Kobe Bryant Oscar winner? The basketball great is one step further along to that improbable feat, with his first attempt at filmmaking since his retirement from the game and the Los Angeles Lakers has been shortlisted as a finalist for Best Animated Short this year. Ten films were named, and Dear Basketball…

“If you asked me when I was 10 years old if I would be here now—that I would be here—I would have said, 'You're absolutely nuts,'” Kobe Bryant admits, sitting down at Deadline’s Tribeca Studio to discuss his animated short film Dear Basketball. “But that's the beautiful thing about life, isn't it?” One of the greatest…

The 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival has unveiled the list 57 short films in competition this year, chosen out of a whooping 4,385 submissions. Of the selected shorts, which will be presented in ten distinct programs, 40% were directed by women and 40% are international films as 18 countries are represented. The…