Is the Tribeca FF Too Massive?

Above: Michael Mueller and perennial C-Lister Sally "I'd Attend the opening of an Envelope" Kirkland at the "Neo Ned" After-Party at Tribeca Film Festival.

Is it "too big"? "Beaucoup"? The Corsair gets that alot from the women he's with ...

But we digress: The massive -- perhaps overmassive, waay overmassive -- Tribeca Film Festival is on like Gray Poupon, taking over Downtown for awhile, making it almost impossible for any single blogger to get a handle on the whole scene. We need Page Six and Rush and Molloy to break it all down into digestible little morsels of yummy gossip for us.

What is obvious, though, is that what Tribeca began as is not what it is now. Like Sundance, this is no longer an "Indie Festival." How did it get that way? How did this become thus?

A pseudonymous poster named "Brian Flax" made this intriguing comment -- which The Corsair cannot confirm -- on Indiewire's Tribeca blog:

"I had the chance to sit with Nicole Bartelme the original architect of the TriBeCa Film Festival, at the TriBeCa Grand Hotel in December of 2000. (Downtown Express had first scoop).

"She presented a stronger blue print than what Rosenthal eventually bought her out for. (After 9/11, she relinquished all rights to the festival in December of 2001 under 'good faith' that she would be connected to the festival�s programming). Bartelme's premise was more connected to the heart of the independent film community but also linked to music (remember MTV's involvement the first year? That was the results of meeting with now co-chair Tom Freston)."
"... Beyond incorporating films with great sound tracks, theater and painting were at the soul of the festival- 'a true festival of the arts.' Anyone wanting to do a documentary on the makings of this festival? There's a whole back-story that's never been told ... Rosenthal is afraid to touch! It will never be Cannes or 'Burning Man' like Bartelme had intended ... it's not helping the business of TriBeCa -- all complained last year that it hurt sales and that paying to be a part of it for advertising, plus giving a discount created more head aches- in the long run wasn't worth it.

"Lance Lappan, for example, this year was told he was not allowed to set up a booth because he was not family oriented (26 years in TriBeCa of cutting kids hair, creative as hell and he's not allowed to participate?) Bartelme knew there would be hundreds of people descending on the hood -so you almost have to do something called a family COMMUNITY street fair. But her's had a thread that was UNITY and not just another series of vendors. Hers embodied the real stuff Hollywood stands for not the celluloid festival that has hit this triangle below Canal. Let Rosenthal open the fest with a Hollywood film and stay in mid-town where she belongs! Good luck to a independents!"

Interesting, at least The Corsair thought. More, in the blogopshere:

David Chappelle's Rize (about "Krumping") and Indiewire

Neo Ned

Matt Dentler of Indiewire of the party scene last night:

" ... The DJ turned out to be a lot of fun, mixing old-school hip-hop with newer hip-pop and pretty soon, the trendy eatery became a dance club for the partygoers. Before long, word started trickling in about the next parties. Boy George was reportedly spinning at the W Hotel's All We Are Saying soiree and the White Stripes were rumored to be at the Excavating Taylor Mead shindig."

(Ed Note: The Corsair is pretty sure Taylor Meade planted that story himself)

"'The Rabbi,' Christian Zak, and I soon found ourselves in Chinatown for the Taylor Mead party... no White Stripes to be found, but we did get a chance to chat briefly with Jim Jarmusch and Michael Almereyda, two of indie film's most stunning and most friendly forces."