DeNiro, Amex start Lower Manhattan film festival

DeNiro said that downtown New York "is coming back gradually."

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Actor Robert De Niro has co-founded a film festival to help stimulate cultural life in Lower Manhattan, devastated by the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The Tribeca Film Festival, set for May 8 to 12, will feature movies made in the New York City area.

It is to be an annual event, said the actor, who is the owner of two restaurants in Tribeca, which is near the WTC site.

At a news conference Thursday, De Niro said that downtown New York "is coming back gradually and the festival will be part of that process."

De Niro, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and American Express Chairman Kenneth Chenault announced a multi-million dollar partnership between the credit card company and the festival.

The other co-founder is Jane Rosenthal, who is De Niro's partner in Tribeca Entertainment, a film production company.

"The film festival is needed in the city after 9/11 more than ever before. We just have to have events that tell everybody that New York is back and Lower Manhattan is a safe place to go," Bloomberg said.

The festival is taking place during the same time period that American Express is aiming to move its employees back to its headquarters in Lower Manhattan.