Tribeca Festival marks 25 years and expands beyond film

In short: The Tribeca Festival is using its 25th anniversary to spotlight its post-9/11 roots and to lay out plans to grow beyond film into more types of storytelling.

What happened

Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal created the Tribeca Film Festival after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Their goal was to help revive downtown Manhattan by bringing people back to the area and supporting local businesses.

As Tribeca marks its 25th anniversary, De Niro and Rosenthal are emphasizing that original mission and the festival’s role as a major New York cultural event. Rosenthal has pointed to moments like Nelson Mandela appearing at the first festival as a sign of what Tribeca wanted to be, a place where stories help people connect across differences.

At the same time, Tribeca is describing itself less as a film-only festival and more as a home for storytelling “in all its forms.” That includes film and TV, plus music, audio stories, games, and immersive projects like VR (virtual reality, which is like stepping into a 3D world using a headset).

Rebecca Glashow, described in coverage as the new top leader at Tribeca Enterprises, is focused on expanding the business beyond the festival. That includes building year-round activity, growing global partnerships, and putting more attention on games and immersive media.

Why it matters

For audiences, this could mean Tribeca becomes more like a culture fair than a movie event, with more ways to experience stories. For creators, it suggests Tribeca wants to welcome more kinds of artists, not only filmmakers, as entertainment keeps spreading across screens, headphones, and interactive formats.

Source: NYTimes