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Even before announcing its cinematic lineup for its most recent event, organizers of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival had already promised a festival unlike anything attempted in the past. With the COVID-19 pandemic still lingering throughout most of the nation, but starting to lose prominence as a result of increasing vaccinations, the festival has had to change plans in order to meet public health standards. In doing so, the festival has chosen to expand, moving past its traditional locations in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan and announcing locations throughout much of New York City, many of which will be outdoor and more accessible to the general public. With such a drastic change of pace for the two-decades old festival, one would expect the films shown to be some of the most highly anticipated and appealing cinematic works possible, and if what has been announced so far is any indication, there will be no shortage of such films.
On Tuesday, April 20th, the lineup for the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival was made known to the public. A total of 66 short and feature-length films will be included and allowed to compete in three different sections of the festival, while also being showcased in other sections of the event, including Viewpoints, Midnight, and Tribeca Critic’s Week among others. Set to take place between June 9th and June 20th, the festival will exhibit all of these films at a variety of outdoor venues throughout every borough of New York City, giving most of the city’s residents greater accessibility to events they might not otherwise be able to attend.
The film set to kick off the festival could not be a more appropriate choice. Holding its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival is the Warner Brothers’ musical “In the Heights”, the cinematic adaptation of the popular Broadway musical from “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Set in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights and starring an ethnically diverse cast, the film will likely resonate well with the millions of people that call the Big Apple their home, and because the film was originally set to come out in 2020 before being postponed due to the pandemic, there has already been much anticipation built from those who have been patiently waiting over a year to see the film. With all these factors in mind, there’s a very strong chance that the premiere of “In the Heights” will be among the highlights of the entire festival.
“In the Heights” isn’t the only film to finally make its premiere at Tribeca after being held back by over a year. Of the fifty-six films to be exhibited for the first time, many of them were originally expected to premiere at what was supposed to be the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Unfortunately, those plans had to be cancelled when the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to safely hold the festival as intended, leaving most of these films on stand-by until this most recent festival. Much like “Into the Heights”, there is much anticipation for some of these more high-profile films, and hopefully they will all be well worth the wait.
With diversity being one of the biggest priorities for the Tribeca Film Festival, the films included in the lineup do mostly reflect this push for greater inclusivity. Of the programming announced so far, 60% of the films included are helmed by directors who are female, people of color, and/or members of the LGBT community, a much greater percentage than previous festivals.
As stated earlier, there are three main competition sections that the films of the Tribeca Film Festival will be included in. The first of these is the U.S. Narrative Competition, which is devoted to fictional feature films produced domestically in the United States. Among the films that will be competing in this section are “Catch the Fair One”, a Darren Aronofsky produced revenge thriller that centers around a Native American boxer on a quest to locate her missing sister; the romantic comedy “Mark, Mary, & Some Other People”, which sees its titular characters seeking new sexual partners and receiving some surprising results; and “Queen of Glory”, one of the films included in the Juneteenth series that revolves around a Ghanian-American Ivy Leaguer who becomes the owner of a Bronx bookstore following her mother’s death.
Then there’s the International Narrative Competition, which consists of films made outside the United States. Among these films are “Brighton 4th”, a co-production between the nations of Bulgaria, Georgia, and Russia among others; “Roaring 2020’s”, a French film that showcases the life of a person living through the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in one seemingly unbroken shot; and “Wild Men”, a Danish comedy that sees its protagonist venture throughout the Norwegian wilderness and get into a series of absurd and wacky hijinks. Lastly, there’s the Documentary Competition, which features a selection of entirely nonfiction productions. Included in this specific lineup are such films as “Blind Ambition”, which tells the story of Zimbabwe’s Olympic wine tasting team; “On the Divide”, which looks into the lives of three Latinx families and connections to the one remaining abortion clinic on the U.S./Mexico border; and “The Scars of Ali Boulala”, in which the titular Swedish skateboarder looks back on his history and that of the 1990’s skating scene.
These are but a small handful of films that will be showcased at this most recent Tribeca Film Festival, as there will be many more that will be available for viewing for anyone who seeks to attend the festival. With such a great variety, one can only hope the wait will be more than worth it.
