(MENAFN- Arab Times) NEW YORK April 16 (Agencies): The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off Wednesday night with a celebration of another older New York institution. 'Live From New York!' a documentary on the cultural impact of 'Saturday Night Live' by Bao Nguyen opened the 14th edition of Tribeca the downtown film festival that aspires to be the kind of Manhattan mainstay Lorne Michael's 'SNL' has been for 40 years.
The opening gala was held at the Beacon Theatre uptown from the festival's namesake neighborhood but a sign of the festival's ambitions. The Beacon is owned by the Madison Square Garden Company which last year bought half of Tribeca Enterprises the festival's producer. In his opening remarks with co-founder Jane Rosenthal Robert De Niro thanked the Madison Square Garden Company for not turning the grand old theater into a multiplex. Current 'SNL' cast members like Kate McKinnon and Bobby Moynihan showed up for the premiere as did some of the political figures like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who have sometimes been skewered by 'SNL.' There has often been overlap between 'SNL' and Tribeca. The show's cast members have frequently premiered films at the festival and 'Live From New York!' is actually the second 'SNL' documentary to debut there following James Franco's 'Saturday Night Live' which in 2010 offered a backstage view of the show's weekly rituals from Tuesday table read to Saturday night performance. De Niro has hosted 'SNL' three times all of which he joked were times when the show couldn't book Alec Baldwin. 'Live From New York!' which was made with Michaels' sanction is a broad view of 'SNL' looking across its four decades as both a fun-house mirror reflection of America and a significant force of its own capable of not just star-making but possibly election-swinging. It follows the sketch show's electric birth in the '70s its influential political satire in presidential campaigns and its frequent struggles with diversity. The film which will open in theaters in June is populated by cast members and hosts who describe the show's unique perch in media. Will Ferrell calls it 'a living breathing time capsule.' Amy Poehler says it's 'a mishmash of America right now.' While warmly received 'Live From New York!' perhaps suffers from some 'SNL'-feting fatigue: NBC hosted a 3-1/2-hour primetime 40th anniversary special in February. Reunion The documentary leads a number of films at this year's festival that document comedy from behind-the-scenes including documentaries on the National Lampoon ('Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon') and New Yorker cartoons ('Very Semi-Serious'). A Monty Python reunion is also planned to coincide with screenings of the British troupe's films as well a documentary on their 2014 reunion shows. This year's Tribeca is also chock full of off-screen performances and conversations including a Mary J. Blige concert and talks with George Lucas Courtney Love and Amy Schumer. Wednesday night's premiere was followed by a performance by rapper Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges. Meanwhile when Robert De Niro kicked off the 14th annual Tribeca Film Festival Wednesday afternoon he noted 'This is the fourteenth time I've stood in front of you surprised it's still going on.' Resilence After all the whole shebang was initially conceived as a temporary stopgap to rejuvenate downtown New York in the wake of 9/11. 'What was once a statement about our resilience as a community has become an insitution' he said of TFF. Fellow co-founder Jane Rosenthal meanwhile made a confession. 'The Tribeca Film Festival has been harboring some impure thoughts. Our world has changed. When Tribeca started everyone wasn't walking around with a high-definition camera and an editing studio in their pockets' she said holding up her iPhone. That's why she continued the festival has branched out in recent years to encompass digital and multiplatform storytelling including virtual-reality experiences as well as showcasing some TV works like the upcoming Netflix documentary series 'Chef's Table.' But Rosenthal was quick to add that the expansion into new territories doesn't take away from the film component; it just means the festival wants to be a place where filmmakers and other artists tell stories across multiple media. 'Does that mean we're going to produce 'Grand Theft Auto: Tribeca Film Festival' edition?' Long pause. 'No ' she said unconvincingly. 'I don't think so. But if someone else does we'll screen it.' Costume and production designer Catherine Martin ('The Great Gatsby') calls herself 'a relative newcomer' to Gotham but has already found a truism: 'One of the great revelations of New York City is in an instant you can find just about anything you're looking for here.' For 2015 Tribeca Film Festival attendees 'anything' includes celebrities filmmakers and innovators in the Tribeca Talks series. Among the filmmakers and performers speaking this year are Martin George Lucas (interviewed by Stephen Colbert no less) Christopher Nolan and Cary Fukunaga. For Fukunaga (HBO's 'True Detective' and movie 'Jane Eyre') the festival represents a homecoming: 'It's in my backyard in my city. I want to take part in the cultural events taking place here and that's Tribeca.' Fukunaga will join producer-writer James Schamus for an April 23 talk. He notes that his 'backyard' has become economically split between rich and poor and that inequality will influence his discussion of 'Beasts of No Nation' his upcoming film about an African child soldier. 'The movie is not supposed to be about politics' says Fukunaga 'but I couldn't help but put my outside objective perspective on it. In North Africa even Syria and Nigeria we are dealing not with a war about religion it's a war about economics. ... A lot of these wars are fueled by poverty.' A boy fighting a cultural battle grounds the short film 'Versus: Go Sebastien Go' from director/executive producer Eva Longoria. When youngster Sebastien de la Cruz sang the national anthem before Game 3 of the 2013 NBA finals he encountered a firestorm of racist and abusive tweets. But the 11-year-old retained his poise. Longoria who will speak at TFF on April 20 says 'Sebastien's actions affected the players the coach and the San Antonio fan base. That's a sports story that needs to be told.' Longoria who was on the TFF shorts jury in 2013 says: 'I love short documentaries. They allow for more stories that don't really have the content to sustain two hours and yet they are still important. I've always been a sports fan and having ESPN as a partner combines my two passions: filmmaking and sports.' With the perspective of a TFF vet she adds: 'I love how international the festival has become and yet when you attend Tribeca it feels quaint and intimate and about the filmmakers. It's holding on to its authentic roots of celebrating people who want to create films.' Generally a film festival is a place to watch well films. But some of the hottest tickets at the 2015 Tribeca Fest are likely to be for events that feature a live performance as well as a screening. 