Tribeca Festival co-founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal talk De Niro Con

The 2024 Tribeca Festival kicks off Wednesday in New York City.

Among the film screenings and celebrity conversations this year the festival is offering De Niro Con — a celebration honoring Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro’s 80th birthday.

The event, which runs June 14-16, will journey through De Niro’s iconic film career through screenings, special appearances from his collaborators and immersive exhibits.

So, how does De Niro feel about being celebrated in this way?

“There’s nothing that I can see that’s wrong with it. So, you know, I’ll go with it,” De Niro told ABC Audio.

De Niro’s fellow Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal laughed at his humility, before explaining the reasons behind De Niro Con.

“What do you get Robert De Niro for his 80th birthday?” Rosenthal said. “That’s kind of how everybody, our whole team, approached it. It was, ‘What can we do for Bob and [also] be completely respectful of the work?’”

Thus, De Niro Con was born. There are other new festival offerings Rosenthal is looking forward to this year, including discussions on the rise of artificial intelligence and its place in the film industry.

“I’m excited about some of the short films and conversations that we’re going to have on AI, because it, you know, it’s so new and there’s so much unknown about it,” Rosenthal said.

The film producer also said AI’s future in cinema excites her.

“I like to go into the unknown so we can all unpack it. But I think it’s quite exciting — what we can do with it. It has been around in film for a long time. We just have to work with all of the guilds and make sure that what we’re doing [is] both, ethical, you know, ethical AI, and for human good,” Rosenthal said.