Fair enough, but even that traditional means of watching movies has taken on a rarified qualified in today's on-demand culture, when the rise of television, streaming platforms and virtual reality headsets have turned the theatrical experience into a much smaller piece of the pie. As an institution, Tribeca hasn't been blind to these developments. The company has experimented with VOD platforms in the past; the festival's Storyscapes installation, entering its fourth year, showcases both virtual reality and immersive media installations. "This is a cultural festival, a visual media festival," De Niro said. "And that's okay. It's finding its own identity even now, and it's still changing."
Rosenthal noted that an influx of distribution platforms has made an impact on multiple generations of viewers. "We're seeing such a huge change," she said. "People don't watch things anymore. They consume content. You're seeing patterns of behavior change. We both have teenagers and they watch things on a small screen."
For De Niro, however, modern technology has yet to supplant the theatrical experience in one key way: Audience engagement. "Sometimes I watch movies on a computer, which is just faster, but that's only if I feel like I can get the gist of the story without being in a screening room," De Niro said. "I have to watch comedies with an audience. To see it in a vacuum doesn't make sense."
