The Tribeca Film Festival is coming to New York for it’s fifteenth year this April. Scheduled for the 13th through the 24th, the festival provides one-of-a-kind storytelling from filmmakers for viewers. This year, the Tribeca Film Festival boats something that the Oscar’s couldn’t dare say for themselves: diversity. Of the features that will debut at the festival, one third are directed by women.
This year’s overall competition program, which includes a US Narrative Competition, an International Narrative Competition, a World Documentary Competition, and a Viewpoints sector, is shaping up to be it’s best yet. Selected from a pool of 6,626 submissions, are features from 32 countries, with 77 World Premieres, eight International Premieres, six North American Premieres, four US Premieres, and five New York Premieres. A total of 130 directors will screen their films, 42 of which will do so with their feature directorial debuts; 18 of them are Tribeca alums returning to the Festival.
Paula Weinstein, Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises, has said, “The Festival has grown into a platform for discovery of new and distinct voices for both audiences and industry.” Of that, The Untitled Magazine has to agree. This year’s festival starts off with the film Kicks, directed by Justin Tipping, which is about a neighborhood kid’s hard-earned kicks get stolen. Though the majority of the film’s have been announced, on March 8th the remaining features, which will be split into the Midnight, Spotlight, and Special Sections programs, will be revealed.
Though many of the filmmakers and stars at Tribeca are up and comers, rather than the A-listers we see on red carpets, a few always seem to make appearances. This year, Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult will star in Equals by filmmaker Drake Doremus. Shia LeBeouf was the executive-prodcuer of LoveTrue. High-Rise, by filmmaker Ben Wheatley will star Tom Hiddleston.
