Tribeca Film Festival returning with in-person event for 20th anniversary amid COVID-19 pandemic

The Tribeca Film Festival is set to return as an in-person event this June with outdoor screenings spread throughout New York's five boroughs amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

As per Variety, American actor Robert De Niro and festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal announced on Monday that the event will return this summer with live, in-person screenings featuring filmmakers, artists, and audiences converging for Tribeca's 20th anniversary.

"As New York emerges from the shadow of COVID-19, it seems just right to bring people together again in-person for our 20th anniversary festival," said De Niro.

There will still be concessions to the public health crisis that caused Tribeca orgsers to scrap their initial plans for a festival last year and rejigger it as a digital event.

In 2021, the 12-day festival will be an outdoor celebration of movies and media. Tribeca said it will work with the New York State Department of Health to ensure all public gatherings comply with safety protocols.

The events will take place from June 9-20, roughly two months after they are usually held, and the festival will unfold across more than just the small strip of lower Manhattan that lends Tribeca its name.

The festival orgsers also said that screenings and talks will be held across New York's five boroughs, including at Brookfield Place New York, the Pier 57 Rooftop, The Battery, Hudson Yards, Empire Outlets in Staten Island, and The MetroTech Commons in Brooklyn.

In addition to these venues, Tribeca will host community screenings in all New York City boroughs including the Bronx and Queens using several 40-foot state-of-the-art LED cinemas. The festival will also commemorate the Juneteenth holiday, which will fall on its closing night.

Tribeca, which was founded two decades ago in the wake of 9/11, has become a major showplace for independent film. Other major film festivals, such as Sundance and the Toronto Film Festival, have largely been virtual affairs, although Toronto did host drive-in screenings.

Other international film festivals are moving forward with plans to be in-person. The Cannes Film Festival, for instance, is scheduled to take place this July.

( With inputs from ANI )