The Tribeca Festival has announced feature film, short film, TV and audio storytelling lineups. The 2023 Tribeca Festival will be June 7-18th. The 22nd edition of the festival will explore creative innovation across film, TV, immersive, games, audio storytelling, talks and more.
"Tribeca is a tentpole of entertainment and culture in New York City, and we're looking forward to welcoming back artists of all backgrounds and mediums to celebrate the power of storytelling," said Tribeca Co-Founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal. "The 2023 Tribeca Festival will be an unforgettable event featuring blockbuster world premieres, live performances by award-winning musicians, exclusive conversations with creative visionaries, and much more."
The Tribeca Festival is curated by Festival Director and VP of Programming Cara Cusumano, Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer; VP of Filmmaker Relations & Shorts Programming Sharon Badal and Head Shorts Programmer Ben Thompson; Senior Programmer Liza Domnitz; Programmers José F. Rodriguez; VP of Games and Immersive Casey Baltes and Immersive Curator Ana Brzezinska; Curator of Audio Storytelling Davy Gardner; Music Programmer Vincent Cassous; and program advisor Paula Weinstein, along with a team of associate programmers.
The 2023 features program includes 109 feature films from 127 filmmakers across 36 countries. There are 53 documentary features across all categories including the world premiere of Marvel's first original documentary Stan Lee by Tribeca alumnus David Gelb.
This year's festival also includes a notable number of films directed by actors: world premiere of First Time Female Director by Chelsea Peretti; world premiere of Maggie Moore(s) by John Slattery; world premiere of Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny; world premiere of Downtown Owl by Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater; world premiere of Eric LaRue by Michael Shannon; world premiere of Fresh Kills by Jennifer Esposito; North American premiere of The Listener by Steve Buscemi; New York premiere of Shortcomings by Randall Park; and more.
With a record-breaking 8,096 total submissions, the short films lineup's four categories – narrative shorts, documentary shorts, animated shorts, and music videos – are curated across thematic programs highlighting love, family relationships, LGBTQ+ stories, "Expressions of Black Freedom," Latin America, resilience, and more. Harry Holland directs his brother Tom Holland in the premiere of LAST CALL.
The world premiere of Misty Copeland's Flower will screen as a special event at Spring Studios. Flower is a poignant take on community, belonging, and intergenerational equity, directed by Lauren Finerman, in which Copeland stars and serves as producer.
For the third year, the Tribeca Festival continues its commemoration of Juneteenth through the "Expressions of Black Freedom" program, sponsored by Indeed, which includes a festival-wide celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the world premiere of All Up in the Biz, a documentary about New York hip-hop legend Biz Markie, and the world premiere of Cinnamon, directed by Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr. and starring Damon Wayans and Pam Grier.
The 2023 "Spotlight+" category includes a series of live events that bring the film experience to life following each premiere. A performance from She Is The Music artists, curated by Alicia Keys, will follow the world premiere of Uncharted; Sara Bareilles will give a special performance following the world premiere of Waitress, the Musical - Live on Broadway!; the one and only Gloria Gaynor will perform following the world premiere of Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive; a conversation with Peabody Award-winning news anchor Dan Rather and director Frank Marshall will follow the world premiere of Rather; Gogol Bordello will perform following the world premiere of Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story; a songwriting masterclass by Indigo Girls will follow the New York premiere of It's Only Life After All; a musical Q&A with Marc Rebillet will follow the world premiere of Songs About Fucking; and a group of dancehall legends will perform following the world premiere of Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall.
The TV portion of the festival showcases a selection of highly anticipated programs from networks and streamers at the forefront of groundbreaking storytelling including Disney+, Max, Apple TV+, Starz, AMC, A&E, BET+, and more.
Fan favorite selections include AMC's The Walking Dead: Dead City, a return to The Walking Dead universe that follows Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they travel into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan; the highly anticipated season seven premiere of Starz's Outlander, starring Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan; and the season two premiere of Apple TV+'s critically acclaimed Swagger, inspired by NBA superstar Kevin Durant's experience on the youth basketball circuit.
TV producers, Mark Wahlberg and Mario Lopez bring the Oscar De La Hoya documentary The Golden Boy to the festival and are expected to be at a talk after the screening. A&E's Exposing Parchman, an investigative documentary that explores the efforts to reform the Mississippi correctional system led by a team of attorneys on behalf of the inmates of Parchman Prison featuring Jay-Z will also be in the TV lineup. The line up continues with Paramount+'s De La Calle, a docu-series that takes a journey into the Latino diaspora with special guests Fat Joe and Juelz Santana among other artists.
The audio storytelling lineup includes 18 world premieres from independent and established narrative audio creators and 11 "Live-from-Tribeca" events. The Audio programming will be exclusive conversations with audio creators to live tapings of hit shows, such as an audio artists panel hosted by Avery Trufelman (Articles of Interest, 99% Invisible); and Leon Neyfakh (Slow Burn, Fiasco); a live taping of Crooked Media's Pod Save America with guest co-host Alex Wagner; a 25th anniversary rewatch event of Will & Grace followed by a live taping of SmartLess Media's Just Jack & Will featuring Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack; a live taping of Selected Shorts with New York Times Bestselling author Roxane Gay; a live taping of New York Times Audio's Modern Love with Kim Cattrall; and a live taping of Sonic Union's Perreo 101 followed by a musical performance by Cuban artists Yotuel and Beatriz Luengo.
Once again, movie fans can enjoy selections from the Tribeca Festival from the comfort of their homes immediately following the Festival, from June 19 through July 2, via the "Tribeca at Home" online platform: Tribecafilm.com.