In its eighth annual celebration of film, music, and culture, from April 23 to May 3, 2009, the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) continued its mission to assist filmmakers to reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film, and to promote New York City as a major filmmaking center.

An industry sponsor of the TFF, on Friday, May 1 the DGA hosted the "Tribeca Talks" panel discussion in our New York theatre. The subject of this year's discussion was "The Future of the Independents," and featured DGA Independent Directors Committee members Mary Harron (The Notorious Bettie Page), Raymond De Felitta (City Island), Gary Winick (Bride Wars), and Austin Chick (August) exploring some of the challenges ahead for independent filmmakers and revealing how an independent film gets made in today's economy. The discussion was moderated by David Carr who writes a business column for the New York Times that focuses on media issues.

Created by co-founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff to help economically and culturally revitalize Lower Manhattan following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, this year's TFF screened 85 features and 47 short films from 36 countries, and presented panel discussions, filmmaker events, and gala premieres of major studio releases to a total attendance of 348,000 throughout the 12-day Festival. Since its founding in 2002, TFF has attracted over two million attendees from the US and abroad and has generated over $530 million in economic activity for New York City.