Tribeca Film Festival: Day 1

Digital Hit started the day off by attending the Tribeca Film Festival's opening press conference, which was held in the atrium of the Embassy Suites hotel.

Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal said that she was "proud of what we started and what we have become." She said that the purpose of the Festival was to rally the movie-making profession and help the lower Manhattan area recover from the effects of the 9/11 attacks.

Her husband, Craig Hatkoff, indicated that the Festival had already grown significantly in one year. Last year at this time, the Festival had sold 19,000 advance tickets. This year, the advance number topped 49,000. He also said that the free public events like the "drive-in" and MTV concerts would bring tens of thousands of visitors into the Tribeca area where they would take taxis, eat at restaurants and shop at local stores.

Festival co-founder Robert De Niro, who stated his belief that New York is the greatest city in the world, was also proud of what the Festival had started to do for his neighbourhood. When asked how long he thought it would take for the Tribeca Festival to replace Sundance, De Niro said that this wasn't about making comparisons and that all the world's festivals had their own flavour and purpose.

Our next Festival event was the premiere of Down with Love, which stars Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, and David Hyde Pierce. It was our first experience shooting an event in the Big Apple and the setting was great. The premiere took place at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, a local community centre, and the red carpet's background included local kids playing basketball. They paid attention to their game, stopping only to scream at the celebrities they recognized.

See our photos.

We'd like to thank our friends at the Millenium Hilton for their gracious help and fantastic service during our coverage stay.