Jared Moshe makes a pretty good point about the Tribeca Film Festival today in his blog: "Before no other festivals do I get bombarded by non-industry friends asking what to see and what not to...after no other festival do people tell me they only saw one or two films and next year they need to see more. The amount of community interest is stunning, and, well, pretty damn great."

I absolutely agree. However, I have to say that from what I saw at the Festival this year, improvements could be made in terms of catering to that stunning community interest.

The first question to ask is: does Tribeca want to be more of a trade show, or more of a community event? If this was another festival, this might not even really matter, but Tribeca's founding philosophy would indicate that it specifically wants to cater to the people of New York.

And anyone who spent any time in or around Tribeca during this year's Festival would have to agree: the people of New York want to participate. They're excited about the prospect of attending a world-class festival without having to leave The City. They're even, in many cases, willing to take time off work, to stand in line, to buy tickets in advance, etc.

But at the same time, I could see how many "non-industry" types who tried to attend the festival in any kind of serious way would find the prospect daunting, and even disapointing. The fact is, every time I made like a normal person and stood in line for a film, not only did I not get in, but at least 95% of the line also did not get in.

Now, I was given access to at least one press screening of almost every film in the festival - I only had to attempt to attend a handful of regular screenings because of personal scheduling conflicts - and I certainly don't want it to come off like the poor girl with the press pass was somehow cheated. This is not about me not getting to see films, but about the non-industry, non-press people for whom Tribeca is ostensibly intended. The fact is, every time I did stand in the door sales line, almost every person in those lines was turned away. This is just a guess, but I think this might have something to do with the number of press and industry tickets handed out to every screening.

I don't know what percentage of tickets were set aside beforehand for press and industry, and what corresponding percentage of tickets were pre-sold; all I do know is that from what I saw, if a non-industry New Yorker decided to spend a day at the Tribeca Film Festival, without any kind of pre-purchased pass, that non-industry New Yorker would spend most of his day waiting in line, and depending on what films he/she was waiting in line for, maybe/probably still not get in to see anything.

I went to one regular screening with a press ticket; it appeared to me that a few (as in, maybe 10) people from the door sales line were let into that screening right before the lights went down. At that point, there were no seats available, so metal benches from the theater lobby were brought in. I applaud the Festival for going to even those lengths to let even that small number of "regular" people in, but I do think they need to do more to make sure the Festival's target audience actually gets into the audience.

As I say, as a member of the press I was given opportunities before the festival to see most (and all of the major) films. Since people like me get our own screenings, why shouldn't people like you get *your* own screenings? For most festival films, there are three regular screenings; why not make two of those screenings open for pre-sales, industry and press, and have one screening specifically for door sales?

All in all I think this year's festival was a success - Tribeca has come a remarkable way in four years, and the 2005 lineup was especially exciting. Which is why it just kind of broke my heart to watch so many people wait so long only to be turned away from so many sold-out screenings. Being too popular is the best possible problem a festival could have - but the populist in me would still like to see it corrected.