Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn and More Join Tribeca in Toast to Lisbon Festival Extension

Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn and other celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, politics and business gathered in New York on Tuesday to toast with Portuguese sparkling wine in honor of the Tribeca Festival Lisboa.

The venture, led by Tribeca co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, announced the lineup for the first edition earlier in the day. The event is scheduled for Oct. 17-19 in the city of Seven Hills, which has become known in recent years as a tech startup incubator. In addition to the film slate, a lineup of podcasts, music and conversations will round out the new festival, similar to what happens at Tribeca’s flagship event in New York.

The launch party was also attended by U.S. Ambassador to Portugal Randi Levine, Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas and Grupo Impresa CEO Francisco Balsemão.

“What we’re doing today feels like a small but necessary step forward,” Rosenthal told guests at the Tribeca Film Center. “By exchanging cultures, ideas and stories, we’re contributing to something powerful, helping to build a more empathetic, understanding and unified world.” She noted that the gathering comes on the eve of Wednesday’s 23rd anniversary of 9/11. The terrorist attacks spurred efforts to hold the first Tribeca edition in 2002, when Lower Manhattan was in the early stages of rebuilding.

In her remarks, Goldberg cited another aspect of Lisbon’s appeal. “It’s very exciting to me because I’ve always heard that it’s a diverse city,” she said. “And I will say that if people are trying to erase diversity, I’d like to be somewhere where it thrives.”

Also in the crowd at the event was Tony Goncalves, a key architect of the Tribeca Lisboa venture. Goncalves left WarnerMedia in 2022, shortly after the merger with Discovery, after being promoted to chief revenue officer. Originally from Portugal, he has since focused on his home country as a consultant and made a number of key introductions for stakeholders of the new festival.

Chris Brady, who joined Tribeca as chief revenue officer in January 2023 after serving in executive roles at CNN, Turner and WarnerMedia, told Deadline that the Lisbon venture could “serve as a model for the types of partnerships we want to pursue.”

Tribeca had previously launched a global expansion about 15 years ago, hosting a fall event in Doha, Qatar, and planting its banner at festivals in cities like Florence, Italy. It ultimately backed off those ambitions amid ownership changes and sponsorship challenges that have befallen most events in the festival circuit. But Brady noted that the recent shift of the main Tribeca festival to mid-June (from about six to seven weeks earlier in the spring) has had a strong impact. “This past year has been one of our most successful years in terms of sponsorship,” he said.

A controlling stake in Tribeca Enterprises, which owns the Tribeca Festival, was acquired in 2019 by a group of investors led by James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems.