The Tribeca Film Festival was founded in
2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro
and Craig Hatkoff, reportedly in
response to the September 11, 2001
attacks on the World Trade Center and
the consequent loss of vitality in the
Tribeca neighborhood in Lower Manhattan,
although there are reports that its
founding was underway prior to the
events of 9/11.
The mission of the festival is "to
enable the international film community
and the general public to experience the
power of film by redefining the film
festival experience." The Tribeca Film
Festival was founded to celebrate New
York City as a major filmmaking center
and to contribute to the long-term
recovery of lower Manhattan.
In 2006 and 2007, the Festival received
over 8600 film submissions and held
1,500 screenings. The Festival's program
line-up includes a variety of
independent films including
documentaries, narrative features and
shorts, as well as a program of
family-friendly films. The Festival also
features panel discussions with
personalities in the entertainment world
and a music lounge produced with ASCAP
to showcase artists. One of the more
distinctive components of the Festival
is its Artists Awards program in which
emerging and renowned artists celebrate
filmmakers by providing original works
of art that are given to the filmmakers'
competition winners. Past artists of the
Artists Awards program have included
Chuck Close, Alex Katz, and Julian
Schnabel.
The festival now draws an estimated
three million people—including
often-elusive celebrities from the
worlds of art, film, and music—and
generates $600 million annually.
History 
The inaugural festival launched after
120 days of planning with the help of
more than 1,300 volunteers. It was
attended by more than 150,000 people and
featured several up-and-coming
filmmakers. The festival included juried
narrative, documentary and short film
competitions; a Restored Classics
series; a Best of New York series
curated by Martin Scorsese; 13 major
panel discussions; an all-day Family
Festival; and the premieres of studio
films Star Wars Episode II: Attack of
the Clones, About A Boy, the American
remake of Insomnia, Divine Secrets of
the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen as well as the
American premiere of Spider-Man 3 and
The Avengers.
The 2003 festival brought more than
300,000 people. The festival showcased
an expanded group of independent
features, documentaries and short films
from around the world, coupled with
studio premieres, panel discussions,
music and comedy concerts, a family
festival, sports activities, and outdoor
movie screenings along the Hudson River.
The family festival featured children's
movie screenings, storytelling, family
panels, workshops, and interactive games
culminating in a daylong street fair
that drew a crowd estimated at 250,000
people.
At the end of 2003, De Niro purchased
the theater at 54 Varick Street which
had housed the recently closed Screening
Room, an art house that had shown
independent films nightly, renaming it
the Tribeca Cinema. It became one of the
venues of the festival.
In an effort to serve its mission of
bringing independent film to the widest
possible audience, in 2006, the Festival
expanded its reach in New York City and
internationally. In New York City,
Tribeca hosted screenings throughout
Manhattan as the Festival's 1,000-plus
screening schedule outgrew the capacity
downtown. Internationally, the Festival
brought films to the Rome Film Fest. As
part of the celebrations in Rome,
Tribeca was awarded the first ever
"Steps and Stars" award, presented on
the Spanish Steps. A total of 169
feature films and 99 shorts were
selected from 4,100 film submissions,
including 1,950 feature
submissions—three times the total
submissions from the first festival in
2002. The festival featured 90 world
premieres, nine international premieres,
31 North American premieres, 6 U.S.
premieres, and 28 New York City
premieres.
In 2009, Rosenthal, Hatkoff and De Niro
were named number 14 on Barron's list of
the world's top 25 philanthropists for
their role in regenerating TriBeCa's
economy after September 11.
As of 2010, the festival is run as a
business by Tribeca Enterprises.
In 2011, L.A. Noire became the first
video game to be recognized by the
Tribeca Film Festival.
Awards 
= World Narrative Competition =
Best Narrative Feature 
2014 – Zero Motivation, directed by
Talya Lavie
2013 – The Rocket, directed by Kim
Mordaunt
2012 – War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen
2011 – She Monkeys, directed by Lisa
Aschan
2010 – When We Leave, directed by Feo
Aladag
2009 – About Elly, directed by Asghar
Farhadi
2008 – Let the Right One In, directed by
Tomas Alfredson
2007 – My Father My Lord, directed by
David Volach
2006 – Iluminados por el fuego, directed
by Tristán Bauer
2005 – Stolen Life, directed by Li
Shaohong
2004 – Green Hat, directed by Liu Fendou
2003 – Blind Shaft, directed by Li Yang
2002 – Roger Dodger, directed by Dylan
Kidd
Best New Narrative Filmmaker 
2014 – Josef Wladyka for Manos Sucias 
2013 – Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais for
Whitewash
2012 – Lucy Mulloy, Una Noche
2011 – Park Jung-bum for The Journals of
Musan
2010 – Kim Chapiron for Dog Pound
2009 – Rune Denstad Langlo for North
2008 – Huseyin Karabey for My Marlon and
Brando
2007 – Enrique Begne for Two Embraces
2006 – Marwan Hamed for The Yacoubian
Building
2005 – Alicia Scherson for Play
2004 – Liu Fendou for Green Hat
2003 – Valeria Bruni Tedeschi for It's
Easier for a Camel...
