And they’re off! The Tribeca Film Festival has again descended upon New York, taking over movie theaters and auditoriums all over the city south of 14th Street. This will be my first year at the festival, and I might be biting off a little more than I can chew—every day includes some kind of red carpet event, screening, panel conversation or interview, and usually all at once. Oh, and did I mention I also have a day job? This is going to be interesting.
For the opening ceremonies yesterday morning I trekked down to the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where the Tribeca people have transformed an ordinary building on the side of a highway into a full red-carpeted tent. Despite almost two years covering movies it was my first time standing on a red carpet, but since it was occupied only by fellow journalists and no actual stars, it wasn’t particularly exciting.
Joining Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal (fellow founder Robert De Niro was absent) were two of the most powerful men in New York, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson. Bloomberg and Paterson both seemed to be testing out their comedy routines, with speeches filled with more jokes than actual substance. “I’d like to introduce one of my staff members who is here today—Mayor Bloomberg,” Paterson said after Bloomberg escorted him to the podium (Paterson is legally blind). He also reassured the film nut crowd that he shares our love of movies despite his disability—“If I sit in the front row I can pretty much watch the movie. The problem is trying to get someone to sit in the front row with me.”
Bloomberg, coming off a recent cameo on 30 Rock and anticipating another role in the Sex and the City movie, joked that he and Paterson would be following in the Governator’s footsteps and kicking off Hollywood careers. “The governor and I really are total failures—at the governor’s mansion in California they’ve got someone who’s actually been in lots of movies! I have this job through the end of ’09, and right after that the Paterson-Bloomberg, Bloomberg-Paterson team, depending on whether he gets the vote or I get the vote, will keep the city exciting.” Yeah, that wasn’t even the worst of the groan-inducing lines, but you can’t fault the guy for trying.
Paterson actually had a bit of exciting news, which has since been reported in more detail in Variety. Basically the state of New York used to have some of the most competitive tax credits to offer film productions, but ever since Louisiana, Connecticut, Arizona and other states started offering similar deals, the Empire State has had to step it up. Now the credit has been boosted from 10% to 30%, with an additional 5% for filming in New York City. “New York is a city of winning people, and as of today New York will be winning again,” Paterson said, before taking a jab at the absent De Niro, who is filming a movie in the new rival Connecticut. “I wonder what the film is about. It must be something really interesting—like the Long Island Sound.” Burn!
Also announcing news was John Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer of American Express, which has sponsored Tribeca since the beginning. Hayes announced that the credit card company would be sponsoring the festival for another five years. I couldn’t imagine readers of a movie site wanting to hear a speech from a credit card company executive, so I didn’t record it, but in the official press release he is quoted as saying “We look forward to another year of exciting and innovative programming and to our continued partnership.”
The other major announcement came from Doug Liman, the Bourne Identity and Jumper director who said, as a Tribeca resident, that he appreciated the festival for bringing life downtown immediately in the wake of 9/11. “It’s really amazing and inspiring that Jane and Bob and their partners managed to bring our neighborhood together, bring the world to our neighborhood, even while the rest of us didn’t know what to do.” He then announced the people who will serve on the jury panels that will hand out Tribeca’s awards in six categories. The list, which I’ll print in full after this article, is seriously the craziest collection of people you’ve ever seen. Mario Batali and Christine Lahti? Superbad director Greg Mottola and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst? Andre Leon Talley, the Vogue editor? Only in Tribeca, people.
Rosenthal, Bloomberg and the festival’s artistic director Peter Scarlet wrapped things up by taking questions from the audience, which was basically an opportunity to further promote the festival and the city. A handful of festival filmmakers joined them up onstage, but aside from seeing a brief trailer that included all of their movies (Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Ramchand Pakistani, War Child, Bart Got A Room), we didn’t learn much about them. Guess that’s what the screenings are for.
Check out some of the photos from the event in our gallery below, and keep an eye out for more familiar faces to show up as my Tribeca coverage continues.
