Twenty-five years in, the Tribeca Festival has evolved from a post-9/11 act of civic optimism into one of New York’s defining cultural institutions. This June’s edition is its most expansive yet, with a record 103 world premieres, more female filmmakers, more first-time directors, and more countries represented than before, according to Festival Director Cara Cusumano.
The marquee programming is designed to overwhelm in the best way: a conversation between Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro about Taxi Driver, an opening-night performance from Earth, Wind & Fire and the Roots—tied to Questlove’s new film about the Chicago band and its founder Maurice White—and a closing-night appearance by Alicia Keys celebrating her documentary Alicia Keys: Girl From Hell’s Kitchen. Between the headliners and red carpets is an overwhelming slate of projects that could have us talking for the rest of the year, so we asked Cusumano what not to miss at all costs.
Jean-Michel
While there have been many films about Jean-Michel Basquiat over the decades, this documentary about the self-taught New York artist is perhaps the most intimate—and the first approved by his estate. Guided by Basquiat’s sisters, Lisane and Jeanine, Jean-Michel traces his Brooklyn origins through the punk underground and into the art-world canon, paying particular attention to his interior life rather than reheating familiar downtown mythology.
Showing: 7:30 p.m. on June 5 at Spring Studios and 2:15 p.m. on June 6/ 5:45 p.m. June 13 at Village East by Angelika
The Lion Queen
The surgically altered face of the late Jocelyn Wildenstein, a Swiss-born socialite who married into one of New York’s most powerful art dynasties and was catapulted into fame by a notorious divorce case, became one of the defining tabloid images of ’90s New York, consistently mocked but rarely examined seriously. Produced by the Safdie brothers’ company, in collaboration with Ronald Bronstein, this affectionate, open-minded documentary reveals the larger-than-life original behind the caricature.
Showing: 8:30 p.m. on June 11 at SVA Theatre and 8:45 p.m. on June 12 /6:15 p.m. on June 13 at Village East by Angelika
She Keeps Me Young
Filmmaker Doron Max Hagay’s background includes directing digital shorts for Saturday Night Live, and he brings a precise comic sensibility to his debut feature: a toxic-friendship comedy about two women in their 40s, whose frenemy dynamic is upended with the arrival of a newer, younger female friend. Balancing cruelty with genuine insight about adult friendships—and featuring a killer cast that includes Patti Harrison, John Early, and Kate Berlant—the film is smart, deadpan, and mean enough to feel true.
Showing: 8:30 p.m. on June 4/8:15 p.m. June 5 at Village East by Angelika and 9:15 p.m. on June 9 at AMC 19th St. East 6
Ponderosa
For something that feels slightly out of joint with reality or, more simply, “weird as hell,” as Cusumano puts it—try Ponderosa, which moves through its uneasy world with a logic all its own. Alexis Bledel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Bill Camp star in a film that reportedly went through the festival programming team at unusual speed—the kind of work that demands immediate discussion afterward. Directed by Rob Rice and shot by rising indie cinematographer Barton Cortright (who also shot another festival entry, Lucy Schulman), it’s daring, disorienting, and best approached as cold as possible.
Showing: 8:30 p.m. on June 6/8:45 p.m. on June 7 at Village East by Angelika and 6:15 p.m. on June 10 at AMC 19th St. East 6
In the Hand of Dante
Julian Schnabel returns with Oscar Isaac in a dual role as both Dante Alighieri and a 21st-century writer hired by a mob boss to steal the original manuscript of the Divine Comedy. Part heist film, part spiritual odyssey, and wholly epic—with Al Pacino, John Malkovich, and Martin Scorsese in the ensemble—this is Schnabel at full volume.
Showing: 8 p.m. on June 10 at SVA Theatre and 9 p.m. on June 11 at AMC 19th St. East 6
Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story
Bang My Box resurrects the glorious sleaze and accidental radicalism of New York public-access television through the life of Robin Byrd, the sex-positive cable queen whose call-in show turned late-night Manhattan into a participatory fever dream. In crocheted bikinis and skyscraper heels, Byrd platformed porn stars and lonely callers with the cheerful conviction that obscenity laws were made to be tested. The documentary captures both the genuinely transgressive spirit of the pre-Giuliani area and an unexpectedly tender love story behind it: Byrd, now nearing 70, reflects on her decades-long private marriage as her husband battles Alzheimer’s.
Showing: 8 p.m. on June 9 at SVA Theatre and 5 p.m. or 8:15 p.m. on June 12 /9 p.m. on June 13 at Village East by Angelika
Summer War
This adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s novel The Third Reich was one of the first titles selected by Tribeca programmers. Set in Chile in 1989, as the Pinochet regime begins to collapse, Summer War turns a beach vacation into a slow-burning game of paranoia and denial as its protagonist becomes increasingly obsessed with a WWII strategy game. Alicia Scherson’s feature captures Bolaño’s blend of intellectual playfulness and creeping dread with effortless style. Lux Pascal, Dan Berine, and David Gaete star.
Showing: 5:30 p.m. on June 7, 5:15 p.m. on June 8, and 5 p.m. on June 12 at AMC 19th St. East 6
Only What We Carry
If you’re in the mood for a slightly chaotic date-night romance, Only What We Carry delivers a disarmingly starry mix of Simon Pegg, Sofia Boutella, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Quentin Tarantino colliding on the windswept Normandy coast. At the center is a dancer forced to confront old wounds when her former choreographer resurfaces, setting off a chain reaction of long-buried secrets and unexpected entanglements among family, lovers, and outsiders.
Showing: 2:30 p.m. on June 6 at SVA Theatre, 11:30 a.m. on June 7 at AMC 19th St. East 6, and 2 p.m. on June 10 at Village East by Angelika
The Tribeca Film Festival runs June 3–14. Full program and tickets at tribecafilm.com.
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