Robert De Niro admits the true reason he launched a major film festival in a devastated neighborhood, and it had nothing to do with movies
Shift in priorities.
Looking at the success of the Tribeca Film Festival today, one would assume its origins are rooted in cinema. However, Robert De Niro recently shed light on the true motivation behind the project. It turns out the festival was never really about the movies at all. At an appearance at the People Inc. headquarters in New York City on September 10, 2026, De Niro and his longtime producing partner Jane Rosenthal sat down to discuss the upcoming documentary Tribeca 25.
According to PEOPLE, the event, which was part of a new live talk series called ‘People Talks,’ served as a platform for the founders to reflect on their journey. It turns out that in the weeks following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the film festival was simply a tool for survival and community revitalization. De Niro explained that he and Rosenthal had kicked around the idea of a festival in the past, but it was never a serious conversation.
That changed the moment the city was hit. De Niro told PEOPLE President Leah Wyar, “And then when 9/11 happened, we wanted to revitalize the neighborhood, to say the least. And so we talked about actually doing it and we said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Just made the commitment.”
De Niro’s perspective is incredibly grounded
It puts the festival in a much different light than your standard, glitzy industry showcase. Rosenthal was candid about their lack of experience, noting that neither she nor De Niro had any idea how to actually run a festival. They were not firefighters or steel workers, so they had to figure out a way to contribute to the recovery effort. She noted, “Put on the screening, put on a show and try to provide a new memory.”
The logistical hurdles they faced were immense. They announced the festival in November 2001 and managed to pull off the inaugural event just months later. Because they were producers by trade, they applied that same high-pressure mentality to the festival, even though they had no money and no blueprint.
De Niro is seen explaining the intensity in a trailer of the documentary. He says, “We had 120 days, 1,300 volunteers, no money, no blueprint, just an idea and a neighborhood that needed people back in it. This wasn’t just about movies; it was about whether downtown was coming back.”
The physical reality was as grim as the professional challenge
In Tribeca 25, Rosenthal recalls the bizarre and difficult process of scouting locations, saying, “Some of the toughest things were figuring out what movie theaters we could go into. We had to go in wearing hazmat suits.” De Niro added that the atmosphere was heavy, noting that nobody was sleeping much and the site of the Twin Towers was still smoking, which kept everything in perspective.
The festival eventually opened on May 8, 2002, and it was a massive success, drawing 150,000 people back to the area. Rosenthal emphasized that the goal was to signal to the city that it was time to move from grief to living. This mission was so vital that they even reached out to Nelson Mandela to set the right tone. The project, born from such a dark, uncertain time, has today grown into a billion-dollar economic engine for New York City.
The conversation at the People Inc. headquarters also took a turn toward the present day. According to Reality Tea, De Niro, while reflecting on the last 25 years, shared a very serious concern about the current state of America. He noted that he is preoccupied with the internal instability facing the country, contrasting the external attack of 2001 with the challenges we face from within today.
“What I’m concerned about now is where we are in this country. What’s gonna happen? That’s everything,” he said. “Instead of it being from the outside, we have it from inside the country now.”
It is a sobering thought
It carries more weight because it comes from a Hollywood icon like De Niro, who was moved when he witnessed the city’s resilience firsthand. De Niro admitted that he does not even use the word ‘hope’ anymore, emphasizing that we have to resolve these internal issues.
The director of the documentary, Matt Tyrnauer, described Tribeca 25 as a love letter to New York and the movies. Tyrnauer admitted that he still struggles to watch the initial footage of the attacks. The film, which features interviews with figures like Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, and Whoopi Goldberg, became available on Netflix on September 11.
Both Tribeca 25 and the Tribeca Film Festival itself serve as powerful reminders that sometimes the most important cultural institutions are built on the simple, innate need to bring a devastated community back to life.
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