from the archives of: www.newyorkcool.com

The 3rd Annual Tribeca Film Festival
Written by Diedre Kilgore

Grab your shades and get your hat,
Leave mainstream theatres on your doorstep.
Just direct your feet,
To the TRIangle BElow CAnal street.

Diedre Kilgore

After a very long and tedious winter, spring has FINALLY arrived, and so have the utterly outstanding selections this year at the Tribeca Film Festival. There are a lot of brilliant things to see and the competition is fierce this year, so bust a move and help us boost the neighborhood of lower Manhattan by celebrating the 3rd annual Tribeca Film Festival.

This year’s program offers lots more than most screening festivals. For example, for families there is an entire program of films dedicated to youngsters, beginning with an outdoor street fair on Saturday, May 8th. And if you feel the need to become mentally engaged by listening to a discussion of the social, political and economic issues surrounding the entertainment industry, check out the Panel Series program. This series will conclude with a live poetry slam, combining the artistic communities of New York and Los Angeles.

You can even participate in the “online people’s choice” polls, where you have the unique opportunity to vote for your favorite movie and then grab a late-night picnic and head down to Pier 25 on the Hudson River to view the winning selection at the Tribeca Drive-in. Yes, I said drive-in. From May 6th-8th at 8:00 p.m., you can lounge back under the stars and watch some of your favorite classic films while salivating over a General Motor’s classic car display. These tickets are free, but you have to reserve online and they are on a first-come, first-served basis.

As if you don’t have enough to do at this point, don’t forget to check out the arts exhibits and installations that will be on display throughout the Festival at Gallery Viet Nam on 345 Greenwich Street. Oh yea, and if you have an American Express Gold card, this is the place to use it, since you’ll get all sorts of deals and packages by using the damned thing.

In case you’re wondering to yourself….”What’s the big deal, Tribeca seems to be doing just fine." Well, not until just recently.

Tribeca is a community of warehouses and lofts, bordered by Canal Street, Broadway, the Hudson River and Vessey Street. It was a rural area until the 18th century, and then Tribeca became more residential. Some of the original houses still stand preserved on Harrison and Greenwich Street. In the 1840's and the 1850's, commercialism took over, driving the tenants north. By the 1860’s most of the original buildings were gone, making way for warehouses and a jammed marketplace of meat, poultry, vegetables and dairy, known at that time as the Washington Market District. A century later, the 1950’s saw a decline in the Tribeca area, killing the once-thriving businesses and leaving a multitude of abandoned buildings. Things appeared extremely bleak for two decades until the 1970’s when Tribeca was rediscovered, only this time as an ideal artist residence, attracting small business owners and eventually new families. Once the late 1990’s rolled around, Tribeca “loft” space became sought after, and the neighborhood gained social status.

Then came the tragedy of 9/11 and it's devastation to the economy of lower Manhattan. But thanks to the visions of Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, the Tribeca Film Festival was created to assist the suffering neighborhood of lower Manhattan and to simultaneously place New York city on the map as a major filmmaking hub. The first festival brought in over 150,000 people and generated $10.4 million for local merchants. In it’s second year, the amount of people doubled, and the revenue brought to area merchants quadrupled. So in a remarkably short period of time, the Tribeca Film Festival has developed a strong reputation and is on its way to becoming a legendary event.

Don’t miss being a part of this incredible restoration process of a unique part of town and take advantage of the opportunity to see some of next year’s hit films before they gain distribution to mainstream theatres.

Further information can be found at www.tribecafilmfestival.com

Life can be so sweet,
at the TRIangle BElow CAnal street.