NEW YORK—Perhaps you’ve seen crowds queued and cameras flashing near red carpeted theater entrances downtown. The Tribeca Film Festival has come to signify the arrival of spring in the city.
Just before the festival’s ninth annual installment kicked off last week, The Epoch Times sat down with three of Tribeca Enterprises’s senior producers.
Executive Director Nancy Schafer explains, “One of the things we’re about is trying new things that are growing off the festival—and that’s a very New York sentiment.”
Schafer likened the festival, with 132 films from 38 countries, to New York itself, with its smaller communities within the larger city.
“Everyone in New York is working really hard, and I feel that there is that feeling all around me now everywhere,” she says.
Originally conceived by actor Robert DeNiro and producer Jane Rosenthal to help revitalize lower Manhattan after 9/11, Tribeca has quickly taken its place amongst the world’s most respected film festivals.
This year, Tribeca Enterprises has further expanded its reach, launching a sister festival in Qatar called Doha Tribeca Film Festival as well as an online experience dubbed Tribeca Virtual, which allows movie fans to screen independent films from their homes.
“We’ve really put our brains around ‘how do we get films out to more people?’” says Schafer. “One of the things we’re doing with virtual in particular is looking at the way people are consuming media.
“If you ask college-aged kids how they watch TV shows and movies ... they’ve never turned on the TV in their lives! They’re pulling them off the internet,” declares Shafer.
“Let’s show people movies where they are. If they can’t come to New York City, why can’t they experience some of our films? They’re consuming that media anyway, so lets show people films online.
“It won’t be like Robert DeNiro is right there waving at the crowd, but it should feel like you’re in an environment where you’re with like-minded people … That’s the kind of things we’re going for [and that’s] how you create communities around film,” Schafer explained.
Just before the festival’s ninth annual installment kicked off last week, The Epoch Times sat down with three of Tribeca Enterprises’s senior producers.
Executive Director Nancy Schafer explains, “One of the things we’re about is trying new things that are growing off the festival—and that’s a very New York sentiment.”
Schafer likened the festival, with 132 films from 38 countries, to New York itself, with its smaller communities within the larger city.
“Everyone in New York is working really hard, and I feel that there is that feeling all around me now everywhere,” she says.
Originally conceived by actor Robert DeNiro and producer Jane Rosenthal to help revitalize lower Manhattan after 9/11, Tribeca has quickly taken its place amongst the world’s most respected film festivals.
This year, Tribeca Enterprises has further expanded its reach, launching a sister festival in Qatar called Doha Tribeca Film Festival as well as an online experience dubbed Tribeca Virtual, which allows movie fans to screen independent films from their homes.
“We’ve really put our brains around ‘how do we get films out to more people?’” says Schafer. “One of the things we’re doing with virtual in particular is looking at the way people are consuming media.
“If you ask college-aged kids how they watch TV shows and movies ... they’ve never turned on the TV in their lives! They’re pulling them off the internet,” declares Shafer.
“Let’s show people movies where they are. If they can’t come to New York City, why can’t they experience some of our films? They’re consuming that media anyway, so lets show people films online.
“It won’t be like Robert DeNiro is right there waving at the crowd, but it should feel like you’re in an environment where you’re with like-minded people … That’s the kind of things we’re going for [and that’s] how you create communities around film,” Schafer explained.
