Although this is not what I said I would write about yesterday (but then does anyone really care about blog continuity?), I am throwing out my two cents about Tribeca. As everyone well knows this is the year where Tribeca is making a play to be a major market. Whether it succeeded or failed or made steps in the right direction I'll leave up to others to decide. What I'm going to redundantly comment on is Tribeca's role as the festival for the people of New York.
Now there are plenty of festivals in the city, each with their own angle (New York Film Festival - high brow, Gen Art Film Festival - see movie + get a free party, Urbanworld - urban films, etc.), but Tribeca is the one that gets people to the movies in waves and droves. Before no other festivals do I get bombarded by non-industry friends asking what to see and what not to. At no other festival do I run into more college and high school friends and acquiantences in the theater. After no other festival do people tell me they only saw one or two films and next year they need to see more. The amount of community interest is stunning, and, well, pretty damn great. I just hope that as Tribeca grows and evolves (and yes it is growing and evolving - the pains and results are everywhere) and strives to be a great industry event, it doesn't lose sight of the many, many, many people it brings to the movies.
