Photo: cogdogblog / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
In April 2015, the Tribeca Film Festival closed with a 25th-anniversary screening of Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film about the mobster turned informant Henry Hill. Cast members including Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino reunited on stage after the screening to talk about making the film, which has since been added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.
A film that keeps growing
Goodfellas was adapted from Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy, and Pileggi and Scorsese shared the screenplay credit. Joe Pesci won the Academy Award for best supporting actor. Its long tracking shot through the kitchen of the Copacabana and its narration have been studied and imitated for decades.
The reunion took on added meaning in the years that followed. Ray Liotta died in May 2022 at age 67, and Paul Sorvino died that July. Scorsese and De Niro went on to make The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon together.
Tribeca’s story
De Niro co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 with producer Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff to help revive Lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks. It has grown into one of the largest film festivals in the country and now calls itself the Tribeca Festival, reflecting programming that includes television, games and immersive media.
Classic films closer to home
Capital Region and Hudson Valley audiences do not need to go to Manhattan to see films on a big screen:
- Spectrum 8 Theatres in Albany has long programmed independent and foreign films.
- The Palace Theatre in Albany and Proctors in Schenectady host occasional film screenings and live events in restored historic theaters.
- Upstate Films in Rhinebeck and Woodstock is a nonprofit cinema known for repertory and art-house programming.
- The Woodstock Film Festival, held each fall, and FilmColumbia in Chatham bring premieres and filmmakers to the region.
Libraries across the region also run free film series, and many lend classic films on disc and through streaming services available with a library card.
