Tribeca Festival Postpones Robert De Niro Celebration “De Niro Con” Amid Double Strike

The Tribeca Festival is postponing its “De Niro Con” celebration of festival co-founder Robert De Niro’s 80th birthday until April 2024 amid the ongoing writer and actor strikes.

The fan event had been set for Sept. 29-Oct. 1, a little over a month after De Niro’s 80th birthday this Thursday, Aug. 17.

In a statement released Wednesday, the festival said it decided to delay the tribute to DeNiro’s body of work, “in consideration of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.”

De Niro Con is just the latest event to be postponed amid the double strike that has largely brought film and TV production to a halt. Last week, the 2023 Emmys were rescheduled for January and Comic-Con and numerous movie and TV show premiere events have been affected by the two strikes. The SAG-AFTRA strike rules specify that actors can’t promote work done under past contracts with the studios and streamers that are members of the AMPTP.

Meanwhile the fall film festivals in Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York are still set to premiere numerous star-studded titles, and the Film Academy on Tuesday announced it was proceeding with its 2023 Academy Museum Gala fundraiser.

De Niro Con, when it was announced on the opening night of this year’s Tribeca Festival in June, which took place amid the writers strike, was set to feature film screenings, panel conversations, musical performances, immersive installations and recreations of iconic film sets. De Niro and his co-stars and frequent collaborators were expected to attend the celebration at New York City’s Spring Studios. And the full programming lineup had been set to be revealed this summer.