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The Tribeca Film Festival was co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001 to help revive New York's struggling economy. It is hard to believe that this year's festival, which began on Wednesday and will run through May 4, is already the seventh!

Things kicked off yesterday morning at a press conference attended by Rosenthal, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York's new governor David Paterson, and festival director/juror Doug Liman (producer of the Bourne movies), among others. They revealed this year's festival jurors, who include actors Whoopi Goldberg, Oliver Platt (Doctor Dolittle), Christine Lahti (Chicago Hope), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), Lili Taylor (Six Feet Under), Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket), and Molly Shannon (SNL); director Greg Mottola (Superbad); and singers David Bowie ("Space Oddity") and Fred Durst (of Limp Bizkit).

In the morning, I'm going to be departing for a jam-packed 48 hours at the festival, and I thought I'd offer a preview of some of what I'll be doing there/covering here over the coming days...

• On Thursday afternoon, I'll be along the red carpet as Madonna and friends arrive for the world premiere screening of I Am Because We Are (trailer), a documentary written and produced by the iconic pop singer about the AIDS pandemic in Africa, generally, and in Malawi, specifically, where one million children have been orphaned by the disease. (You may recall Madonna's controversial adoption of a young Malawian boy back in 2006.) In addition to discuss the children's tragic circumstances, the film also offers analysis of and suggestions about how to combat AIDS from such notable humanitarians as former U.S. president Bill Clinton, South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, American physician Paul Farmer, and American economist Jeffrey Sachs.
• Then, I want to briefly stop by another red carpet for a slightly less somber affair—the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." While the gloved "King of Pop" is not expected to make an appearance, the groundbreaking music video's director, Jon Landis (Animal House), Jacko's personal choreographer, Vincent Paterson, are among those expected to be in the house for what sounds like a killer, thriller night—not only a screening, but also "the world's largest zombie disco, a Michael Jackson dance contest, Thriller face-painting stations, and a live recreation of the music video by the contestants of Bravo's Step It Up and Dance television program.
• Next up, there's a "Meet & Greet" for press and first-time filmmakers whose works are being shown at the festival at the Target-Tribeca Filmmaker Lounge, which should be nice.
  
• Finally, I'll make my way over to the world premiere of and after-party for Trucker, a drama written and directed by James Mottern about a female trucker (Gone Baby Gone's Michelle Monaghan) who leads a reckless, carefree life until her eleven year old, from whom she has been estranged since he was an infant, shows up at her door one night. He is equally disinterested in her but is out of options, since his father (the underrated Benjamin Bratt) has been hospitalized and his father's girlfriend (dependable character actress Joey Lauren Adams) is unwilling to care for him, and so with the mediatory help of a neighbor (Nathan Fillion, the good guy in Waitress), they give it a go. Although it sounds like an unusual idea to cast a woman as beautiful as Monaghan in a part as unglamorous as a trucker, rumor has it she knocks the role out of the park with a career-best performance. We'll see.
• On Friday, much of my daytime schedule remains to be determined, but I'm very excited about the evening, when I'll catch the world premiere of and after-party for Bart Got a Room, a first feature for writer-director Brian Hecker that stars one of my favorite actors in the world, William H. Macy (Fargo, The Cooler). In this comedy, Macy (sporting an afro, of sorts) and Cheryl Hines (always a funny foil for Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm) portray the divorced and dysfunctional parents of a high school student (Steven Kaplan) who is desperately struggling to find a date for his senior prom, the ultimate pressure-inducing, hyped-up "pseudoevent" that looms over the lives of every young person eventually. Alia Shawkat, best known as young Maeby Funke on television's Arrested Development, also pops up in a key supporting role.

Feel free to share your thoughts on these Tribeca films/filmmakers (or any of the many others I have not mentioned) in the 'Comments' section below!