New York Cool’s 2006 Tribeca Film Festival Blog (Updated everyday during the festival) April 25 - May 7, 2006 www.tribecafilmfestival.org Written by Wendy R. Williams Photographed by the New York Cool Photographers (Opposite photo credit: Wendy R. Williams)

The Tribeca Film Festival is back for the 5th year. Created by Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal in 2002 as a way to revitalize downtown New York after 9/11, it has been growing both in size and reputation ever since. This year the festival sprawled all over Manhattan, showing films at theaters all the way up at the AMC at Lincoln Center. Missing are the pedicabs and hordes of people crowding the streets. (This year’s sprawl is probably due to the construction taking place at the Regal Cinemas in Battery Park – the huge walkway in front is gone and so is the potential to corral thousand of tickets holders.)

But sprawl or not, the energy is still there and so are the films, ranging from blockbusters like Tom Cruise produced Mission Impossible III (I’m not referring to his third child) to Wolfgang Peterson’s Poseidon to Paul Greengrass’ United 93 (we have not seen it yet but we are working up our courage) to the hundreds of other film, documentaries and shorts that are being featured this year. The festival seems little short on light fare this year (as evidenced by the top films), but there are ample opportunities to see films about the war (The War Tapes) and the aftermath of the Balkan wars (Two Players From the Bench) and fun rock documentaries (like Rock the Bells) and an utterly charming Egyptian movie (The Yacoubian Building). The New York Cool writers and photographers are running the streets of Tribeca, seeing every film they can and posting the reviews in our Tribeca Film Review section. And the New York Cool photographers are hitting the red carpets, snapping pix of the celebrities. Check back often because we are updating daily.

Serious films aside, Tribeca is a lot of fun. The people-watching (hot and cold running celebrities everywhere you look) is utterly amazing and so are the parties. Check here for the latest celebrity sightings and here for nightlife. One of the most energizing aspects of the festival is just checking out the clothes you see on the streets and in the movie lines – lower Manhattan meets Barcelona. Gone are the business suits; in is casual with a touch of Prada.

Stephanie March at the Premiere of The Treatment
Photo Credit Krisztina Fazekas

Matt Dillon at Tropfest on April 28, 2006
Photo Credit Krisztina Fazekas

Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts at Tropfest on April 28, 2006
Photo Credit Tamas Leko

Anthony Lapaglia and Gia Carides at Tropfest
Photo Credit Tamas Leko

Lara Flynn Boyle, Robert Edwards, Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland
At the Land of the Blind Premiere on May 1, 2006
Photo Credit Krisztina Fazekas

Tribeca Film Festival Co-Founder Jane Rosenthal
Photo Credit Krisztina Fazekas