'We're New York' says TFF programming director Genna Terranova. 'We have theater we have comedy we have music we have everything. The idea of combining all these wonderful arts that New York celebrates throughout the year into events with cinema only felt natural.' An April 22 screening will remind viewers that in the silent film era live music was a big part of the attraction for audiences. Harold Lloyd's 1928 silent comedy 'Speedy' about a dedicated Yankees fan will get a new score by DJ Z-Trip who will perform it live. 'I'm super excited about it on many levels' Z-Trip told Variety. 'It's uncharted territory for me as an artist but also for DJ-kind.' He says he will have a plan the film moves too fast for him to improvise much but 'there's also this spontaneity of wanting to scratch certain things over the top. I think it's important to add in a breath of life. I might even at the last second decide to bring in a choir. I have no clue!' On April 16 Mary J. Blige will appear with Sam Wrench's documentary 'Mary J. Blige The London Sessions' which follows her as she records her 13th studio album. Blige will perform live following the screening. Dance and dancers will grace the festival stage April 19. Ballerina Misty Copeland will engage in a Q&A while the American Ballet Theater's Erica Lall and Naazir Muhammad will dance following a screening of documentary 'A Ballerina's Tale' from director Nelson George. The picture follows Copeland through her daily routine focusing on her position as one of the first African-American female soloists at New York's ABT in decades. Honor In honor of Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday Tribeca will salute Ol' Blue Eyes on April 21 with a trio of screenings: 'Some Came Running' 'High Society' and a special digital restoration of 'On the Town.' The latter will be followed by a musical performance featuring Tony Bennett Ne-Yo and Brandon Flowers (of the Killers fame). Performances like Z-Trip's and the others says Terranova are important for getting people excited about going to a movie theater. 'This is a special way for us to enhance those experiences' she says. 'Live from New York!' the opening night feature at this year's Tribeca Film Festival offers a reminder of the fest's tumultuous origins as well as an illustration of how it and New York City have changed in the 13 years since it was conceived. The behind-the-scenes look at 'Saturday Night Live' brings to vivid life the days after 9/11 when parts of lower Manhattan were left a smoldering ruin. On the first show back 'SNL' producer Lorne Michaels asked Mayor Rudy Giuliani 'Can we be funny?' To which the mayor replied 'Why start now?' 'It broke the ice and it started the healing process' remembers Tom Broecker a producer on the film and the costume designer on 'SNL.' The Tribeca Film Festival emerged from a similar impulse. The brainchild of Robert De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal it aimed to encourage New Yorkers to venture south of Canal Street to celebrate film and support an area still digging itself out from the towers' collapse. The festival's films and filmmakers are global but the City remains entwined in the festival's DNA. Even the retrospective screenings such as 'GoodFellas' and 'On the Town' have a New York swagger. Today though the festival's mission has changed. The World Trade Center complex is largely rebuilt with the gleaming One World Trade Center rising where the towers once stood. Shifted While lower Manhattan was once a place where artists lived and worked the creative community's zip code has increasingly shifted across the Hudson to Brooklyn Queens and other boroughs in search of cheaper lodging. 'I've watched the city gentrify' Broecker says. 'The CBGB's energy that existed in the '70s and '80s has been replaced by yoga studios.' The Tribeca neighborhood may be out of reach for young artists but the Tribeca fest can showcase their work reflect shifting tastes and morph to fit the new contours of the movie business. TFF will host virtual reality demonstrations and showcase interactive installations. It's also continuing to recognize online storytellers through its Tribeca NOW program. 'We're at this thrilling moment in terms of storytelling and how you define it' says Paula Weinstein exec VP of Tribeca Enterprises. 'What will this new media look like?' The emphasis on digital entertainment is in keeping with a festival that is younger than rivals such as Sundance and Toronto and often feels younger in spirit. Genna Terranova the festival's programming director says: 'We want to see new voices taking risks. We're a discovery festival and we support the talent at an early stage.' That's a key difference between Tribeca and the Big Apple's other major cinematic gathering the New York Film Festival which is an awards season stop for the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson David Fincher and Spike Jonze. This year's Tribeca features some veteran filmmakers such as Michael Winterbottom but there's a large number of debut features such as Pamela Romanowsky's 'The Adderall Diaries' Natalia Leite's 'Bare' and Ben Palmer's 'Man Up.' 'It's down and dirty' said Leslye Headland whose 'Sleeping With Other People' will screen at Tribeca. 'There's this sort of figuring it out as they go along. It's like New York in that it's nurturing but you also have to fend for yourself. Screening Rather than migrate with the bohemians or dissolve into a larger Manhattan landscape that is becoming blandly upscale the Tribeca fest is doubling down on lower Manhattan. Yes it will venture outside its geographic perimeters by once again screening films in the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side. But it's also returning to the Regal Battery Park location for the first time since 2007 as well as creating its first festival hub with its Spring Studios exhibition space. The hope is that Spring Studios will host talks exhibitions and serve as an area for talent and festivalgoers to mingle. 'We'll be able to welcome our filmmakers to a central space where they can have a great meal and a good movie talk' Weinstein says. They'll also be able to gaze out over a radically altered landscape a reminder of a city and a filmmaking community that's in a constant state of metamorphosis and in a perpetual state of tension. 'New York is the cultural center of the world and that has everything to do with the artists here' says Pamela Romanowsky the director of 'The Adderall Diaries.' 'The energy of the city is thirsty and driven and that can be motivating and exciting but it can also be hard.'
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