The Tribeca Film Festival was started in 2001, most notably as the baby of Robert De Niro.  The purpose of the festival was not only to help independent filmmakers get their movies to audiences, but also to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of NYC, post 9/11.

The 2011 festival, which started on April 20th and runs until May 1st, as detailed earlier takes place in New York City and thus prevents many film enthusiasts from attending.

But have no fear, film geeks!  YouTube has announced today over on their blog that they will be showing the short films from the festival on their Screening Room channel:

Are you a film festival fanatic? Do you love keeping up with the latest indie hits? Are you at least somewhat interested in hearing David Duchovny voice a polar bear that’s BFF with Leonardo DiCaprio? Of course you are!

Since not everyone can make it to New York City for the 10th annual Tribeca Film Festival, YouTube, Tribeca and American Express have teamed up to bring the festival to you.

From today through May 17, check out the YouTube Screening Room for short films from both past and present Tribeca Film Festivals

First up are five short films: Brink, The Ignorant Bliss of Sun and Moon, Loose Change, Mr. Stache and The Beaufort Diaries.  The latter is a short animated tale that tracks the rise and fall of a displaced polar bear in Hollywood.  It is narrated by David Duchovny and due to some fictional dialogue from David Mamet is kinda NSFW.

YouTube also says that once you’ve blown through the first 5 short films, check the screening room on April 29th for the next batch.

This is all brought to you, the viewer, by a partnership between YouTube, Tribeca, and American Express.  The Screening Room channel is just one in a number of steps YouTube is taking to become a colossus in the world of video.  Recently, they launched YouTube Live for live streaming and soon after streamed California’s indie music festival Coachella for delighted music fans around the world.

"When artists arrived at Mass Animation’s virtual studio on Facebook, they were given the essential tools and animation software necessary to participate, including individual storyboards and 3D models bundled for download along with guidelines on animation," a representative for Facebook tells WebProNews. "Through the social networking features of the application, animated shots could then be viewed, voted on and shared with friends."

"’Live Music’ reflects the input of  58,000+ participants from 101 countries and 51 animators who collaborated in the making of this unique film, which introduces Mass Animation to the world," she adds.

Mass Animation has illustrated to a great extent what can truly be acheived with collaboration efforts on Facebook (or social media in general). It probably helps that Mass Animation puts so much focus on Facebook as a tool. They even use their Facebook page as their website. If you go to massanimation.com, it redirects to facebook.com/massanimation. That’s some dedication to a specific channel. 

Now Mass Animation is involved in another Facebook project with Sony Online Entertainment and DC Comics. This week the DC Universe Online Animation Contest was announced. This is being called version 2.0 of the Mass Animation FB app and will give DC fans, gamers, and animators a chance to animate characters from the DC Universe online game that Sony is developing. This is another example of Mass Animation allowing fans to collaborate on a big product. The contest will launch on December 7.

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A little catch-up may be necessary before we continue, however, in the event those names aren’t immediately familiar.  After all, Veoh isn’t the most popular video site out there – recent data from Hitwise puts its market share at a paltry 1.57 percent.  And CineVegas probably isn’t the most famous film festival – it’s listed nowhere among the dozens of what Wikipedia has deemed “significant or notable festivals.”

On the other hand, that 1.57 percent is good enough to put Veoh in sixth place (behind MSN Video), and CineVegas has ties to Anthony Hopkins and Jack Nicholson.  YouTube and Cannes they’re not, but Veoh and CineVegas shouldn’t be sniffed at.

So, back to CineVegas Shorts Online.  The channel “will present shorts the Festival has shown in the past, as well as bodies of work from former CineVegas filmmakers,” according to a press release.  “A new video installment will be introduced every two weeks, each highlighting a specific filmmaker, and starting in January 2008, the Festival will showcase ‘best of’ compilations on the site.”

Sounds like it’ll be worth checking in on.  Hat tip to Mashable’s Kristen Nicole.