The Tribeca Festival begins this week with a documentary produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck called Kiss the Future and runs until June 18th. The festival will close with a ceremony and screening of A Bronx Tale for the film’s 30th anniversary. 

Founded in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff, the festival was an attempt to rebuild lower Manhattan after the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings. 

In a recent Zoom Q&A press conference with Deadline, De Niro and Rosenthal shared their support for writers and the WGA strike. 

We are 100% supportive…of the writers on the issues that they have.

Rosenthal noted that festival organizers consulted with the WGA on two of the festival’s programs to be respectful. 

One involved a call for submissions for writers for a program that we do. And we’ve decided not to do that at this time. We’ll wait until after the strike. Another was … with industry executives on a program where writers can pitch their programs, and we’ve switched that around. And we did so in consultation with the guild.

Moreover, a prominent WGA East representative will speak at the festival about the demands and why writers struggle financially in Hollywood.  

Despite the festival’s support, some writers are unwilling to participate during the strike. Rosenthal stated that a “very high profile” director withdrew from the line-up. 

Check out more about the Tribeca Festival here.