While the two week celebration that is the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival has yet to begin (April 23rd), I've had the opportunity to pre-screen a handful of films that will showcase at the festival when the red carpet rolls out for the filmmakers and stars alike. Are there films that will become buzzworthy by the time all is said and done? You betcha! But while there is ample enough time to tell you about some of the great films that will be gracing the screens starting next week, I wanted to share with you something about these past two weeks that I've just found fascinating.

The two weeks of pre-screenings that precede the actual festival are great, because it's during this time that film critics from all over come out to see any and all of the films that screen, which are typically two a day. Sometimes, the film's producers are on hand to watch the films with us to see how we receive it; sometimes, they approach you and strike up conversation because they want to get to know the people who are coming to watch their films. And if you didn't already know, the movie critics are a family all to themselves. It's great to see the diversity in this group; they come from different backgrounds and have different personalities. Some of them are good friends. Most of them know each other. It's exciting though to sit with such a hush-proper group of people who ultimately get the reviews out before everyone else; much like local news teams who snap their necks for the "Breaking News Story". Except there's no necks to be snapped around here, since everything is so casual.

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Names aside, they all have personalities too. Like: the older gentleman who always sits in the front row with his long coat, and the woman who prefers to watch her films with a glass of red wine, and the eclectic gentleman who always sits in the very back, and the young guy who always looks like he's just come in from running five miles. There's also a delightful woman who must love comedy because she laughs at almost everything that's remotely cute (she's a person you want to see light-hearted films, with for sure), and an older man who, regardless of the screening, will come in and talk to one of his peers and basically give a ten minute dissertation on the history of cinema, or the current state of the film or TV industry-fascinating stuff, really-and then there's a young lady who spends half of the screenings on her Blackberry…

Since it's a small group of colleagues it doesn't take long to realize that everyone has a tendency when watching movies. So perhaps then, that means that everyone who goes to movies has tendencies too, and we just never know it because each time we go we're in a room full of complete strangers. It sort of reminds me of the time I went to see "Transformers" this past summer, twice in the same day. And I remember talking to one friend I had watched the movie with when he made a particular comment about the audience's response to the film, which happened to be completely different from the audience in the second screening. It makes me wonder why more critics don't also take into account the audience's reaction when watching a movie. After watching these pre-screenings, I would like to say that I have a fairly good idea what types of movies some of my colleagues like and what types they don't, and it seems like invaluable data that's just being left on the cutting room floor.

Simbarashe will be covering the Tribeca Film Fest for Starpulse.com which takes place April 23 - May 4 in New York City. More about the film festival can be found here.

Story by Simbarashe

Starpulse contributing writer