173 Minutes with… Jane Rosenthal

The impresario of the Tribeca Festival now has Murdoch money. And, yes, they still show movies.

- By Shawn McCreesh

IN THE HALLS of film producer Jane Rosenthal’s Greenwich Street office hang massive, rare framed movie posters. There’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Night and the City with Gene Tierney, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up. She even has one of my all-time-favorite film noirs, The Big Clock, which never seems to be in stock at Posteritati. Where does she find them? “Marty’s got a guy,” she said with a nod, referring to Martin Scorsese.

It was June 2, a week before the opening of the Tribeca Festival (née the Tribeca Film Festival), and Rosenthal had meetings with her ticketing team as well as with the director Kathryn Bigelow, who would arrive just as our interview wrapped up. Rosenthal launched the festival 21 years ago with Robert De Niro and her financier now- ex-husband, Craig Hatkoff. Over 12 days, some 600 events would sprawl across the city from Williamsburg to Washington Heights. But right now, what’s stressing her out is wardrobe. It’s super-swampy outside. “I’m not really a summer dresser or anything,” she said. “I can’t leave my outfits to the last minute, standing in my closet going, I’ll probably wear this.” In her office, she was wearing a navy shirt from The Row, a silver serpent bracelet, and necklaces with many charms. “You can see how superstitious I am,” said Rosenthal, holding up an evil eye. “This keeps away the evil spirit.”