De Niro's Tribeca 25 is on Netflix: the story of the festival he built to revive downtown New York

Netflix keeps firing out fresh content faster than most of us can keep up, and now we've got Robert De Niro back on our screens yet again — but not the way you'd expect. Hot on the heels of his stab at a crime thriller with The Whisper Man, De Niro is back with Tribeca 25, a documentary that's just landed today, 11 September. If you reckon you're about to see De Niro chasing villains, forget it; this one couldn't be more different. Instead, you're in for a fest of film nostalgia, backstage drama, and a bit of New York soul.

Tribeca 25 just launched on Netflix, arriving bang on the 25th anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival.

De Niro's Real-Life Passion Project

Let's back up a bit. Tribeca 25 is all about pulling back the curtain on one of De Niro's biggest off-screen triumphs: the Tribeca Film Festival. The festival wasn't some glitzy vanity project cooked up in a boardroom — it actually grew out of a real need to help downtown Manhattan dig itself out after the shock of 9/11. De Niro, along with his producing partner Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, wanted to breathe life back into their bit of New York.

It's not every day that you see a film festival spring up because Hollywood legends decide movies could help heal a city, but that's more or less what happened. The inaugural festival landed in 2002, and organising it was no small feat. They roped in 1,300 volunteers, spent 120 days wrestling with chaos, and ended up creating a gathering that was as much about community as it was about films. Think less red carpet, more roll-up-your-sleeves and get stuck in.

The Festival, The Film, The Guests

The documentary itself, helmed by director Matt Tyrnauer, doesn't just focus on De Niro grandstanding about saving New York. Instead, it traces the festival's evolution from plucky local affair to a properly international event that actually helps launch new talent. We're talking directors like Jon M. Chu, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta – people who started with indie cred and pretty quickly became Hollywood mainstays.

This isn't just recycled B-roll and talking heads, either. There's a fair bit of never-before-seen footage from the festival's chaotic early days, plus conversations with De Niro, Rosenthal, and a line-up of reliably famous people. Martin Scorsese, Whoopi Goldberg, Bono, Bruce Springsteen (bit left-field, but he showed up), Denis Leary, and Nas all weigh in with their memories and thoughts on what Tribeca means — to them, and to the city.

So if you thought De Niro was just killing time between films, apparently not. Tribeca 25 is now streaming on Netflix, out for anyone who fancies a bit of honest backstage history (with a very strong lineup of celebrity mates thrown in for good measure).