Why Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal founded the Tribeca Film Festival

Brut America

Robert De Niro wanted to help New York heal from the trauma of 9/11, so he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival.   Here’s why this year’s edition is special to him ...

Transcript

00:00I never thought in my lifetime I would experience something like this.

00:04Between Trump and the pandemic, two deadly viruses.

00:09We still have a lot of work to do, but it feels very optimistic, if you will.

00:14Because of what's happened, September 11th, that sort of galvanized everything and made us

00:32feel this is the time to do it. It's very important for many reasons,

00:35many obvious reasons. And so let's do it.

00:44It was like a ghost town that people were inclined to go downtown to eat or anything.

00:55So we just tried to help get that going. When we look at as we're coming out of COVID

01:01now, 19 years later, it feels very much the same way. It's just that act of gathering again,

01:10of being together again, feels as important and vital today as it did in 2002.

01:30Particularly in our business, we make these stories and the stories are best told to a crowd.

01:35It makes a big difference. It connects you as human beings to see films together.

01:38And if you see them alone, no matter how big your screen is, it doesn't do the same thing.

01:41You know, New York is a very resilient city. You can't keep it down for too long.

01:45It's a good signal when people see that we're going to see dance again,

01:50we're going to see opera again, we can see a concert again, and also go to the movies.

01:56It's really cool that it's all going to be outdoors. I love watching films outdoors.

02:00I'm also just really happy that the city is coming back and that we have the opportunity to do this.

02:12I haven't seen like a movie in the big screen since pre-COVID. So that's really exciting.

02:17And it's cool that's in a park, especially like more of an uptown park is exciting.

02:21I am most looking forward to watching films set against the backdrop of the greatest city in the

02:29world. My duties as a juror were, you know, limited. You only have to go to this, this, and this.

02:35But I was already speaking to all the films because I want to see them all.

02:38This festival was started after 9-11, you know, as a way of bringing downtown back.

02:44And they exceeded that goal because now they're in every borough.

02:48I hope it just brings joy. I hope the fact that we can

02:53just see each other and have a drink and smile and laugh together is what I'm looking forward

03:01to the most, to hearing audiences respond to stories in all different ways.

03:10We had no idea how it would work or how well it would do or how much it would continue.

03:18And so we took it, I think, in the first few years, year by year, and it got more and more

03:25embedded in a fabric, if you will, of New York City, which is great.

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