Tribeca Festival 2025
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“But Then My Obsession Went to Darker Things: Joe Coleman and Whitney Ward on Being Subjects in the Tribeca-Premiering Doc, How Dark My Love
Joe Coleman and Whitney Ward are having a big summer. The reigning king and queen of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade also are known as two of the most original figures in a New York underground scene that flourished in the 1970s and ‘80s, and they continue to thrive as artists, performers and personalities. Coleman, a visionary painter, curated the sprawling “Carnival” group show at Deitch Projects, on view through June 28, which more than lives up to Coleman’s evocation of “a profane, holy place where the private desires, fantasies and fears of a society are given uninhibited free expression.” […]
by Steve Dollar on Jun 11, 2025 -
“Shooting in the Fall, Premiering in June”: Travis Wood and Alex Mallis on Their Tribeca Debut The Travel Companion
Anxieties surrounding flight credits, male friendship and fraught filmmaking prospects fuel the bittersweet yet always amusing narrative of The Travel Companion, the feature debut from directors Travis Wood and Alex Mallis. Co-written by the duo alongside their Chicago-based buddy Weston Auburn, the rough gist of the story is mined from a situation that Wood personally found himself in. Long designated as his best friend’s “travel companion”—a perk granted to a friend or family member of an airline employee’s choosing—Wood realized that his coveted status was on track to be upset by his pal’s serious girlfriend. As Wood avows, however, his […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 9, 2025 -
“Dark, Difficult, Dank Spaces”: Rob Petit on His Tribeca World Premiere Underland
Based on British author Robert Macfarlane’s non-fiction book of the same name, Underland, the feature debut from Rob Petit, investigates the world hidden beneath our feet. In particular, the film ventures into the depths of a cave system in Mexico once used for ancient Mayan rites; a Canadian dark matter research facility located two kilometers beneath the surface; the exhilarating, if treacherous, storm drain system beneath Las Vegas; and a haphazardly abandoned uranium mine in the American Southwest. Composed of six chapters strung together by hypnotic narration from Sandra Hüller, Underland literally probes the human drive for discovery and, conversely, […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 9, 2025 -
“A Brutal Honesty That Still Feels Poetic”: Walter Thompson-Hernández on His Tribeca World Premiere Kites
In the sprawling favela of Santo Amaro in Rio de Janeiro, Duvo (first-time actor Daniel Fernando do Prado Dorea Lima) currently sits at the top of the pecking order. Under the guise of enriching the community, Duvo and his armed militia regularly engage in illicit activity that, while lucrative, often culminates in death. When it comes to Duvo’s attention that the “help” he’s providing is anything but—in part by a cigarette-smoking guardian angel, whose untimely death was the product of police brutality—he becomes obsessed with a new, much more kid-friendly venture: he decides to finance a kite festival for the […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 9, 2025 -
“Two Strangers Meeting Over Something So Unusual”: Paula González-Nasser on Her Tribeca World-Premiering Feature Debut The Scout
Back in 2022, a scrappy feat of independent filmmaking came across my radar. Written and directed by Florida native Justin Zuckerman, Yelling Fire in an Empty Theater is a Mini-DV shot journey of a young woman attempting to create space for herself amid the cacophony of New York City; it harkens to mumblecore while remaining entrenched in the unique hostility that young (even would-be) creatives currently face amid price-gouging and the decimation of DIY communities. This film was the first feature project undertaken in part by 5th Floor Pictures—the production collective co-founded by Ryan Martin Brown and Paula González-Nasser—itself an […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 9, 2025 -
“So Many Sequins!”: Penny Lane on Her Tribeca-Debuting Docuseries Mrs. America
Kudos to Anonymous Content and Fremantle for putting together a project focused on the most wholesome of beauty pageants and thinking, “We need the director of Hail, Satan? for this!” Indeed, while the idea might seem absurd on its surface, it’s no more so than the notion of married women from 18 to 80 (and up) going toe to toe (or heel to heel) in evening gowns and swimsuits, sacrificing precious time and exorbitant amounts of money for the chance to wear the Mrs. America crown. And veteran filmmaker Penny Lane, whose 2023 doc Confessions of a Good Samaritan followed […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jun 8, 2025 -
“It Became More a Story About How the Artwork, and All the Commotion Around It, Affected His Mental Health”: Ole Juncker on His Tribeca-Debuting Take the Money and Run
Ole Juncker’s Tribeca-premiering Take the Money and Run follows Jens Haaning, a Danish conceptual artist to whom the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg loaned $83,000 — money that was to be tangibly incorporated into a specific commission for their 2021 group exhibition centered on the future of working life. (Which was not so creatively titled “Work it out.”) Unfortunately for the museum, Haaning decided to incorporate the dollars into his own personal life instead, though he did deliver a piece called Take the Money and Run — a pair of empty frames — along with an email explaining the […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jun 6, 2025 -
Our 16 Most Anticipated Films of the 2025 Tribeca Festival
Although the heat has yet to properly arrive, today’s kickoff of the annual Tribeca Festival, now firmly ensconced in its post-Cannes calendar slot, signals the unofficial start to the summer season among the New York City cinema-going sect. Running from June 4 through 15, the program this year boasts 118 feature films with an impressive 95 world premieres among them. Even if the word “film” is no longer centered in the festival’s actual title, it certainly remains the concerted programming focus. Though there are also plenty of offerings in their TV, games, audio, interactive and Tribeca X sections—the latter of […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 4, 2025 -
Tribeca Festival Announces 2025 Features Including New Films by RZA, Mariska Hargitay
The Tribeca Festival, which runs from June 4 to 15 in 2025, has announced the feature film lineup for this year’s edition, including the debut feature from 25 New Face of Independent Film 2022 Walter Thompson-Hernández. From the press release: The final selections were chosen from a record-breaking number of submissions (13,541). This year’s program includes 118 feature films representing 95 world premieres, 135 filmmakers and 36 countries. 48 (40%) of the features are directed by women and 42 (36%) are directed by BIPOC filmmakers. 44 filmmakers are making their feature debut at this year’s Tribeca Festival and 32 directors […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 16, 2025
