the opportunity to showcase their work. we ll be covering different aspects of the festival, asking if co founder robert de niro s strident anti trump rhetoric interfered with tribeca s celebration of cinema. he wants to do everything possible to mess things up. we ll also be seeing how activist or political films were making an impact, and films from around the world, including the story of a young somali girl who became an olympic athlete. and we sit down with one of america s great independent film makers, richard linklater. it s not hard coming up with the films you want to make. it s hard to get them financed sometimes, but people are going to make films somehow, some way. since 2002, lower manhattan has hosted the tribeca festival. among those instrumental in bringing it into being was the legendary actor robert de niro and his producing partner, jane rosenthal. originally, it was more of a civic restoration project designed to bring life back to the devastated tribeca