2002 – Eric Eason for Manito
Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film 
2014 – Paul Schneider for Goodbye to All
That
2013 – Sitthiphon Disamoe, The Rocket
2012 – Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nuñez
Florian, Una Noche
2011 – Ramadhan "Shami" Bizimana in Grey
Matter
2010 – Eric Elmosnino in Gainsbourg
2009 – Ciarán Hinds in The Eclipse
2008 – Thomas Turgoose and Piotr
Jagiello for their roles in Somers Town
2007 – Lofti Ebdelli in Making Of.
2006 – Jürgen Vogel in Der Freie Wille
2005 – Cees Geel in Simon
2004 – Ian Hart in Blind Flight
2003 – Igor Bareš in Výlet and Ohad
Knoller in Yossi & Jagger
Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film
2014 – Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in Human
Capital
2013 – Veerle Baetens in The Broken
Circle Breakdown
2012 – Rachel Mwanza in War Witch
2011 – Carice van Houten in Black
Butterflies
2010 – Sibel Kekilli in When We Leave
2009 – Zoe Kazan in The Exploding Girl
2008 – Eileen Walsh in Eden
2007 – Marina Hands in Lady Chatterley
2006 – Eva Holubová in Holiday Makers
2005 – Felicity Huffman in Transamerica
2004 – Fernanda Montenegro in O Outro
Lado da Rua
2003 – Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in It's
Easier for a Camel...
Best Documentary Feature 
2014 – Point and Shoot, directed by
Marshall Curry
2013 – The Kill Team, directed by Dan
Krauss
2012 – The World Before Her, directed by
Nisha Pahuja
2011 – Bombay Beach, directed by Alma
Har'el
2010 – Monica & David, directed by
Alexandra Codina
2009 – Racing Dreams, directed by
Marshall Curry
2008 – Pray the Devil Back to Hell,
directed by Gini Reticker
2007 – Taxi to the Dark Side, directed
by Alex Gibney
2006 – The War Tapes, directed by
Deborah Scranton
2005 – El Perro Negro: Stories from the
Spanish Civil War, directed by Péter
Forgács
2004 – Arna's Children, directed by
Danniel Danniel and Juliano Mer-Khamis
and Kill Your Idols, directed by Scott
Crary
2003 – A Normal Life, directed by
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Hugo
Berkeley
2002 – Chiefs, directed by Daniel Junge
Best New Documentary Filmmaker 
2014 – Alan Hicks for Keep On Keepin' On
2013 – Sean Dunne for Oxyana
2011 – Pablo Croce for Like Water
2010 – Clio Barnard for The Arbor
2009 – Ian Olds for Fixer: The Taking of
Ajmal Naqshbandi
2008 – Carlos Carcass for Old Man Bebo
2007 – Vardan Hovhannisyan for A Story
of People in War and Peace
2006 – Pelin Esmer for The Play
2005 – Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary
for Favela Rising
2004 – Paulo Sacramento for The Prisoner
of the Iron Bars: Self-Portraits
= Short Film Competition =
Best Narrative Short 
2014 – The Phone Call, directed by Mat
Kirkby
2013 – The Nightshift Belongs to the
Stars, directed by Edoardo Ponti
2010 – Father Christmas Doesn't Come
Here, directed by Bekhi Sibiya
2009 – The North Road, directed by
Carlos Chahine
2008 – New Boy, directed by Steph Green
2007 – The Last Dog in Rwanda, directed
by Jens Assur
2006 – The Shovel, directed by Nick
Childs
2005 – Cashback, directed by Sean Ellis
2004 – Shock Act, directed by Seth
Grossman
2002 – Bamboleho, directed by Luis
Prieto
Best Documentary Short 
2014 – One Year Lease, directed by Brian
Bolster
2010 – White Lines and the Fever: The
Death of DJ Junebug, directed by Travis
Senger
2009 – Home, directed by Mathew Faust
2008 – Mandatory Service, directed by
Jessica Habie
2007 – A Son’s Sacrifice, directed by
Yoni Brook
2006 – Native New Yorker, directed by
Steve Bilich
2005 – The Life of Kevin Carter,
directed by Dan Krauss
2004 – Sister Rose's Passion, directed
by Oren Jacoby
2003 – Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten
Ones, directed by Harvey Wang
2002 – All Water Has a Perfect Memory,
directed by Natalia Almada
= Student Visionary Award =
2014 – Nesma's Bird, directed by Najwan
Ali and Medoo Ali
2013 – Life Doesn't Frighten Me,
directed by Stephen Dunn
2010 – some boys don't leave, directed
by Maggie Kiley
2009 – Small Change, directed by Anna
McGrath
2008 – Elephant Garden, directed by
Sasie Sealy
2007 – Good Luck Nedim, directed by
Marko Santic and Someone Else's War,
directed by Lee Wang
2006 – Dead End Job, directed by
Samantha Davidson Green
2005 – Dance Mania Fantastic, directed
by Sasie Sealy
2004 – 'Independent Lens', directed by
Sharat Raju
See also 
Tribeca Film Institute
References 
External links 
Tribeca Film Festival – Official Site
Opinion piece: film, “Rubberneck”
ArtsEditor.com, 02.23.2013
