The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) is an annual international film festival held in New York City, USA. It was founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hutkoff as a reaction of filmmakers to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, with the aim to restore business and social activity in the hardest hit Lower Manhattan, and in particular the Tribeca neighborhood (TriBeCa – literally, Triangle Below Canal Street, or Triangle intersection south of Canal Street). The main mission of the festival is to redefine the influence of filmmakers on public consciousness and to promote independent film.
The first Festival was prepared in only 120 days by over a thousand volunteers and took place in early May 2002. It included a competitive screening in 5 categories (Best Feature Film, Best First-Time Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Documentary Short Film), 13 thematic discussion clubs and a 24-hour Family Film Festival, which included uninterrupted premieres of spectacular films. Because of the short preparation time it was not possible to attract interesting foreign contestants, almost all the awards went to American filmmakers.
In 2003 the second festival added two nominations that were in demand by the audience: Best Actor and Best Actress. Music and pop concerts, sporting events, and other outdoor entertainment were added to the Family Festival. In addition, the festival became truly international, with foreign filmmakers participating in all of the competition programs.
In 2004 the final (as of today) competition program was formed. The following nominations were added: Best Emerging Documentary Filmmaker, Best Feature Film, Best Documentary about New York, and Best Student Film Work. Thus, the total number of nominations reached eleven. One must take into account that almost every year contestants are awarded Special Jury Awards or Sponsor Awards, so there are always more nominations.
Since 2006 the festival has been expanding its recognition and influence in America as well as in other countries. Developing the idea of introducing independent, non-commercial cinema to as many audiences as possible, Tribeca has brought the number of screens on which contest films are shown to 1,000. The festival organized part of its competitive screening at the Rome Film Festival. Tribeca presented a special “Steps and Stars” award there. The ceremony was brightly staged on the Spanish Steps of the Italian capital.
In 2009, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal were ranked 14th out of 25 largest philanthropists in the world by authoritative magazines for their contributions to the economic recovery of Lower Manhattan.
The Tribeca Doha Film Festival (DTFF) was organized and held in October 2009 in the capital of the Emirate of Qatar. The Tribeca Film Festival organizational structure became part of Tribeca Enterprises in 2010, which also includes Tribeca Cinemas and DTFF.
The winners of the Tribeca Festival, in the spirit of its founding tradition and in the spirit of its core message, do not receive large monetary or material prizes. They enter their works into the competition only as a creative competition. Financial reward for winning even the most prestigious categories can be 5, 15, 25 thousand dollars, two air tickets Business class anywhere in the world, 2000 meters of high quality professional film, special computer equipment.
At present the selection of the contestants, determination of the winners as well as all the management of the organizational and creative activity is carried out collegially by the Board of Directors of the festival. The General Director – Chairman is Brian Newman, Alberta Artus – Vice-Chairman, Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal are in the status of co-chairmen. The other twenty members of the Board – directors, journalists, businessmen, politicians, actors, etc. – regularly participate in working meetings, the composition of the Board hardly changes.
Since 2002, nine festivals have taken place and annual work continues.