Tribeca Film Festival 2013 Day One

After a lovely visit with my daughter and grandsons in NJ, I headed to Brooklyn to stay with my grand-dogs while the kids are on vacation. Since their vacation coincided with Tribeca Film Festival, this is a happy state of affairs. The pups were happy to see me, and after wrangling my car out, then back in to the parking garage (so frustrating). I took the F train to the East Village. I arrived in front of the AMC Village 7 at the same time as my friend, and were quickly seated for Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. The film about a teen with autism wandering off and spending a week in the subway system of NYC with his mother  desperately looking for him, told many stories. The director, Sam Flieschner conducted an interesting Q&A after the film. Coming out of the theater into the sunshine, we went across the street to the Penny Farthing for a bite to eat, a little wine and discussion of the film. Getting back on the subway to return to Brooklyn, NYPD was set up to inspect bags, a welcome sight considering all that went on in Boston last week.
Back in DUMBO, I realized that I had time to get my car out of the parking garage (street parking is preferred) , play with the dogs and walk across the street to see the film Gut Renovation at rerun. That's right, I'm staying across the street from a movie theater! Pretty cool. The film was an interesting history of the city's actions to change Williamsburg from a working neighborhood, to residential. Kind of sad in a way. The plan has no balance and long-time residents are being forced out. It's all about the money. Film maker Su Friederich conducted an informative and passionate Q&A after the film. After a little walk around the neighborhood, I returned to the pups and felt good about my first day at film festival.