SPIKE LEE - LEE PRAISES TRIBECA FOR PUSHING NEW TALENT

LEE PRAISES TRIBECA FOR PUSHING NEW TALENT

SPIKE LEE has praised the organisers of New York's Tribeca Film Festival for giving new moviemakers the chance to break into Hollywood.
The director has joined forces with festival creator Robert De Niro and will screen two films at this year's (09) event - basketball documentary Kobe Doin' Work and musical Passing Strange.
And Lee insists he's an avid supporter of film festivals because without them, so many up-and-coming directors would never get the chance to shine.
Speaking at a Tribeca press conference on Tuesday (21Apr09), Lee said, "Film is one of the few things making money, apart from Walmart and MCDonalds. But it's still hard to get a movie made. That's why film festivals are so important. A lot of filmmakers get their first films shown at film festivals."
The 12-day Tribeca Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday (22Apr09).