Some twenty years into its existence, the Tribeca Festival may have dropped the “film” part from its name — it wants to rebrand itself as something that includes TV and games and technology and whatever else strikes its creators’ fancy at the moment, and apparently that means not associating itself with movies per se, which, Ok, you do you, Tribeca, we’re still calling you a film festival. But that little thing we old people like to call “cinema (when we’re not yelling at clouds, I suppose) is still very much present and accounted for, and between opening night on June 9th and the closing-night screening on June 26th, there’s plenty to see once the downtown NYC event kicks into gear.
We’ve narrowed down a lucky 13 movies from its abundant competition lineups/sidebars that are worth your time, effort and eyeballs: some choice music documentaries, profiles of both Rudy Giuliani and Al Sharpton, a sitcom star’s directorial debut, a famous Bronx resident’s take on her multifaceted show-business career, a mindblowing essay that connects a master filmmaker with a Golden Age of Hollywood classic, and more. (Should you want to check out some of Tribeca’s virtual premieres and offerings at home, you can purchase tickets for those here. Just be sure to call them “films.”)