By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The Tribeca Film Festival said Monday that it plans to hold its 20th edition in-person this June and with outdoor screenings spread throughout New York's five boroughs.
The springtime festival — canceled last year due to the pandemic — will instead turn to the summer for its next edition, spanning 12 days beginning June 9. Tribeca will screen films at outdoor venues around the city including the Battery, Hudson Yards, Pier 57 Rooftop, Brookfield Place, the MetroTech Commons in Brooklyn and Empire Outlets in Staten Island. The festival will also use a traveling 40-foot HD screen in other areas.
"The Tribeca Film Festival was born out of our mission to bring people together in the aftermath of 9/11. We're still doing it," said Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro. "And as New York emerges from the shadow of COVID-19, it seems just right to bring people together again in-person for our 20th anniversary festival."
Tribeca has gradually broadened the footprint of its annual festival, stretching beyond its downtown namesake. It has regularly hosted outdoor "drive-in" screenings on city streets, something that it expanded nationwide last year in a series of drive-ins held around the country showing classic films.
Major film festivals — the Berlin International Film Festival and the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas — have thus far turned to virtual editions. (Last year, Tribeca put a small section of films online, too.) But with vaccinations increasing and potential seasonality of the virus, summer is looking more promising for the world's top film festivals. France's Cannes Film Festival, usually held in May, is aiming for an in-person festival in July.
Tribeca's plans were made in concert with the initiative, NY PopsUp, which is working to bring back live entertainment. Tribeca organizers and supporters hope this year's festival will help stoke the city's revitalization.
"This year the festival is once again shining a spotlight on our city's resilience and creativity, and just as we've done from the start, Bloomberg is glad to support this great tradition, which will once again help lift our city's spirit," said former New York major Michael Bloomberg and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, a regular Tribeca supporter.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More