Tribeca stands tall in film circles at 16
From a gutsy little gathering intent on bringing energy and unity to lower Manhattan in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, the Tribeca Film Festival has evolved into a star-studded moviegoer’s dream destination dedicated to exploring the intersections of storytelling, entertainment and technology.
The 16th annual event, set for Wednesday through April 30, continues its mission of supporting filmmakers, curating interactive experiences, and introducing technology and novel ideas through panel discussions, screenings, exhibitions and performances. And there will be plenty of celebrity attractions, too.
Expected highlights include a preview with director Ken Burns of his forthcoming documentary Vietnam; the premiere of the first episode of Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale; a 25th-anniversary Reservoir Dogs retrospective with director Quentin Tarantino; a New Online Work (N.O.W.) showcase, the second annual Creators Market connecting online creators with buyers, producers and brands; and red-carpet world premieres of independent and studio films.
The festival overseers chose to reduce the size of the overall program by 20 percent this year — to
98 feature-length titles from 28 countries — resulting in a more tightly selective and focused slate.
Among those, the Competition section features 32 films: 12 documentaries, 10 U.S. narratives and 10 international narratives. The Spotlight Narrative section has 15 fiction films, while 16 nonfiction films will premiere in the Spotlight Documentary section. The Midnight section features five narratives and one documentary premiere.
Among narrative offerings are Aardvark with Jon Hamm, Flower with Kathryn Hahn, The Boy Downstairs with Zosia Mamet, Chuck with Elisabeth Moss and Naomi Watts, The Clapper with Tracy Morgan, The Lovers with Debra Winger, Manifesto with Cate Blanchett, and Permission with Gina Gershon.
Documentaries include Bobbi Jene (on American dancer Bobbi Jene Smith), No Man’s Land (concerning the standoff between federal authorities and ranchers occupying Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge), When God Sleeps (on Iranian rapper Shahini Najaf), and The Departure (on lifesaving Buddhist priest Ittetsu Nemoto).
Along with screenings of full-length documentary and narrative films, this year will include the showing of 57 shorts — 40 percent of which were directed by women — culled from a record 4,385 submissions from 18 countries.
“It’s wonderful to have shorts from such diverse countries like Iran, Venezuela and South Korea to complement the American short films,” said Sharon Badal, vice president of filmmaker relations and shorts programming. “This year’s shorts programs are evidence that storytelling has no boundaries, and creativity is global.”
World premieres of scripted and documentary TV shows, season premieres of returning shows, and an array of independent TV pilots will be shown on big screens, followed by talks with series creators, writers, producers and actors including Jessica Biel, Titus Burgess, Tina Fey, Ron Howard, Elisabeth Moss, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson and Samira Wiley.
Along with filmmaker panel discussions, the most unpredictable attraction at the festival is the Tribeca Talks series, featuring conversations with filmmakers, performers and industry leaders. This year’s talking heads include Scarlett Johansson, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks, Kobe Bryant, Lena Dunham, Barbra Streisand, Robert Rodriguez, Jon Favreau, Dustin Hoffman, Common and Kathryn Bigelow.
Many events will be held at the festival’s 150,000-squarefoot creative, production and event hub in the heart of Tribeca at 50 Varick St. The handsome, functional space has been a big hit with festivalgoers since it opened in 2015, and this year it continues to bring filmmakers, artists, industry members and audiences together in the festival’s original downtown location (it had spent a few years hanging out in Chelsea).
Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, Tribeca celebrates New York as a major filmmaking center and is an active contributor to the longterm recovery of lower Manhattan.
Philip Martin, Piers Marchant and I will be reporting on the festival in the coming weeks. In the meantime, for more information visit tribecafilm.com and blooddirtangels.com.