added Gilmore. “It’s an invention of a new realm of storytelling that is part cinema, part gaming, and a whole new realm of narrative expression, interactivity, and immersion. We are poised on the edge of a new frontier.”
Movies and games have been doing a two-step around each other for decades, each medium probing for what makes the other so awesome. It’s thus kind of nice to see such a prestigious film event give the spotlight to a game that clearly reveres a time-honored cinematic style (film noir). In fact it’s likely we’ll see the MotionScan technology used to capture performances in L.A. Noire in upcoming movies–the line separating the two media continues to blur.
The Tribeca Talks session on L.A Noire happens April 25th. L.A. Noire hits consoles in the U.S. on May 17th and May 20th everywhere else.
More on TIME.com:
Why Rockstar’s “L.A. Noire” Won’t Be Another “GTA” or “Red Dead”
Face-to-Face with “L.A. Noire’s” Cutting-Edge Tech