Founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, the Tribeca Film Festival is unique in its origins: It is a film festival established to instigate the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan after the attacks on the World Trade Center while helping emerging and established moviemakers reach a broad range of viewers. A decade later, the festival has accomplished this and more, generating $725 million in economic activity for New York City and making its stamp on diversity by screening over 1,200 films from over 80 countries, attracting a widespread international audience in the process. As it nears it’s 11th year, the Festival has attracted a new artistic director as well: Veteran film festival executive Frederic Boyer.

As the former artistic director and head of programming for the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight and the artistic director of the Les Arcs European Film Festival, Boyer is active in his passion for cinema and its emerging artists. To add to his already impressive resume, he created and managed Videosphere, a renowned video store in Paris that stocks over 60,000 titles, many of them art house films. His talent for marking out the burgeoning talents of the film world are sure to make a strong impression on the Festival this year.

“I could not be more honored and excited to begin this new chapter at Tribeca,” Boyer shares. “This Festival has matured and developed so impressively from its origins, but there are many more frontiers to explore while keeping the core focus on discovering new voices in filmmaking.”

The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival will take place from April 18-29, 2012 in New York City; for more information, visit www.tribecafilm.com/festival.

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