Tribeca opens with ‘SNL’ tribute
It was the second time in a handful of years that the film festival turned to its fellow New York institution, ‘SNL’, for opening night
The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival opened Wednesday with pugnacious political words from Robert De Niro and the tender opening-night premiere, Love, Gilda, an intimate celebration of the beloved comedian and former Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner.
Lisa D’Apolito’s documentary opened the New York festival in a starstudded screening at New York’s Beacon Theatre that drew generations of SNL cast members, including original member Laraine Newman and Tina Fey, who poignantly introduced the film. SNL creator Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase and Billy Crystal also came to see D’Apolito’s documentary.
Speaking for herself and SNL cast mates Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Rachel Dratch, Fey said Radner — a frizzyhaired force of genuine and joyous comic spirit — made an indelible impression on their generation of female performers.
It was the second time in a handful of years that Tribeca turned to its fellow New York institution,
SNL, for opening night. In 2015, the documentary
Live From New York! kicked off the festival. And it also came just days after De Niro, who co-founded Tribeca with his producing partner Jane Rosenthal, appeared on SNL as Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a sketch.
As the curtain went up on the 17th Tribeca, De Niro said: “The country has had a bad year, and you — the press — have taken a lot of hits.”
Festival organisers said this year’s Tribeca has been programmed with some of De Niro’s fighting spirit.
“In the face of this inhumanity, we stand definitely against the forces that are tearing our country apart from the inside,” said Jane Rosenthal, also a founder of the festival. “We stand with Time’s Up, Never Again and Black Lives Matter and underserved voices.”
The festival will also hold a daylong Time’s Up event on April 28. Of the festival’s 99 features, 46 per cent are directed by women, the most in Tribeca’s history. Rosenthal has credited that percentage in part with the makeup of Tribeca Enterprises, which she said is 80 per cent female. Tribeca runs through April 29.