NEW YORK – In its sometimes searching decade of existence, the Tribeca Film Festival has had its detractors - those who question its quality, its mission and its necessity.
But even the staunchest of critics would have a hard time arguing with co-founder Robert De Niro when he says that pride for his home city is partly what inspires Tribeca toward becoming a world-class festival.
"New York is New York," said a smiling De Niro in a recent interview. "Why shouldn't it be?"
Tribeca will celebrate its 10th annual festival when it begins April 20 with the opening gala of Cameron Crowe's Elton John and Leon Russell documentary, "The Union," to be followed by a performance by John.
The free, outdoor screening will take place just a stone's throw from where the World Trade Center Towers stood. It's a fitting locale because Tribeca was founded by De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal and her entrepreneur husband Craig Hatkoff in the wake of Sept. 11 to help revitalize downtown Manhattan.
Since then, the identity of Tribeca hasn't always been clear. Whereas Cannes stands for international art house, Sundance for American independent and Toronto for a studio launching pad, Tribeca has had to struggle with where it fits into a jam-packed festival circuit.
Its slate, which this year includes 93 feature films, typically draws from all over the map, including socially-conscious documentaries, star-driven independent films and foreign films. Its general bent is for populism, offering everything from small art films to sports movies.
But Tribeca might be defined less by its films than its business plan.
"I'd like us mostly to be seen as how innovative we are for our filmmakers and for our audiences," says Rosenthal.
Born out of destruction, Tribeca's default mode has been one of flux. The last several years saw the independent film industry collapse, as numerous distributors shuttered.
Tribeca, arguably more than any other festival, has aggressively sought to fill the void. The festival's parent company, Tribeca Enterprises, launched a distribution arm, Tribeca Film. It's focused on scooping up films without distribution and getting them to audiences, particularly via video-on-demand and digital platforms.
The online component of the festival has also been built out with a similar hope of increasing visibility for films struggling to find it.
"There's always opportunity in chaos," says Rosenthal. "The business has gone through a lot of changing and chaotic times and is still going through that. We're young and we're facile in terms of the company and its growth, so we can take risks."
This year, Tribeca Film is more than doubling its output to 26 films, including multi-platform distribution deals for movies like "The Bang Bang Club," a true story about a war photographer starring Ryan Phillippe; and "Last Night," a drama about fidelity starring Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington.
Geoff Gilmore, chief creative officer at Tribeca, said the Tribeca Film program has "another layer of quality" this year, and he's buoyed by the increasingly fleshed-out experimentation. He believes strongly that the films deserve an audience, and that that audience is out there somewhere.
"This isn't the old stigma of going to video and not going to theaters," says Gilmore. "This is another strategy. This is a way of understanding a digitally-driven platform that enables you to reach audiences that you can't otherwise."
Gilmore believes the key is in increasing promotion for VOD, not just dropping movies into cable operator menus.
"The real question is how you find visibility," says Gilmore. "The festival is one of those key ingredients to creating visibility."
The online festival, too, has seen further innovation. Six films will be available to stream, but only for a 24-hour window to a select number of "seats." The idea is to further promote some of the festival's films to a small, virtual audience, while not sacrificing the films' chances for their own distribution deals.
Other features include a live, 24/7 streaming channel of red carpet scenes, and increased digital communication between filmmakers and audience. Filmmakers at the festival are all being given a "social media tool kit."
It goes to show that 10 festivals in, Tribeca is still growing out its roots, aiming to further solidify itself as a fixture in New York and among festivals. In 2009, Tribeca also launched the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar.
"Bob's attitude always is `Just keep doing it,'" says Rosenthal. "Then they know you're there, they know you're serious."
Ironically, where most of the actual festival takes place isn't its namesake neighborhood, but the East Village and Chelsea.
Whether Tribeca succeeds in redefining the nature of the film festival will be eagerly watched by other festivals, including New York's older, more prestigious uptown institution, the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center.
It will, as it usually does, likely come down to the films. This year, some of the intriguing options include Alex Gibney's documentary on scapegoating in sports, "Catching Hell"; Michael Rapaport's documentary on Tribe Called Quest, "Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest"; and Tony Kaye's substitute teacher drama, "Detachment."
But that only scratches the surface of the diversity. There's also a Norwegian mockumentary ("Trollhunter"), a film from Rwanda ("Grey Matter"), a Chinese Western ("Let the Bullets Fly"), a new look at Ozzy Osbourne ("God Bless Ozzy Osbourne") and an examination of old age in a 12-step program ("Despicable Dick & Righteous Richard").
Curiosities abound, as Tribeca turns 10.
"The fact that we've made it to 10 years is great," says De Niro. "It says something."
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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