Chanel hosted a fashionable crowd Monday night in New York for the Tribeca Festival’s 19th Annual Artists’ Dinner with plenty of reasons to raise a glass. But unfortunately for all the Knicks fans in attendance, Game 3 of the NBA Finals, which the San Antonio Spurs won across town at Madison Square Garden, was not one of them.
The luxury fashion house, a longtime supporter of cinema and the Tribeca Festival, welcomed the stars (many dressed in Chanel) to celebrate the Tribeca Festival’s 25th anniversary and enjoy a surprise toast from Robert De Niro as he paid tribute to the “perfect leader” and longtime production company partner Jane Rosenthal.
“I didn’t really need it that first time,” De Niro explained. “I could have done it myself, of course…but one thing is certain: If Jane Rosenthal had not run the first Tribeca Festival, there would never have been a second, third, fourth, or this 25th.” The acclaimed actor said Rosenthal is “the rare visionary who turns visions into reality,” adding, “We excite her because she’s my work wife, except there’s no messy prenuptial agreement.”
In this regard, De Niro said that the two share a “striking, non-confrontational relationship” and never disagree. “Jen is a tough business leader, but she’s also a patron of the arts. This comes naturally to her because she appreciates what artists do. Jen understands the spirit of the artist because she has the spirit of the artist,” he said during the short tribute, which also included video messages from notable friends like Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper, Kathryn Bigelow, Spike Lee, Leslie Lenka Glatter and Darren Aronofsky.
He, of course, sent me a video message because he couldn’t miss the action at Madison Square Garden watching his beloved Knicks hit the court for their first New York show in the NBA Finals two games back in San Antonio. The city was buzzing with finals fever, and so was the Chanel dinner. Guests like Molly Gordon wore Knicks leather jackets while others showed off their fandom in baseball caps or by staying glued to their smartphones to get real-time updates from the game, only to see the Spurs prevail 115-111.
Back to the arts. For more than 20 years, the Tribeca Festival and Chanel have joined forces to bridge the gap between fine arts and film by presenting artists’ original works to the Tribeca Festival’s award-winning filmmakers. This year’s program, curated by Zoe Lokoff, included a roster of participating artists Bonnie Ramirez, Brendan Fernandez, Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas, Jason Bard Jarmoski, Joshua Woods, Kiki Smith, Soul and Dynasty Ogun, Tavares Strachan, and Tosh Pascoe.
See below for views inside the party and who was at the scene, a list that also included Whitney Peck, Olivia Munn, Camila Morrone, Cole Bennett, Arianna Huffington, AV Rockwell, Craig McDean, Crystal McCrary-McGuire, Janicza Bravo, Jeff Koons, Cara Young, Karen Elson, Lux Pascal, Nathalie Massenet, Scott Galloway, Vanessa Traina, Charles De Viel Castel, Paloma Elsesser and more.
