Philly has strong presence at Tribeca Film Festiva

Philadelphia has its largest presence in years at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Cosmo DeNicola, owner of the Philadelphia Soul, was proud to represent the City of Brotherly Love on Monday at a luncheon at the United Nations headquarters, in New York City, to recognize Iraqi filmmaker Yasir Kareem. Kareem was honored for the creation of his short film "Kingdom of Garbage," which is featured this week at the international film celebration in lower Manhattan.

"As Philadelphians, I think it is important that we understand that we are a part of the bigger picture and have the opportunity to make major impacts in the world," DeNicola told me.

"Our city ought to be taken seriously in the world of film and entertainment."

Also in the Philadelphia contingent were Sam Katz, Philly politician and executive producer at History Making Productions; and Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

Telling his side

A good friend of Sofia Vergara's ex-fiance, Nick Loeb, is piping up about a lawsuit that's stemmed from the couple's recent split.

Tom Murro, celebrity socialite and frequent contributor to Radar, reached out to me to divulge what he calls the truth about the legal battle over the frozen embryos that the pair created through in vitro fertilization.

Loeb, 39, an heir to the now-defunct global financial firm Lehman Brothers, claims that Vergara, 42, a star of "Modern Family," wants to destroy two frozen embryos that the couple created together in 2013. He filed a lawsuit against her in an attempt to save the embryos.

"I can tell you, Nick has been dealing with this for over a year, and in that time, what I learned from Nick is that despite rumors he's doing this for money, Nick isn't doing it for money," Murro told me. "He has plenty of his own."

Loeb hasn't done any interviews on this subject yet, but Murro said that he was scheduled to do "Hannity" last night on Fox News to air his side of the story. Murro said that Loeb is not looking for press, which is why he filed the suit under a "John Doe" pseudonym.

"Nick gave her [Vergara] the option not to have any responsibility," Murro said. "He is a Republican and very conservative. He believes human life begins at conception."

Vergara's attorney, Fred Silberberg, told People magazine that the Colombian-American beauty never wanted to destroy the embryos, but simply wanted to keep them frozen indefinitely because she has no desire to have children with her ex.

Vergara is now engaged to the actor, director and producer Joe Manganiello.

Texas native Luke Wade, who was eliminated on Season 7 of NBC's "The Voice," played a quick show at Milkboy (1100 Chestnut St.) on Thursday with his band, Luke Wade and No Civilians.

Wade played music off his sophomore album, "The River," to what he called a "great listening audience" and "really awesome people" inside the intimate, second-floor music venue.

"We'll be back in the Northeast in late fall and gotta see the Liberty Bell and all the downtown historic stuff - also a Phillies game," he tells me.

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