Tribeca Studios is looking back at the festival’s history with a new documentary, “Tribeca 25,” directed by Matt Tyrnauer, director of “Valentino: The Last Emperor” and “Studio 54.”
The film covers the festival’s first 25 years, including its dramatic post-9/11 founding by Robert De Niro and Academy Award-nominated producer Jane Rosenthal. Tribeca began as a revitalization of Lower Manhattan, but has since grown into a major arts and media festival.
De Niro reflected on the origins of the Tribeca Festival, saying, “In 1989, Jane (Rosenthal) and I founded the Tribeca Film Center. I looked out my office window and saw the tower. The tower was always there. So over time, you don’t notice the tower. And then…they were gone. People needed to come together, and that’s what art does. It brings us together.”
Rosenthal continued, “In the ‘Dinner Downtown’ series after 9/11, there was a con worker who lost his son sitting next to Bob (De Niro) in a Chinese restaurant. That was in November 2001. That’s when we realized: How can we get people out and give them a reason to live again?”
The film traces the origins of the Tribeca Festival and revisits the success of its first edition, a five-day showcase that featured 150 films selected from 13,000 submissions. In its first year, Tribeca brought more than 150,000 attendees back to downtown Manhattan and generated more than $10 million in economic activity for New York City. Tyrnauer also plans to use the history of the Tribeca Festival to spark a larger conversation about cities, art, and the need for connection, examining how De Niro and Rosenthal used film as a form of civic architecture and activism.
Tribeca 25 will include interviews with De Niro and Rosenthal, as well as Martin Scorsese, Bono, Whoopi Goldberg, Nas, Jon M. Chu, Nia DaCosta, Denis Leary and Julian Schnabel. It will also include reminiscences from former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former HBO and MTV executive Sheila Nevins.
“Tribeca 25 is a film about reinvention, about how Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s grit and determination to bring people back downtown after 9/11 evolved into one of the most influential cultural festivals in the world,” said Tyrnauer. “I wanted to make a film about a city and its moment in time. Through cinéma vérité scenes, archival footage, and interviews, the film explores the relationship between art and civic life, and how storytelling can help restore a sense of community after a profound tragedy. Visually, it is inspired by the great street photography of New York City, and in many ways it explores the relationship between art and civic life. It’s a love letter to the city and to cinema, and to the belief that storytelling is one of humanity’s oldest and most powerful ways of creating meaning.” Building community and imagining what comes next is ultimately a story about resilience, activism, creativity, and the enduring human desire to come together, connect, and find meaning in turbulent moments. ”
The film also examines Tribeca’s role as a platform for discovering new talent and showcasing independent storytelling. Tribeca is known for premiering early career work from Chu, who debuted there in 2002 with “When the Kids are Away” and returned in 2021 with “In the Heights,” and DaCosta, who premiered “Little Woods” in the 2018 edition. Oscar winners Ryan Coogler and Damien Chazelle also performed at the festival. Coogler’s “Rocks” and Chazelle’s “Guy and Madeline on the Park Bench” will both be shown at Tribeca.
Producers include Tyrnauer, Jenny Ewig and Dan Crane. Berry Welsh will serve as executive producer and Keirin Ryan will serve as co-executive producer. Tribeca Studios and Tyrnauer Media are the production companies for “Tribeca 25.” Ryan Rossmeyer edited the film and Bill Winters served as cinematographer.
Tyrnauer’s credits also include “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” and “Where’s Roy Cohn?” and Showtime’s four-part series “The Reagans.”
